Kezia Martin left last year's state track and field meet with a bitter taste.
The Jefferson City senior wanted to make sure it didn't happen again.
After 12 months of training and remembering the feeling from last season, Martin was able to find the redemption she was seeking by winning the Class 4 girls triple jump Friday at the MSHSAA Class 3-4 Track and Field Championships at Dwight T. Reed Stadium.
"It feels so good," Martin said. "I've been wanting this for a long time."
Martin's finish provided the bulk of the points for the Lady Jays, who are in fifth place with 11 points after the first day of competition. The Jays, meanwhile, have yet to score.
Eureka leads the girls team standings with 20 points, while Lee's Summit West is second with 18. Camdenton and Winnetonka are tied for third with 12.
On the boys side, Blue Springs is in first place with 24 points, while Rock Bridge (15), Lee's Summit West (15), Raymore-Peculiar (12) and Lafayette-Wildwood (11) round out the top five teams.
"We had a good day," Jefferson City boys and girls coach Dan Ridgeway said. "Kezia Martin obviously had a great day."
Martin jumped 39-61/4 on her second attempt to edge Lee's Summit West senior Jamie Newsome, who finished second at 39-0.
"She was disappointed in her performance at the state meet last year, but we talk about how, "Hey, you're a big dog, you're as good as anybody out here - go do it,'" Ridgeway said. "It's so great for her to finally get a state title as a senior."
Martin entered last year's competition as the No. 1 seed after breaking the Jefferson City school record with a leap of 40-8 at sectionals. She ended up placing 13th at state with a mark of 35-81/2.
It was all Martin could think about "for weeks."
"I was stuck on that for a long time, but it definitely pushed me this year," she said. "From the very start of the season, I was telling myself I needed to be more consistent, I need to work on this and that.
"It pushed me and I felt a lot more confident coming into this year because I felt like I put in more work."
Martin was the No. 2 seed after posting a 38-41/2 at sectionals, and similar to last year, the rankings didn't hold true - this time for the better.
"You come from something like that last year and it just feels so bad," Martin said. "You end up getting first the next year and it makes it feel that much better ... to come from something like that. It made me realize that not everything is always going to go your way and it pushed me to go harder during the season."
Martin now has her eyes set on the long jump, which takes place at 2 p.m. today. The three-time all-stater finished second in the event last season and enters this year's competition as the No. 2 seed.
Ridgeway's advice for Martin is simple.
"Go have fun," he said. "She's a talented kid, she knows what she's doing, she's been here before - just go have fun."
Martin wasn't the only one to put up quality results for Jefferson City on Day 1.
Alexis Roberson earned an eighth-place finish with a season-best throw of 39-1/2 to score the Lady Jays' other point Friday.
"Last year she came over here as a freshman in the discus and didn't perform like she wanted to," Ridgeway said. "She set a PR, which she had to do today. All-state, that's great for her."
Haley Watson advanced to the finals in the 300-meter hurdles after placing sixth in the preliminaries at 45.85.
The Lady Jays' 4x100-meter relay team of Louisa Nylander, Madison Deatherage, Nicole Martin and Naomi Kerkula also advanced to today's finals. The foursome entered the event as the No. 13 seed, but ended up finishing eighth in the preliminaries at 49.23.
"It was a surprise because where we were seeded," Ridgeway said. "It was a surprise because I thought we looked terrible running it. We did not run our best race, but we ran our best time of the year by almost a full second. We've got a better race in us."
Mervyn John advanced for the Jays after taking sixth in the 110-meter hurdles in 14.96. The senior was also leading his heat of the 300-meter hurdles, but fell on the final straightaway and wasn't able to finish.
John is expected to compete today in the 110-meter hurdles and the triple jump as the No 10 seed.
"He was flying through five when he hit that hurdle and down he goes," Ridgeway said. "He's going to be a little sore. It's never ideal to crash and burn on a Friday when you've still got to run on Saturday, but he's a senior, he's been through the battle before, so hopefully he'll be fine."
Today's competition will get underway at 11 a.m. today.