Lauren Chambers is best known as Northside's only girls state track champion this year. The senior at Kell won the Class AAAAA shot put at 46 feet, 5 3/4 inches —- a record —- and took third in the discus at 117-3.

Now Northside's girls track athlete of the year is making a name for herself on distant fronts in events unfamiliar to many.

Since age 13, Chambers has competed in the hammer throw, an event common in college and in the Olympics but rare in high school. She has traveled as far as New York and Idaho to compete in the hammer as well as in the weight throw, a similar event popular at collegiate indoor meets.

Last year, Chambers set a 16-and-under Junior Olympic record in the hammer throw at 153-8 and is ranked No. 2 nationally with a career-best toss of 184-9.

In potentially the biggest summer of her life, Chambers finished third in the recent Junior Nationals at Ohio State University and then competed in the World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

For a girl who previously had traveled no farther than Canada, Poland was quite an experience. While she fouled out in three attempts there, that barely dampened the exhilaration of competing on the world stage.

Her 10-day odyssey began with an Independence Day flight to Chicago to join some 15 other U.S. athletes, then a nine-hour flight to Warsaw and a five-hour drive to the stadium.

Chambers took time out recently to discuss her sport and trip.

> The hammer throw is little like the shot put or discus: "You're required to have more technique in the hammer, whereas in the shot you can take a standing throw and just heave it out there," she said. "You have to have speed, this and that, to get a good throw off. If you're off by a couple inches, you shank it into the cage. If you're not careful —- if your foot is turned backward and the hammer's in front of you —- you can really hurt yourself."

> International competition differs greatly from high school competition: "You have to look for your name on the [scoreboard] and remember where you are in the order," she said. "You have to know your time, when to check in, when you're up —- it's all on the athlete. Nobody's really telling you this and that. Coaches are responsible for getting you there, but after that, you're pretty much on your own."

> Staying in Poland required greater adjustment than she had anticipated: "Take a comforter off your bed, fold it in half and that's our mattress in Poland," she said. "It's not prison-like, but it's not the luxury Hyatts or whatever back in the States.

"The food's not very good either," she said. "Some of us walked 3 miles down the road to McDonald's. I'm used to eggs and bacon in the morning, not a sandwich of bread, ham or salami, some butter and hard-boiled eggs."

> The athletic talent in Poland was remarkable: In addition to throwers easily topping 200 feet in just the first round, the distance runners Chambers saw were amazing.

"The Kenyans and Ethiopians were phenomenal," she said. "I saw the women's 5,000 meters, and Ethiopia and Kenya swept the top four spots. It was pretty awesome watching them run."

Her international appetite now whetted, Chambers is focused more than ever on making the Olympics in London in 2012.

"To be able to say I've worn the same USA gear real Olympians do is great," she said. "If I ever get this opportunity again, I won't be intimidated by girls who throw so far. Nobody can tell you how it is until you actually get there."