When California's Audrey Pickering won her first two state titles in the girls shot put, there was a bit of suspense.
Last season, her fifth of six throws won the state title. Two years ago, it took until her final throw to lock up first place.
Forget about building the suspense Saturday. Pickering blew past the competition with her first throw of the night in the Class 3 state track and field championships at Adkins Stadium.
The California senior won her third straight state title with a throw of 44 feet, 6 inches, besting the nearest competition by more than three feet. She admitted afterward the first toss felt like a "state championship throw."
"My (personal record) this year was 45 (feet), but that was definitely a good throw," Pickering said. " It put a lot of pressure on the other girls."
Due to a rain delay earlier in the day, the shot put was shortened to allow four throws for all 16 competitors. The usual format is three preliminary throws and then three additional throws for the top nine in the finals.
Turns out, Pickering wouldn't need those other two throws.
Lincoln College Prep's Mikayla Deshazer finished runner-up to Pickering for a second straight season with a throw of 41-5.5.
Fortunately for the rest of the competition, Pickering graduated from high school earlier this month and won't be back next year to defend her title.
"Ever since I got it the first time, that's been my goal, to maintain it and keep it in the California family," Pickering said.
While a third shot put title was a goal going into state for Pickering, she was more impressed with her seventh-place finish Friday in the discus. Pickering, who will throw next season at Western Michigan University, admitted she didn't even think she could make it past districts in the discus, let alone finish as an all-stater.
"It was a really big deal for me," Pickering said. "That throw was a PR by three feet, so I was really proud of myself."
Blair Oaks senior Cassie Twehus finished sixth in the girls shot put with a throw of 39-3, while Eldon's Haley Clifton took seventh at 37-6.75.
Twehus repeated as an all-stater in her third state appearance in the shot put. Blair Oaks qualified for state in four events and reached the podium in all four this weekend.
"It was really intense, thinking I've got to get this done," Twehus said. "My teammates pulled through, I'm very proud of all of them."
Fatima's Brianna Haller had already won the Class 2 cross country individual title in the fall and the Class 3 girls 3,200-meter run Friday. She said the ultimate goal would be to add the 1,600-meter title to the list.
Haller completed the trifecta Saturday, winning her first career title in the 1,600 with a personal-best time of 5:14.43, an improvement of nine seconds from her sectional time. It is the sixth individual state championship in cross country and track combined for the Fatima junior.
Compared to the other two races she had won this season, Saturday's race was a much tighter finish for Haller. She edged O'Hara's Caroline Meyers by 21-hundredths of a second.
"In my two-mile, I knew I had to start (pushing) earlier and gradually accelerate," Haller said. "But I could tell some of the girls by me were trying to get ahead of me, so I had to push the pace a little faster."
For the first two laps, Haller ran side by side with teammate Alyssa Struemph at the front of the pack.
"I've been running with Alyssa for seven years now, so whenever she's by me, I can hear her breathing and know it's her," Haller said. "So I thought, 'OK, yeah, we're seeded pretty good right now.'"
Struemph also earned all-state honors, finishing seventh in 5:24.16.
Fatima finished fourth in the Class 3 girls team standings with 36 points. The Lady Comets clinched a state trophy in the 4x400-meter relay, with Grace Brune, Sierra Sankey, Halie Moeller and Jordan Pope taking sixth place in a time of 4:11.70 in Saturday's final track event.
Versailles finished third in the 4x400 in 4:07.58, followed by Southern Boone in fourth at 4:08.72.
Southern Boone took home the third-place team trophy with 39 points, with two-thirds of those points coming from senior Hannah Crow and freshman Sayde Taggart.
Ten points came in the 100-meter hurdles. Crow, the defending champion in the event, finished second in 14.86 seconds, while Taggart took seventh in 15.76.
"I didn't really run that bad in the 100 hurdles, my time was pretty close to my PR last year," Crow said. "But I really wanted to get a first place today."
That first-place finish would come later in the day in the 300-meter hurdles. Crow darted past the competition and won with a time of 45.45 seconds, more than a second ahead of Cardinal Ritter's Valarie Whitted, who beat Crow in the 100 hurdles.
"I was able to come back and get it," Crow said of getting her redemption in the 300 hurdles.
Taggart finished third in a time of 47.02 seconds, helping the Lady Eagles secure 16 team points in the event.
"Even to just have two people in one race from the same school at state is awesome," Crow said of the two top-three finishes.
Southern Boone sophomore Cassey Poole finished second in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:20.35. Blair Oaks junior Emily Yaeger earned her second all-state medal this year, placing fourth in 2:22.42.
Versailles senior Tessa Edgar received three all-state medals Saturday. Her best performance came in the long jump, where she finished second with a jump of 17-2.25.
Edgar started the day with a seventh-place finish in the 100-meter dash in 12.60 seconds and helped the 4x100-meter relay to a third-place finish in 50.20 seconds. Gracie Hamrick, Taralee Edgar and Keely Gustafson also ran the 4x100 for the Lady Tigers.
Edgar fell just short of a fourth all-state medal in the high jump. She tied for ninth at 5-1.
Versailles finished eighth in the team standings with 26 points. Gustafson placed fifth in the 400-meter dash (1:00.31).
For School of the Osage, senior Jordyn Bartlett took seventh in the high jump (5-1) and sophomore Kerrigan Gamm finished seventh in the javelin (108-4).
Joining Clifton as an all-state medalist Saturday for Eldon was junior Macie Halderman, who finished eighth in the long jump (16-4).