Despite already dominating both the Australian Junior Athletics Championships and the NSW All Schools Track and Field Championships the year, the 16-year-old from Nowra High School didn’t know what to expect at All Schools, as she didn’t train much in the lead-up to the meet.

But this task became a lot harder due to the cyclone conditions in Cairns.

After waiting more than 40 minutes in the marshalling area, Symonds and her guide finally walked onto the track – which was under water – on Friday evening for the girls 200 metre under 18s para race.

“I’d trained the rain before but never raced in anything quite like that, especially when you consider the -3.4m/s headwind,” Symonds said.

“Despite this, my personal best time before this meet was a 32.92 and I beat it, running a 31.96 to claim gold, while also breaking the Oceania and Australian record.

Twenty-four hours later, Symonds then backed it up with gold in the girls 100 metre under 18 para race.

“Before the 200m race, I wasn’t nervous at all but going into the 100m, held at 6.50pm, I was very nervous and had sore legs from the day before,” she said.

“It was hard to race at that late at night – so I thought I’d just give the race my best and see what happens.”

None of these factors, including light rain and her being last out of the blocks, could stop Symonds who won the race in a  time of 14.81.

This time saw her break five different records, including the under 18 and under 20s T11 (which she already owned), Australian All Comers record, the open T11 record and the Oceania record.

Symonds, who has a busy couple of months starting with the Canberra Championships with an eye for qualifying for the World Junior Championships in Switzerland, credits coaches from AZ Athletics, Jade and Gerard from Basham Physiotherapy, Ms Kirby Nielsen from Nowra High, back up guide Alistair and the Bernie Regan Sporting Trust for helping her achieve these results.

These two golds cap off a strong couple of weeks for Symonds, who was recently presented with a South Coast Blue as well as being named the Most Outstanding Multi Athlete in Secondary School – two awards she also won in primary school.

Not to be outdone at All Schools were Shoalhaven products Jaylah Hancock-Cameron, Lara Check and Max Buckham.

Hancock-Cameron won gold in the girls 1500 metre under 18s (4:23.40), while Check finished seventh in the girls high jump under 16s (1.59m) and Buckham claimed 12^th in the boys 2000 metre steeplechase under 16s (7:14.2).