Nick Mealy didn't really expect to make it to the top of the podium Friday at the Class 2 state track and field championships.
So the South Callaway junior took the opportunity after Thursday's practice time at Adkins Stadium to march his way up those steps to the No. 1 spot and flexed for a photo.
"I've been talking about it to my coaches all week just kind of joking around, 'Oh, if I score 10 points I'll be happy," Mealy said.
The joke was over after Mealy's first throw in the javelin finals. He sailed his javelin a school record 168 feet, 11 inches to win the state championship by 7 feet.
"I'm pretty shocked," Mealy said. " I ended up doing it somehow. I was pretty happy with that."
Especially after the No. 4 seed made the finals by just more than a foot.
"I didn't have as high of expectations as I obviously came out, but I had a struggle," Mealy said. " I wasn't too confident going in."
A slight adjustment later and he was a state champion with his first throw in the finals. His second finals throw of 164-8 would have been enough for the title as well.
Mealy's first toss of the event was 148-2, good for ninth and the last spot in the finals.
"I had (the javelin) too high," Mealy said. "My trajectory just wasn't quite right. I was just more focused on my form and what coach was telling me (in the finals)."
The South Callaway boys scored eight points earlier in the day when Wyatt Hager cleared 14 feet in the pole vault to take second.
Hager tried for a mark of 14-3, but couldn't make it over. Lathrop's Drew O'Connor won at 14-9.
"I was actually wanting to jump like 14-9 but I ran hurdles and ran out of energy," Hager said.
Hager began the season by clearing 12-6 at Russellville in March and made 14-0 his personal best at districts two weeks ago.
"Overall we had a good season," Hager said. "We did change some things. We went up to longer poles so it helped me with height and we also went up to stiffer poles so it wasn't giving me as much bend. I worked on a lot of vertical movements this year."
Calvary Lutheran had its first state medalist of the two-day event Friday, and it was a first-time all-stater.
Katy Allen broke the school record in the Class 2 girls triple jump with a leap of 34-8 to place fifth.
It wasn't without suspense, though.
Allen, who entered the competition seeded fifth, was in danger of missing the finals after the first two jumps.
"I was thinking I was making my coach nervous," Allen said of coach Kerri Morris. "She was pretty nervous. I was pretty excited. I knew I was ready to jump and I had confidence. I knew I was going to pull out that last one so I was pretty happy."
Her third and final attempt in the prelims ended up being her best and slotting her third heading to the finals.
Allen spent much of the season jumping in the 30-32 foot range in the event, but reached 33-3.25 at districts and 33-7.75 at sectionals.
Then on Friday, she improved by more than a foot. Allen credits the coaching staff and her brother Luke, who won the Class 1 triple jump title in 2017 and competes in track and field at Missouri S&T.
"I really tried to work on my arm movement to get it more forward because I jump long (jump) as well," Allen said. "It's different arm movement than triple (jump). It's a little bit (difficult) doing both but its really fun."
Allen is seeded fourth for today's long jump, which begins at 10 a.m.
Fellow Lady Lion Sarah Johnson is the No. 2 seed after a jump of 16-9.25 at sectionals.
"Oh Sarah, she wasn't even sure she wanted to jump this year," Allen said. "I told her I thought she'd be great at it and we've just been buddy-buddy ever since. And she's doing so well, I'm so proud of her."
Also in action today for the Lady Lions is Emma Homfeldt, who'll race in the 800-meter run. She's seeded third.
In Friday's boys 800, Eugene's Cameron Haeffner was so focused on getting a podium spot he didn't realize he broke his own school record by more than three seconds.
Haeffner raced to a third-place finish in 2:01.62. He entered the event as the No. 6 seed with a time of 2:04.94.
"Knowing this is state, I've got to give everything I've got just to get anywhere close to getting on that podium," Haeffner said.
Haeffner was in sixth place 400 meters in and worked his way through the field.
"It was a tough one," he said. "I knew coming in it was going to be. I worked on that kick at the end and that really helped."
It was the senior's first appearance at the state meet.
"I'm walking away pretty happy with that," Haeffner said. "I've been working four years for it."
New Bloomfield's Caleb Distler finished sixth in 2:02.70 and Calvary's Grant Going was 12th in 2:06.71.
Other area athletes earning state medals Friday were South Callaway's DeLaney Horstman in the girls pole vault (7th, 9-6), New Bloomfield's Auburn Feathers in the girls discus (8th, 110-4) and Bell's Susan Moman in the girls javelin (8th, 111-10).
Several area athletes earned their way into today's finals.
Calvary's Reece Going was seventh in Friday's prelims of the boys 200-meter dash with a time of 22.73 seconds.
Linn's 4x400-meter relay team of Lindsey Lebel, Chloe Rhoden, Audrey Froning and Myra Baker advanced to the finals with a sixth-place finish in prelims in 4:19.67.
Linn also advanced on the boys side in the 4x400 as Logan Klouzch, Lukas Oidtman, Ryann Platt and Cole Stephens were eighth in 3:34.11.
Also advancing for the Linn boys was Matthew Heckman, who was eighth in the 300-meter hurdle prelims in 42.51.
South Callaway will have two boys relay teams and a girls relay team running today.
Devin Borghardt, Hunter Martin-Hay, Hayden Vaught and Noah Reece were sixth in the 4x100 prelims in 44.28.
In the 4x200, Holden Adams, Martin-Hay, Vaught and Reece advanced with the seventh-best time in prelims (1:34.40).
The South Callaway girls 4x100 group of Adah Siegel, Hailee Potter, Raegan Brown and Paige Clubb had the seventh-best time in prelims (51.61) to qualify for the finals.
For New Bloomfield, Easton Ambler recorded the seventh-fastest time in the 110-meter hurdles (15.96) and 300-meter hurdles (41.72) to move onto the finals in both events.
Tipton's Kodie Dick will compete in the 400-meter dash finals after running the prelims in 50.99 for the fourth-best time.
Dick, Dylan Kuttenkuler, Dalton Weaver and Isaac Ashton qualified for the 4x400 relay finals with a time of 3:32.22, the fifth-fastest in prelims.
Due to the forecast for thunderstorms today, the running events will be on a rolling schedule beginning at 11 a.m. and the afternoon field events will start at noon.