Among the joys of following Athletics Tasmania's excellent live results web page during the state all-schools championships, was the line pertaining to each event's existing record, who set it and when.

As would be expected, it provided a who's who of Tasmanian athletic achievement, many of whom would follow their school work with progression to Commonwealth, world and Olympic stages.

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Tristan Thomas, Hamish Peacock, Jake Birtwhistle, Jack Hale, Huw Peacock and Danielle McConnell top the list having all launched their international track and field careers from either St Leonards or the Domain.

Even more impressive are the achievements of those from an earlier generation whose efforts remain their state's best, not least Simon Hollingsworth who contested the 400-metre hurdles at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games having earlier established the under-18 Tasmanian benchmark of 52.39 which nobody has bettered in three decades since.

For the record, the man who became chief executive of the Australian Sports Commission from 2012 to 2016 also retains the Tasmanian under-18 400m flat benchmark of 47.30.

The message that this illustrious honour roll subconsciously delivers was echoed by another dual-Olympian over 400m as well as plenty of other Tasmanian sporting achievers over the years.

Since competing at the 1992 and 2000 Olympics, Susan Andrews has become the Tasmanian Institute of Sport athletics coach in charge of nurturing the state's next generation of aspiring athletes.

Athletics Tasmania's chairman of selectors, Nathan Morey, said Andrews is keen on telling her young charges that the only hurdles in their way are the ones they put there themselves.

"Susan tells local athletes that winter mornings here are as tough as anywhere," Morey reported.

"She says if you work hard, there is no reason why you have to go to the mainland to improve."

It is a statement frequently repeated by Tasmania's glut of elite cyclists - Tour de France competitors Richie Porte, Matt Goss and Wes Sulzberger firmly of the belief that if you can get up to train in Tassie in June, the rest of the world's roads should hold no fear.

Those competing at St Leonards weren't shy about following the advice.

Rose Bay High's Will Robertson (under-16 5000m), Taroona's Zoe Laurenson (under-15 pole vault) and Mount Carmel College's Jessica Bray (under-14 javelin) staked claims to the cherished "existing record" spot on future programs - the latter breaking a benchmark that had stood for 22 years.

But the undisputed stars of the show were two Launceston runners who completed middle-distance hat-tricks en route to being named athletes of the meet.

Kings Meadows High's Abbie Butler catapulted herself into world top-20 rankings while multiple national champion Sam Clifford may not have claimed a record but demonstrated the standard he has reached by coming within two seconds of his state's all-time best - that title remaining in the hands of Commonwealth Games triathlon champion and fellow Riverside High product Birtwhistle.

Morey said the state school titles not only provide a fertile breeding ground for Tasmanian athletics but offer a valuable additional competitive platform.

Clifford, for example, used his 1500m as an opportunity to practise a blistering last-lap kick which may prove priceless in more competitive national races.

Capping off this homage to athleticism was The Examiner's photographer Neil Richardson.

Maybe not Neil personally, but his picture of St Patrick's College hurdler Isabella Davie was reminiscent of the equally-dynamic and marginally more famous shot of Carlton's Tayla Harris unleashing a long kick.

And, like the AFLW, Tasmanian athletes have a national stage awaiting them.

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