But a discussion with her coach, Michael Beable, directed her towards the 400m instead, and she has never looked back.
"I think he could probably tell I was more of a 400 runner," Laker said.
The Wanaka athlete has made quite the name for herself on the track this season, breaking several Otago records throughout the opening stages of the summer.
The 15-year-old broke the Otago women’s 15, 16 and 17 year age group records with her 400m time of 56.40sec at the Caledonian last month.
It is at least the fifth time Laker has broken the trio of age group records, having already set a record of 56.93sec earlier this year.
"It’s pretty exciting.
"It’s just quite nice. Whenever I get a PB, it’s a new record."
Laker signalled some magic at her first major event, the national secondary schools track and field championships in 2022, when she lowered her personal best from 58.2sec to 57.58sec.
"It was quite a big PB that I didn’t really expect."
Earlier this year, Laker broke the girls under-15 400m record at the South Island secondary schools championships to win gold, and she won gold in the under-16 400m at the national championships.
Laker (Aspiring Athletics) hopes to have more success this weekend at the national secondary schools championships in Timaru.
She will race in the under-16 400m and represent Mount Aspiring College in the mixed 4×400m relay with Eve Pfahlert, Cody Armstrong and Matthew Botting.
Laker, who trains up to five times a week, loves athletics.
She hopes to see how far she can go in the sport and spends her days soaking up information from her coach.
"He’s so good," Laker said.
"I don’t think I ever would have expected it when I first started training, to get to where we are now.
"He’s just got so much knowledge. I just kind of trust him with all of it and just do what he tells me - [it] seems to work out."
The national secondary schools track and field championships start in Timaru today and finish on Sunday.
