While she had tried her hand at most of the athletics disciplines, the steeplechase was one the 12-year-old had never.

That all changed at the end of 2019 when she tried it for the first time in November at the All Schools competition - narrowly missing the national qualifier on her first attempt.

She was so encouraged by these results - especially considering she'd had no coaching - she spent some time doing the sport over summer.

"I originally started as a way to keep fit for the summer, as cross country and gymnastics didn't start for a few months," D'Ombrain said.

"I thought there was no downside to me having a crack at it."

But her training wasn't your run-of-the-mill sessions, as they were usually done by herself, where she had to improvise.

"I try to get to Nowra when I can but I have mostly been training on my own," she said.

"I alternate between hills, stairs and jumping fence posts at the local oval.

"The biggest adjustment to the sport was getting used to jumping the steeples, especially considering my height.

"I was worried that I would trip over them, plus it's a 2km race.

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"I knew I had the speed to run 2km fast but throw in five steeples every 400m, now that's a challenge."

To make her training even harder were the hot and smokey conditions on the South Coast over summer - which saw a number of meets cancelled.

"It was extremely challenging [to train over summer]," she said.

"I entered lots of races to practice but the conditions meant that the events kept getting cancelled, as the smoke was hazardous.

"When I competed in Canberra, it was 38 degrees and it just zaps your energy - three of my events got cancelled as it was too hot."

In her third ever attempt at the event, D'Ombrain, who was named Ulladulla High School Sportsperson of the Year as a year seven student in 2019, missed the national qualifier by one second.

But she made amends for that at the recent Trelor Shield at Sydney Athletics Centre, making he qualifier by five seconds.

"This time means I can compete for Athletics NSW at nationals against the nation's top qualifiers, next month at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre," she said.

"When I go to Sydney, I hope to try and clock another personal best time.

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"I'm still getting my confidence up and refining the technique - I'll be aiming to come in under eight minutes."

Following this meet, D'Ombrain will try and balance runnings and gymnastics into her busy schedule too.

"My goals for this year are to keep up the running and concentrate on gymnastics a bit more," she said.

"We have new routines to learn this year, so that will challenging.

"I'm also going to try harder with my school work this year.

"It's important that I keep a balance between school, sports and home life."