But her performances are screaming out for attention.

Now 16, and in her last season in little athletics, Mison returned from the NSW state championships as Wagga’s only gold medallist, after taking out the girls under 17 1500m walk. 

It wasn’t unexpected. The talented race walker had booked her spot at state when she won her event at regionals in record time (seven minutes, 4.28 seconds). That knocked nearly 52 seconds off a record that had stood for seven years. 

It’s telling that in Sydney recently, Mison’s winning time (7:24.93) was 20 seconds slower, as she coasted to the line at least 20 metres ahead of her rivals.

“It was pretty good. I was out and then no-one really caught up,” Mison said. 

The difference at regionals was that her event was held in conjunction with the boys. And her competitive spirit kicked in, as she powered to a personal best time.

“I just wanted to beat the other people racing me – there was a boy in the race who was right behind me and I just wanted to beat him,” she said.

The Wagga High student has been involved in little athletics with the Kooringal-Wagga club for a decade. 

It’s only in the last couple of years she’s been serious about the discipline of walking, and tackling all the major events.

“I’ve trained hard (this season). And I’ve got a new coach, Frank Overton, who’s based in Gosford,” she said.

Overton has helped Mison refine technique but she says she’s indebted to her Wagga coach, Mark Conyers, for helping her manage her training and workload to avoid burnout. 

While the little athletics pathway doesn’t include a national championships (other than under 13s) Mison was among the Wagga athletes who went to the Australian Junior Athletics Championships earlier this month (run by Athletics Australia, not little athletics). 

She came home with bronze in the under 18 girls 5K walk, having taken out gold at NSW Juniors. 

“It's been a pretty good season,” Mison said. 

She isn’t yet outlining goals in the sport, or spelling out bold ambition. It’s just that winning is fun, and while it’s fun, she’ll keep doing it.

Hannah says inspiration in the sometimes low-key sport has come from Olympic champion Jared Tallent and she’s now gearing up for a busy winter of road walking.  

Godfrey Okerenyang (silver in the under 17 100m, 200m and long jump) and Alexander Yongai (silver in under 9 discus) were the other Kooringal-Wagga athletes to win medals at the NSW Little Athletics championships.