TRAER - She's already conquered the competition in Des Moines. Now, Blaire Dinsdale will display her talents on a far bigger stage.

The North Tama junior appears set to plant a flag in a foreign land this summer, July 11-15 at the IAAF World Youth Championships, in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

The trip will mark Dinsdale's first foray out of the country. But competing - and winning - against elite competition? She's fairly familiar with that.

Regardless, the international event gives Dinsdale, who won four titles at Iowa's recent state meet, yet another opportunity to market herself to college recruiters. And it's an opportunity to take home a priceless piece of gold.

"It's one step closer to my dream. It'll tell me how good I am," said the 16-year-old, who hopes to compete in the Olympics one day.

"They've run against the best in the U.S.; it doesn't seem to intimidate them," father Mark Dinsdale said of his daughters, Blaire and Brooke, who narrowly missed qualifying for the World Youth Championships.

But "I've got to believe (Blaire is) more nervous than she's letting on," he noted, laughing.

Blaire Dinsdale, who holds Iowa's state record in the 800 meters at (2:07.39), will compete in the same event in the Czech Republic this summer. She's the only Iowan on the U.S. roster.

Blaire Dinsdale has no idea what the future holds. She does, however, know that crates of college recruiting letters figure to clog her family's mailbox this summer. And the college coaches will have her on speed-dial as soon as possible, during the July recruiting period.

Blaire has already heard from the likes of all three major in-state schools, as well as elite programs like Florida, UCLA and Nebraska. She said she receives at least a couple recruiting letters every other day at school.

"We visited Nebraska and the girls walked up to some other (recruits)," Mark Dinsdale recalled, "and immediately they were like, 'We've heard of you girls from Iowa.' I think most people in the states know of them."

This July, everyone's gonna learn a little more about Blaire Dinsdale.

Contact Kelly Beaton at (319) 291-1456 or kelly.beaton@wcfcourier.com