It was an odd day for weather during Friday's events in the Class 5 Missouri State High School Activities Association Track and Field Championships.
In the space of time it took the girls shot put event to be decided, the competitors threw in the sun, then under cloudy skies, then in the rain, and finally back to dry conditions.
But by the time Jefferson City's Alexis Roberson stepped to the top of the podium as the state champion, she was able to bask in both the moment and some sunshine.
The junior, who was very subdued while receiving her medal, seemed to warm to the idea of being called a state champion once she climbed down from the podium at Dwight T. Reed Stadium.
"It sounds great," she said with a smile. "It sounds way too good. It hasn't hit me yet."
Roberson said she didn't plan on getting too excited in the short term about her win, what with today's compeittion in the discus looming.
"I'll probably enjoy this until about 5 (Friday night), then I'll start focusing on disc," she said.
Roberson, who set a personal record with her winning mark of 42 feet, 1 inch, was the only competitor to hit the 40-foot mark at any point. She did it right out of the box, putting up a mark of 40-31/4 on her first attempt. She followed that with a heave of 40-61/4 before closing out the prelims with her winning mark.
She said it was great to get a good mark on her very first attempt.
"It was very relaxing," she said. "It's a reassurance. It feels good to throw, knowing that you're secure."
In the first attempt of the finals Roberson posted a mark of 41-11, then fouled on her final two attempts. All in all, a very steady performance under a variety of different conditions.
"It was great over there," she said of the shot put area.
The Lady Jays got another scoring performance Friday, as Nicole Martin tied for fourth in the high jump by clearing 5-3. Hers, however, was a much more dicey relationship with the weather, as jumping was actually suspended for a period when the rains got too steady.
"I don't really do well in rain, I just don't," Martin said. "It wasn't a very good day for me - I was expecting to do much better."
Martin cleared her opening height of 5-0 on her third and final attempt, then made it over 5-2 on her first try. She then missed all three attempts at 5-3, with the state champion eventually clearing 5-4.
"I'm still hapy with what I got," she said. "It's the first time I've been at state for high jump, so it was pretty exciting."
She said the rain delay just helped make an intense situation even more nerve-wracking.
"I was shaking the whole time," she said. "I was pretty nervous. It's never realy happened like this, so that was different."
Martin, who said she slipped on at least one of the jumps, said it was tough to perform Friday.
"The rain definitely played a big part in how I performed today," she said.
And still, she came very close to making it over on her final attempt at 5-3.
"On my very last one, I clipped it with my feet," she said. "That's one of the main things I do. It's so frustrating."
The efforts of Roberson and Martin have Jefferson City sitting in fourth place in the team race with 14.5 points after one day. North Kansas City leads with 28 points, Lafayette: Wildwood is second at 21 and Rock Bridge is third with 15.
In preliminary races, the Lady Jays advanced their 4x100- and 4x200-meter relay teams to today's finals. Also moving into final events were Louisa Nylander in the 100-meter hurdles and Haley Watson in the 300-meter hurdles.
On the boys side, Jefferson City scored one team point Friday thanks to an eighth-place finish by Jacob Gourley in the 800-meter run.
Competing in a finals-only 1,600-meter run, Jackson Schwartz and Brendan Bena of the Jays were ninth and 14th, respectively.
Additional coverage from Friday's competition:
Records fall at track and field championships
Blair Oaks scores in two events
California's Pickering beats nerves to win title
Southern Boone's Crow advances in two events
Eldon's Rhine to make room for more medals
Another state title for Fatima's Haller
Prep Track: Area competitors in Class 3-5 championships
Prep Track: Class 3-5 state championship results (statewide)