ATHLETICS records are made to be broken, and St Francis of the Fields Primary may have done just that.
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The Strathfieldsaye school will have a likely unprecedented five relay teams contesting the School Sport Victoria Track and Field State Titles in Melbourne on Monday.
School Sport Victoria was unable to confirm whether five relay teams from the one school qualifying for the finals was indeed a record, but agreed it was certainly unique.
The feat has been months in the making, with the athletes having to first qualify through their school carnival, followed by Catholic, division and Loddon Mallee region championships.
St Francis of the Fields will field teams in the under 10, 11 and 12 boys and under 11 and 12 girls.
The relay runners have been training for months under the tutelage of teacher and former state hurdler Danielle Dillon.
She said the entire school community was "super-proud" of what the athletes had achieved.
"It's pretty phenomenal, we've never had that may teams qualify, so it's really exciting for us," she said.
"The kids have shown so much commitment and put so much effort into it.
"There's been a lot of improvement shown along the way."
The 20 athletes who will represent the school have been a regular sight on the school's oval during recess and lunch time in recent weeks.
They have also undertaken a few sessions at the Latrobe University Bendigo athletics complex, which Dillon believed would see them ready for the challenge of some of Victoria's best primary school-age athletes.
"The kids are pretty excited - it's hard to contain the excitement sometimes," she said.
"Everyone is excited, the teachers, our principal Tim Moloney is really excited; everyone was really proud when they made it through to states.
"The most teams we've had before is two, so five is a real step-up ... unbelievable.
"Regardless of the result we are going to be really proud of the kids.
"It's a different kettle of fish up there, the competiton.
"There are some schools that are sports specific schools, which are really hard to comepete against, but our kids will have a red-hot crack."
The state finals will be held at the Lakeside Stadium athletics track in Albert Park.
