From up north to down south for the 2025 Chemist Warehouse Australian Athletics All Schools Championships, North Queensland’s rising stars are ready to bring the heat to Melbourne this December, with few names running hotter than that of sprinter Uwezo Lubenda.
The championships will be held at Lakeside Stadium from December 4-7, with tickets available for purchase HERE.
School: Calvary Christian College
Club: Townsville North Star Athletic
Coach: Gary Cairns
Events: U17 100m and 200m
Few names in Melbourne will draw more attention than that of Uwezo Lubenda, who looms as the next man up on a conveyer belt of emerging Australian sprinters. The 16-year-old has a recognised personal best of 10.42 (+1.4) which he set in September, rising to stardom in Townsville having migrated to Australia with his family at the age of four from Mozambique. Lubenda will have the added incentive of achieving the 10.50-second qualifying standard for the 2026 World Athletics Under 20 Championships, which he is yet to track down in the qualifying window.
School: Heights College
Club: Keppel Coast Athletics
Coach: Melanie Woods
Events: U16 Long Jump and 200m
The daughter of Commonwealth Games medallist and World Championships representative Melanie Woods (nee Kleeberg) who represented Australia in the 2000’s, Lily Woods is a promising prospect from regional Queensland across a range of events. A medallist in the triple jump last year, Woods returns to the national stage for the long jump and 200m in Melbourne, building a versatile skillset and bright future at just 15-years-old. Her dad John Woods also adds to her pedigree, with a 10.16-second personal best over 100m at the peak of his powers.
School: Tec-NQ
Club: Townsville North Star Athletic
Coach: Megan Minehane
Events: U17 100m, 200m, Long Jump T37/F37
The current Australian record holder in the Under 15 and Under 17 Long Jump T37, Kayne Kellett is on the rise in the Para-athletics ranks. The North Queenslander posted his 5.10m Under 17 national record at the Australian Athletics Championships in Perth earlier this year, now setting his sights on the Under 20 mark of 5.23m held by World Para Athletics Championships medallist Kieran Ault-Connell. The 16-year-old Tec-NQ student competes with cerebral palsy, hoping to join Australia’s rising crop of Para-athletes ahead of Brisbane 2032.
School: Ryan Catholic College
Club: Townsville North Star Athletic
Coach: Garry Cairns
Events: U17 100m, 200m, 800m T37
Smashing his personal bests at the North Queensland Championships, Heath Otto looks set to shine brighter in the Para-athletics spotlight when he arrives at Lakeside Stadium, fresh off giving World Para Athletics Championships representative Samuel Allen’s 100m and 200m T37 Under 17 national records a scare in times of 13.11 and 25.25.96. The Ryan Catholic College student will also contest the 800m, but does his best work in the sprints on the Paralympic pathway.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Australian Athletic
Posted 10/11/2025
