JUST turned 17 years old, Kate Jones is ready to take the plunge into open women’s running – and she has chosen the biggest stage in the state to make her debut.The Durham Lead teenager is preparing to contest her first women’s gift at Stawell this Easter.A week later, she will look to back up her efforts in the Ballarat Gift carnival at Eureka Stadium.Jones, a long jumper-turned sprinter this summer, was nervous but said one of the biggest honours was sharing the same mark as decorated Ballarat professional runner Narelle Lehmann. The pair will run off the 10-metre mark at Stawell and off seven metres in Ballarat.Lehmann is a triple Daylesford women’s gift winner, a title she won this season, and added a Bendigo women’s 120m crown to her name leading into Stawell.They will be chased down at Central Park by the likes of Australian 100m silver medallist Melissa Breen (scratch), Australian 400m hurdles champion Lauren Boden (3.75m) and Olympian Tamsyn Lewis (4.25m).Jones says she will share the “Ballarat” backmark with Lehmann this weekend.“I’m not sure of my heat yet but I’d like to be versus anyone I know,” Jones said.“I’m really happy with my handicap, have been training really well and am looking forward to it.”Mt Clear sprinters Nadia and Tara Domaschenz each have a 10m mark at Stawell with the Ballarat-trained Nicole Taylor running off 10.25m and Trish Fox on the blocks at 11m.