The Gateshead 14-year-old's potential was on show at the Stawell Gift over Easter, when she narrowly missed qualification for the final.

Lewis was the youngest of close to 100 runners in the women's field, competing at only a few months past the minimum entry age.

Her coach, Gerrard Keating, was hoping she would get a six to seven metre handicap for 120-metre Gift, which is run on grass, but she was given 5.5 metres.

Lewis ran 14.13 in her semi-final to finish second, beaten by eventual Gift winner 21-year-old Lexi Loizou, who was off 5.75 metres.

Keating, who trained the winner of the men's Stawell Gift in 2007, said the mark was "pretty tough on a 14-year-old" but Lewis' performance was exceptional.

"For a 14-year-old to do what she did, make the semi, finish second in the semi and walk away with the fifth fastest time of all the semi-finalists, is just outstanding," he told the Newcastle Herald.

"Considering the quality ... for a kid of that age, it is outstanding."

A two-time Commonwealth Games finalist and former Australian sprint champion, Keating has huge wraps on Lewis. He moved to Newcastle in 2017 primarily to coach her, after overseeing her training for two seasons from Towoomba.

"Torrie is the best I have seen since I saw Cathy Freeman and Sally Pearson when they were young," he said.

"I knew straight away when I saw her at 10 she was something very special. She has the potential to be one of the best we have seen in the country in years to come."

Competing at the Gift among many athletes who had a decade more experience, Lewis could have been forgiven if a few nerves got the better of her. But she took the occasion in her stride.

"The pressure was off, it wasn't my normal event," she said. "I was running against people older than me and I think I did really well.

"I came second in my semi-final and it was to the winner so it's not really a loss, I don't see it as [one]."

Lewis said she was inspired by the culture of the event and enjoyed embracing the race's history.

She had spent the entire summer training for the meet and stopped racing her pet events, the 100m and 200m sprints, to hide her form.

She raced in the unfamiliar 400m this season while privately training for Stawell.

Despite having not raced the distance in the past, Lewis won the event at NSW Country titles in January.

Encouraged by the result, she then ran it at the state titles and finished second, before backing it up a few weeks later to place third at the national championships.

"We did not do one session, at all, for the 400m," Keating said. "It just shows how good this kid is."