Australia's fastest boy Jack Hale exceeded his own expectations by storming into the semi-finals of the Stawell Gift on Saturday and then declared there was better to come.
Running off the backmark of 2.25 metres in his heat, the 16-year-old flyer clocked 12.48 seconds to finish a narrow second behind Bikramjeet Singh.
Hale - who ran a remarkable wind-assisted 100m time of 10.13 seconds at last year's Australian All Schools Championships - was initially unsure if he had done enough to advance to Monday's Gift semis.
"If I make the semis I'll be over the moon," he said.
"For sure there is improvement there.
"I just need to relax, not get so tight and tense up and try too hard.
"I need to focus on that 60 to 120-metre period instead of going all out just to keep the technique going."
Joining Hale in the semi-finals were rising long jump star Darcy Roper and another slick Tasmanian teenager, Jacob Despard.
So unfamiliar was Roper with the vagaries of pro running that he did not bring his own starting blocks to the track, and so was forced to borrow those of fellow 16-year-old Hale.
Not that it held Roper back as he finished a competitive third in 12.47 in the fastest heat behind tall South Australian Luke Houlihan, who clocked the best official time of 12.07 and was duly backed into $2 favouritism.
"I didn't have much idea how I'd go but didn't really expect to do as well as that," said Roper.
"I think I got a few metres on some blokes, but it was good fun."
Hale and Roper shape as the boys to beat in the 100m and long jump respectively at the world youth athletics championships in Colombia later this year.
The 18-year-old Despard has been inspired to greater heights by the recent exploits of Hale and looked good in winning his Gift heat in 12.38 on Saturday.
"I wasn't really that fond of (Hale) when he first came out and ran that quick time," said Despard.
"But we're pretty good mates actually and I really enjoy him pushing me.
"For a while there we were doing one (training) session a week together but then leading up to Stawell our preparation became a bit different and training together didn't actually work."
Queensland beach sprinter Murray Goodwin (11.83) and perennial contender Cam Dunbar were both credited with sub-12 second heat times, although they had to be rounded up as they were hand-timed due to an equipment malfunction.
All the big names advanced to the semis of the women's Gift, headed by Australian 100m record holder Melissa Breen.
Also through to the semis were new Australian 200m champ Ella Nelson, 400m hurdles star Lauren Wells and Morgan Mitchell, last year's national 400m titleholder.
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