Motivated by what she considered a 鈥渄isappointing鈥� showing early this month at junior nationals, Taryn O鈥橬eill made amends with the most significant performance of her young career.

Competing for Team Canada, the 16-year-old track athlete from Lake Country set a personal best in the 3,000 metres en route to capturing the silver medal last week at the s in Trujillo, Peru.

O鈥橬eill, a soon-to-be Grade 12 student at George Elliott Secondary, posted a time of nine minutes 22.05 seconds, finishing just under six seconds behind American Taylor Werner, and more than a second ahead of Canadian teammate, Sevanne Ghazarian.

鈥淚 was really going into it hoping for a podium finish, anywhere in the top three would have been good,鈥� said O鈥橬eill, a member of the . 鈥淭he race started out quite tactical, then really turned into kind of a sprint towards the finish. The other Canadian (Sevanne), we really pushed each other, so that helped a lot. I鈥檓 very happy with the result.鈥�

O鈥橬eill鈥檚 new personal best also broke the B.C. youth record for the 3,000 metres which had stood for 30 years.

Despite being two to three years younger than the majority of her opponents, O鈥橬eill is the No. 1-ranked athlete in the U20 category in Canada.

But at nationals in early July in Ottawa, O鈥橬eill wasn鈥檛 at the top of her game in the 3,000 metres, finishing sixth in 9:43.93, almost a full 10 seconds out of the medals.

She was determined to make amends in Peru.

鈥淚 was looking for redemption,鈥� O鈥橬eill said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not sure if I wasn鈥檛 mentally ready but (nationals) didn鈥檛 go the way I wanted. But with our training and preparation, we wanted to be peaking for the U20s anyway, so it worked out well.

鈥淚t meant quite a lot to me, coming off nationals.鈥�

In part, O鈥橬eill credits her success to the mentorship of her coach and former .

Elmore said persistence, determination and natural ability all played roles in what was a well-deserved result for the 16-year-old runner.

鈥淚鈥檓 just so happy for Taryn, she鈥檚 one of those kids who has worked really hard over the last couple of years and it鈥檚 paid off,鈥� said Elmore, the 91大黄鸭 native who competed in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. 鈥淪he鈥檚 had ups and downs with injuries, but she鈥檚 stayed the course and kept her love of running. It can be hard at the age to maintain that work ethic but over the last year she鈥檚 been super consistent and super motivated.

鈥淚t鈥檚 awesome to see it come together for her.鈥�

O鈥橬eill also competes in the 1,500 meters on the track, and in the fall runs cross country. Last November, she won a bronze medal at the Canadian youth cross country championships in Kingston, Ont. This spring she captured silver medals in the 1,500 and 3,000 at the B.C. high school track and field championships in Langley.

As for the rest of 2017, Taryn will compete next week at the , then later in August at the in Brandon.