A MARK of 16.87 metres at the AV Throwers Meet on Saturday at Lakeside Stadium has lifted Bendigo shot put star Emma Berg to the sixth rung in Australia's best at open level.
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A triple national open shot put champion, Berg was again in top form as she prepares for the upcoming Victoria Country, Victorian, and Australian field and track championships.
A best of 16.87m surpassed the mark of 16.09m she set in this season's third round of Athletics Victoria Shield League in Bendigo on October 21.
It's been a sharp rise in performance since Berg achieved a mark of 15.57m in the AV Throwers fifth meet of the 2022/23 season at Geelong's John Landy Field on March 11 last year.
The Australian women's open shot put record of 19.74m was set by Gael Martin in July, 1984 at Berkeley in the United States.
There were many highs for South Bendigo AC across the weekend's field and track action at Lakeside in South Melbourne.
From the border of Victoria and New South Wales, Connor Wilson reached a mark of 17.15m in the open shot put at the Throwers meet.
A rising star with the Bloods, Wilson went past the 17m mark twice and now holds the Bendigo residential record for the under-15 class.
South Bendigo clubmates Greg Hilson and Kai Norton showed their versatility in the decathlon and heptathlon respectively.
After a winning double on the Princes Park track at the Maryborough Gift on New Year's Day, Hilson showed his prowess in run, jump and throw disciplines at Athletics Victoria multi-event championships.
The super-veteran competed in the 50-plus decathlon of pole vault, 110m, discus, 100m hurdles, 1500m, shot put, high jump, javelin, 400m and long jump.
Hilson's score of 3209 points earned the silver medal as Diamond Valley's Lalith Udugampala clinched gold on 3386 points.
Bronze went to Essendon's Kristian Lakusa on 2651.
Highest scoring disciplines and wins for Hilson were the 400m, 62.07 seconds, 345 points; high jump of 1.52m, 404; 1500m of 5:07.58, 517 points; and pole vault, 2.42m, 225 points.
It's been a superb season for Norton who scored 3780 points to be runner-up for the 16-years heptathlon.
Norton marked personal bests in five of the seven events.
Gold went to Glenhuntly's Matthew Milias on 4269 points as Mentone's Deng Agook scored 3716 to claim bronze.
Highs for Norton were the shot put, 14.92m, 785 points; high jump, 1.77m, 602; and javelin, 41.55m, 465 points.
The Rare Air pole vault included South Bendigo's Rhys Hansen and Emma Orme.
A leap of 3.95m earned Hansen sixth place in the open final which was ruled by Bellarine's Lachlan Burns and Box Hill's Dalton Di Medio who tied on a best of 4.90m.
Orme was 11th on 3.10m and clubmate Jordyn Lewis cleared 2.35m to be 18th as Diamond Valley's Elyssia Kenshole soared 4.05m to claim victory.
At high jump, Eaglehawk's Cameron Greenwood soared above 1.82m as Wendouree's Yual Reath dominated to pass the 2.23m mark.
