"It was fun. We weren't sure what might happen but things went well. We won quite easily," she said.
Small's second gold also came in another relay, the senior women's 4x100m, and again this was a relatively new experience for her, simply because there are seldom enough senior women competing in meets in the Wellington region to make up relay teams. Here, too, Small ran the first leg and after giving her New Zealand quartet a flying start they achieved a relatively comfortable victory.
A third placing in the senior women's 100m final in 12.63s completed Small's programme at Papeete. While her time was a trifle slower than she had recorded in the heats (12.55s), the final was run into a headwind and she was "reasonably happy" with her bronze.
"I was sort of hoping for second but got pipped on the line. You always feel a bit frustrated when that happens."
Katie Smith might have just failed to record a personal best in claiming the bronze in the under-18 girls' shot put but for the first time, all six of her puts were over 13m, the furthest of them being 13.78m.
"I've never had that sort of consistency before. I was pretty rapt with the way things went," she said.
Like Small in her 100m final, Smith came close to silver, holding down second until the last round, when she was overtaken by an Australian.
Also pleased with her consistency was Emma Kruszona whose best effort of 48.32m earned her bronze in the under-18 girls' hammer throw.
That distance was just 15cm off what Kruszona threw to win the North Island secondary schools championships in Masterton in April, a meet in which Smith placed second in the shot put.
Kruszona is a relatively new convert to hammer throwing, having been talked into "having a go" by her Carterton-based throws coach John Quinn. She also competes in the discus - she was fifth at Papeete in that event - but the hammer is now her favourite discipline.
Other Wairarapa medal winners were Kate Plimmer, who won gold in the under-18 girls' long jump and 4x100m relay and silver in the triple jump and 4x400m relay, and Sian Chapman, who was also part of the winning Kiwi team in the under-18 girls' 4x100m relay.