But as far as Academy junior Emily Koenig is concerned, she got in a pair of ceremonious trips around Mike A. Myers Stadium on Friday evening - and deservedly so.

Koenig celebrated her return to the University Interscholastic League State Track and Field Meet with a convincing victory in the Class 2A girls 3,200-meter run in the morning and still was smiling after finishing fifth in the 800 about 10 hours later, highlighting a first day in which area athletes garnered two gold medals and one silver.

“I’m already happy because I have the title from the 3,200,” Koenig said after her final race. “Now I can say I got to run the 800 at the state meet. And this morning makes up for this.”

Holland sophomore Blair Severson joined Koenig as a gold medalist by winning the Class A boys pole vault, and Bartlett senior Ted Crews seized silver in the Class A boys discus.

Koenig and Severson got the day off to a golden start for the area contingent, winning championships in back-to-back events.

In her comfort zone in the race for which she earned a silver medal as a freshman, Koenig - who did not qualify for state as a sophomore - had the field on a string in the 3,200. She never left the hip of Geronimo Navarro’s fast-starting Courtney Haass, and the duo never was threatened by the trailing six-pack of runners.

With Haass laboring to stay out front at the midway point, Koenig made her move at the 1,700-meter mark. She strode past Haass on the backstretch, built a 20-meter lead by the time she reached 1,900 meters and buried Haass with a 1-minute, 19-second fifth lap - 10 seconds faster than the previous one.

“(Haass) would surge for about 2 seconds and then taper off, but I would stay with her,” Koenig explained afterward. “Then about the mile mark, I decided not to do that anymore and just finally pull ahead of her.”

Added Academy distance coach Lee Bender: “She came up to the mile mark and I hollered that she needed to go, but she had already started. Then she just kept going.”

In the lead, Koenig never slowed, pouring it on for the final 1,200 meters to win in 11:20.01. She crossed the line more than 26 seconds ahead of Haass and was only 30 meters away from the lapping the eighth-place finisher.

“I didn’t know (how far ahead I was) until the end,” said Koenig, who secured the fifth state gold in the history of the Academy girls program and the first since Stacey Stewart won the same event in 2001. “I don’t like to take a peek.”

One hour after Koenig’s race, Severson cleared the bar at 14 feet, 3 inches to capture his gold. With the championship clinched after Iraan’s Hewitt Holmes was eliminated, Severson made three unsuccessful attempts at 15-0.

“I’m happy that I got gold,” said Severson, a sophomore who followed in the footsteps of his father and brother as state meet vaulters. “I’m not too disappointed about the height I cleared because at the beginning of the year, I wasn’t doing well at all. But I really wanted 15.”

Crews’ medal was his second in the discus in as many years, although Friday’s was one shade better than the last.

Going head-to-head with reigning champion Jonathan Lindsey of Strawn, Crews improved on his bronze from last year by uncorking a throw of 163-3 - just 6 feet off his personal-best mark - to seize the silver. Lindsey defended his title with a heave of 172-1.

“I wasn’t too far off my best throw, so that’s pretty good. But I’m not used to throwing in this heat,” said Crews, who will compete today in the shot put. “This gives me a good boost for the shot. I have to try for gold in it.”

In other boys events, Troy’s Luke Randolph was fifth in the 2A discus. His opening attempt at his first state meet measured 149-10, a mark he never bettered to finish about 31 feet back of two-time champion Sean Reagan (181-7) of Idalou.

It was another tough day for Academy’s Andrew Sodek in the 2A pole vault. Sodek, who failed to post a mark in his first state trip last year, passed at the opening height of 12-0 and again at 12-6 before missing on all three attempts at 13-0 to no-height for the second straight year. He was one of four vaulters who never cleared the bar Friday, when Grand Saline’s Colton Ross got over 15-0 to win the event.

Bruceville-Eddy’s Greg Bostick kicked the final 200 meters to finish fourth in 1:59.06 in the 2A 800, which was won by Panhandle’s Colby Skidmore (1:56.31). Eagles teammate Tye Doty (4:29.81) was fifth in a six-runner field of the 1,600, won by Pottsboro’s Nathan Collier (4:22.42).

Killeen athletes struggled throughout the day, starting with Michael Cummings’ fifth-place showing in the 4A discus - which was the high point.

The Kangaroos quarterback had a best toss of 159-1, more than 25 short of the winning throw by Red Oak’s Preston Sanders (184-5). Teammate Drevan Anderson-Kaapa was seventh in the 800 - beating only Boerne Champion’s Ethan Doherty, who did not start the race - with a time slower than Bostick’s. Fellow Roos Lemarquis Jones and Jaquail Haskins were 7-8, respectively, in the 100, Rhontae Scales was last in the shot put and Killeen’s 400 relay was sixth.

It wasn’t any better for the Lady Roos, who were led by Tiara McIver’s sixth-place finish in the triple jump. The Killeen girls 1,600 relay was seventh.

In other girls events, Troy’s Stephanie Rauch followed last year’s fifth-place finish in the 2A girls discus with a seventh-place showing Friday. Rauch (110-5) had only two measured throws to finish 22½ feet champion Emily Edwards (132-11) of Cisco.

NOTES: For the first time in 60 years, the meet had a new sound to it. John Pritchett called the action as the public address announcer in place of Phil Ransopher, who died last October after serving as the voice for the state basketball tournament and track and field meet for six decades. . . . The field events session was halted at 5 p.m. for a 15-minute graduation ceremony to honor 55 senior athletes who missed their school’s commencement. Another ceremony is set for today. . . . Two records fell on the meet’s first day. In the 4A girls 800, Mansfield Timberview’s Kristyn Williams won in 2:10.23 to break the record of 2:10.24 set by Waco’s Paula Wiese in 1982. In the 2A boys 1,600 relay, Corrigan-Camden shattered a 26-year-old record in the 1,600 relay. Its winning time of 3:15.76 erased the 3:17.24 set by Panhandle in 1983. . . . The meet’s change on the calendar from mid-May to early June because of the swine flu outbreak made a small impact on attendance numbers. The announced attendance for Friday evening’s running session was 13,942, compared to 15,500 on the first day last year.