WICHITA – Valley Heights senior Emma Yungeberg had no shortage of options when it came to selecting her favorite moment from her third and final State Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
 
It could have been her three-peat in the Class 2A girls javelin, a competition she won with a throw of 135 feet, 8 inches on Friday afternoon after winning her first two state titles during the 2019 and 2021 seasons.
 
Or it could have been Saturday's victory in the discus, which made her a three-time winner at the weekend meet after a second-place finish in the event prevented that from happening last spring.
 
But Yungeberg, a University of Michigan signee, was most pleased with how her final high school appearance at Cessna Stadium began Friday afternoon. Competing against the state's top shot put thrower this season in Oakley senior Liberty Booker, Yungeberg answered the challenge with a personal-best throw of 43 feet, 7½ inches to win the event by more than 4 feet and erase a 34-year-old 2A meet record.

 
"I was unaware of what the record was," said Yungeberg, who topped the previous mark of 43-6 set by West Elk's Angela Edwards in 1988. "I knew I had PRd in the shot put, so I was happy with that. But once I heard it was a state record, that just kind of put it over the top for me."
 
Yungeberg was the lone girls record-setter for all classes in field events at the two-day meet. With her winning throw on her third attempt, she upstaged Booker, who posted the No. 1 throw in Kansas for the 2022 season with her 44-11¼ effort on May 20 at the Smith Center regional.
 
Five of Yungeberg's six throws went over 40 feet as she won her second 2A shot put title. Booker, who finished second to Yungeberg a year ago, opened with a throw of 39-4½ but fouled on three of her final five attempts for another runner-up finish.
 
"With good throws, you try to do everything perfectly that one time and it all comes together," Yungeberg said. "It felt easy and natural, and as soon as it left my hand, I knew it was going to be a good throw."
 
The shot put wasn't Yungeberg's only personal best of the meet. The All-Class 2A basketball and volleyball player went out in style in the discus, adding almost 2 feet to her winning regional throw with a toss of 136-1. Plainville's Emma Rudman was second at 130-2.
 
Yungeberg credited a focus on technique instead of a reliance on strength for helping her capture her first state discus title.
 
"Feeling how close I was last year and just being short of it, this is an amazing feeling," said Yungeberg, who took second to former Plainville thrower Brooklyn Staab in the discus last year. "I worked hard in the offseason and it feels great to get all three. That's what I've been gearing for all year."
 

ANDALE'S FAIRCHILD COMPLETES SWEEP OF CLASS 4A THROWS
 
With older sister Katelyn making her mark as a freshman javelin thrower at Texas A&M, Andale junior McKenzie Fairchild became Class 4A's frontrunner this spring in the javelin, discus and shot put.
 
Unleashing her best javelin throw since a national high school-best 169 feet, 4 inches at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in March, Fairchild won the 4A javelin title Saturday afternoon to complete a state title sweep of the three throws.
 
"Katelyn got cheated out of it," Fairchild said of her triple victory with winning throws of 163-3 (javelin), 130-1 (discus) and 40-3¼ (shot put). "Well, by me, but it's just nice to get that. You don't hear much of it.
 
"I take pride in what I do and I'm happy it's how it turned out, but most importantly, I did that for my team."
 
The Fairchild sisters swept the 4A throws at the 2021 state meet, with Katelyn winning the javelin and shot put, and McKenzie throwing a personal-best 140 feet to take the discus. The younger sibling repeated in the discus Friday morning with a throw almost 10 feet short of that, but she met her goals in her final two events on Saturday.
 
"I was really just shooting for 40s in shot and 160s for javelin, so I'm glad that I got over that mark," Fairchild said.
 
Large crowds dominated by Andale supporters gathered around the throwing areas during the 4A girls competition, and it wasn't just to see Fairchild. Her classmate, Emery May, finished second in the discus at 121-1, while Indians sophomore Jessa Jarmer took fifth at 109-4.
 
Junior Jenna Kuepker backed Fairchild's victory in the javelin with a fourth-place throw of 131-2.
 
May's discus toss marked the second time in three meets she went over 120 feet, while Kuepker's javelin effort was a personal best.
 
While Katelyn Fairchild went on to qualify for the NCAA Championships and earned the Southeastern Conference's co-freshman field athlete of the year honor this spring, McKenzie has become a team leader and vocal supporter of those who helped Andale handily win its fifth consecutive 4A girls team title with 152 points, 74 more than runner-up Eudora.
 
"We have kids that buy in to what we do," Fairchild said. "We all want to work hard and we all want to win these events. It's amazing, that feeling, when our boys and girls both win.
 
"We look at projections and we see what people think we're going to do, and we always like beating those expectations. Whenever I see somebody beating them, I get really excited."
 

CHAPARRAL'S SWARTZ, JEFFERSON NORTH'S MANVILLE WIN THIRD HIGH JUMP TITLES;
ANDOVER CENTRAL'S HARSHAW DELIVERS AT KEY MOMENT TO WIN IN CLASS 5A
 
Chaparral senior Matte Swartz and Nickerson junior Ava Jones both earned gold medals in the high jump at the 2021 state track meet.
 
With Jones moving from Class 4A to 3A this season, Swartz knew the literal bar was raised in her quest for a third 3A title before Friday's competition even started.
 
"She's a phenomenal athlete all around," Swartz said. "I kept telling my coach, 'She's going to figure it out today.' She has a 5-8 jump in her, she has a 5-10 jump in her.
 
"She's just a really good athlete, so that was definitely something I was worried about."

 
But Swartz, a Wichita State signee, used optimum efficiency to outlast Jones and the other 3A competitors. Clearing each height from 5 feet to 5-6 without a miss, the Roadrunner standout achieved the three-peat to conclude her high school career.
 
Swartz, who traded the state lead in the event this spring with Jefferson County North senior Adie Manville, waited as a trio of 3A competitors – Jones, Eureka's Brooklyn Ptacek and Thomas More Prep's Kassidi Yost – came up empty at 5-6 after clearing 5-4. While Swartz scratched from the 400-meter dash preliminaries that were contested at the same time, Ptacek and Yost interrupted their jumps to try to qualify for the 200 finals.
 
Once the title was secure, Swartz tried to match her personal best of 5-8 she set in late April at the Medicine Lodge Invitational, but settled for a victory at 5-6 for the second straight year.
 
"I stood up after sitting and I was like, 'Uh-oh,'" Swartz said. "My legs were not what they were before."
 
Manville, whose jump of 5-8½ at the Northeast Kansas League meet led all classes, won her third 2A title with a leap of 5-4 – her best at the state meet. But her time in the competition was in early jeopardy after she passed to 5 feet and missed her first two attempts.
 
"I've been coming in at 5 feet most of the year and I haven't really struggled with it," said Manville, who cleared 5-4 or better in all of her meets this season. "Today, I guess the nerves just got to me, but I got through it, so it's OK."
 
Manville, who also helped the Chargers finish third in the 2A 400-meter relay, cleared 5-2 and 5-4 without a miss, leaving Pittsburg Colgan sophomore Lily Brown and Conway Springs senior Kenzie Wenke in a tie for second at 5-2.
 
Manville credited her work with Shannon Parr, who set the 3A meet record at Rossville in 2012, for her development since she began jumping in sixth grade.
 
"I've looked up to her so much," Manville said. "She really transformed me as a jumper. From there, I gradually got better."

 
While Manville overcame an early scare in her competition, Andover Central senior Brittany Harshaw faced a now-or-never moment late in the 5A high jump. Harshaw, a Creighton basketball signee, missed her first two attempts at 5-6 when Great Bend junior Valarie Luna cleared the bar on her final attempt.
 
"When she cleared it, I knew I had to make it too to stay in the game," Harshaw said. "Having that pressure and that mentality where you have to make it really helped a lot."
 
Harshaw countered with her best jump, and won the title when both went out at 5-8. Luna's miss on her first attempt at 5-4 gave Harshaw the victory.
 
"This year, we really focused on my approach and adding speed to it, and I think that's really helped a lot," said Harshaw, who finished third a year ago.
 

ATTICA'S LOZOYA TURNS TABLES TO REPEAT AS CLASS 1A POLE VAULT CHAMPION
 
Attica senior Tamara Lozoya hadn't lost a pole vault battle in two seasons, and she didn't want to start Saturday.
 
But as her missed attempts piled up during the Class 1A competition, so did the pressure.
 
"It was kind of scary coming back as a champion," said Lozoya, who finally threw down the gauntlet with a first-attempt clearance at 10 feet, 6 inches to finish her career with back-to-back titles. "It's not easy. You're telling yourself you have to make these on first tries, and then I wasn't."
 
Lozoya held off Kiowa County sophomore Marley Little to win the Spearville regional, and Little again presented the biggest threat at the state meet. Little's clearances on her final attempts at 9 feet and 9-6 left her as one of the last two standing with Lozoya, who also missed her first two tries at 9-6 and faced a do-or-die scenario.
 
"I went to a different pole, so that made it even more nerve-wracking," Lozoya said. "I've been practicing on that one, but it was not the best. I was scared I wasn't even going to get up with it."
 
Little cleared 10 feet on her first attempt to put the heat right back on Lozoya. Again, the Bulldog standout missed her first two tries before matching Little with survival in the balance.
 
"I just had so much adrenaline going that I was like, 'I have to make it,'" Lozoya said.
 
Lozoya seized the momentum, matching her personal best on her first try at 10-6. Little wasn't able to duplicate it, allowing Lozoya to join 4A champion Annabeth Baalmann of Andale as state pole vault winners each of the last two seasons.
 

FROM 2 TO 1: PAOLA'S KAUK, MANHATTAN'S JOHNSON CLAIM COVETED JUMP TITLES
 
After posting second-place finishes in their respective specialties at last year's state meet, Paola junior Maggie Kauk and Manhattan junior Gili Johnson showed every indication this spring they were ready to complete the climb to the top.
 
Kauk did so in the Class 4A long jump, taking down fellow Frontier League competitor and defending champion Delaney Wright and others with a leap of 17 feet, 10 inches. In an adjacent pit Friday morning at Cessna Stadium, Johnson dethroned 2021 champion Olivia Pixton of Shawnee Mission Northwest for the 6A triple jump title.
 
Kauk completed an unbeaten May that included a narrow victory over Wright at the Frontier meet. She won that title with a 4A season best and personal record of 18-3, with Wright right behind at 18-1.

 
The anticipated duel never materialized, however. Kauk opened the finals with her best effort of the day, but Wright ended up fouling on four of her six jumps and finished fifth at 16-2¾.
 
"I really just focused on worrying about myself," said Kauk, who added third-place finishes in the triple jump and 400-meter relay, and a fourth-place finish in the 200 in which Wright edged her by one spot. "When they were announcing everyone else's jumps I was just like, 'Don't listen, because nothing else matters but my own.' I just worked on doing this for myself and trying to make myself better."
 
Johnson lost to Pixton by nearly 2 feet in the 6A triple jump last season. But she highlighted her improvement in mid-May at the Centennial League meet, winning with a state-best leap of 39-9½, good for 14^th on Kansas' all-time list.
 
The state rematch with Pixton was close, but Johnson won by less than 4 inches with a best mark of 38-2¾.
 
"I really pushed myself and listened more to my coaches, especially with my run-up," Johnson said. "My runs in the past have been inconsistent, and getting that consistency made it easier to get off good jumps."
 
It was the first of three second-place finishes in the meet for Pixton, who edged Johnson for the runner-up spot by 2 inches in the long jump. Johnson also took fifth in the 6A 400.
 
"I really tried to stay focused on myself," said Johnson, echoing Kauk's words earlier Friday morning. "I figured whether I finished eighth or fourth or first, that was God's plan for me."