Maintaining her throne: Palmyra’s King repeats as state champ in shot put, looks to defend discus title

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Candra King is looking forward to a good night’s sleep.

“I think I’m definitely just going to crash,” the Palmyra track and field standout said after getting back to the hotel following a late team dinner Friday night.

The rest isn’t only necessary. It’s well-earned, too. 

King successfully defended her Class 3 state title in the shot put Friday during the opening day of the Missouri track and field championships at Adkins Stadium. She’ll chase her second state title of the weekend Saturday morning in the discus.

But first, she and the Panthers will get some much-needed sleep. Graduation took place Thursday night and the Palmyra contingent didn’t get to their hotel until a little after midnight. So the 6 a.m. wakeup call came rather quickly.

“So it took a little while to get going,” King said.

In fact, she faulted on her first two throws. On the first attempt, King said she was too far over the toeboard and fell over it. On the second attempt, her shot landed touching the right sector line.

“Barely, but they had to call it,” King said.

That left one attempt to earn a shot at defending her title.

“I know my capabilities, but at the same time, you’re under pressure,” said King, who would have been eliminated if she hadn’t been in the top nine out of 16 participants following the third round. “And my coach said, “I was kind of like this situation because you are under pressure and we can see how you perform under pressure.’ 

“At that point, I was like, ‘It’s going to be what it is.’ But there was just a little bit of pressure.”

No one would have known it.

King hammered a throw of 41 feet, 7 inches on her third attempt, moving from last to first with one throw. She didn’t improve her distance over the final three attempts, but no one was able to catch her either. She won the championship by more than nine inches.

“I hadn’t been throwing good the last couple of weeks going into state,” King said. “At that point, I knew I needed to try to do what’s best for my team and try to get 10 points (for winning the event). Getting a PR would be nice at state, but given the circumstances, that wasn’t going to happen.”

The Class 3 discus event is slated to take place at 9 a.m. Saturday as one of the first events of the day. 

“It’s bright and early, but that’s going to be good,” King said. “It’s supposed to be super hot tomorrow and I don’t like throwing disc when it’s hot. At least it’ll be cooler. Disc has been going pretty smooth, so I’m pretty stoked to see how that goes.”

And completing the first leg of the double defense meant a lot.

“It’s pretty cool,” King said. “As much as I can be unsatisfied with my throws, I still feel very satisfied. Going into the day, I still had pressure because you have more pressure than you did last year. It’s not just like, ‘Oh, nobody knows who you are.’ There’s pressure to defend, and I would applaud myself for pushing through today even though it wasn’t my best performance.”

Two other Palmyra athletes earned medals Friday. Evan Pennewell finished fifth in the pole vault, clearing 13 feet, 8.25 inches, and Ruby Comstock finished tied for seventh in the high jump, clearing 4 feet, 11 inches.

In Class 2, three area athletes made the podium. Mark Twain’s Ella Moss finished fourth in the long jump with a leap of 17 feet, 8.25 inches. Highland’s Bailie Crist finished sixth in the javelin with a throw of 116 feet, 11 inches. And Monroe City’s Waylon DeGrave finished seventh in the triple jump, leaping 42 feet, 0.5 inches. Mark Twain’s Isaiah Austin finished eighth in the discus with a throw of 134 feet, 2 inches.

In Class 1, North Shelby freshman Drake Prange finished sixth in the discus with a toss of 105 feet, 3 inches.