Free State High senior Samantha Frisbie won’t wow you at the high jump. She’s unassuming and workmanlike and doesn’t have the gift to blow out the toughest of fields with a 6-foot jump.

Her strength, though, is the realization that the journey is just as important as the destination.

Because of that, she’s the reigning Class 6A state champion in the high jump, and now, the reigning Kansas Relays champion as well.

Frisbie cleared a mark of 5-feet, 41/2-inches Saturday in the high jump final and earned the tiebreak victory over Northern Heights’ Kelly Fields because she had fewer misses.

Frisbie cleared 4-101/4, 5-01/4, 5-21/4 and 5-31/4 on the first try. She then scratched just once before clearing 5-41/2.

Fields didn’t clear it until her third try.

Neither Frisbie nor Fields could clear 5-51/2, which gave the Kansas Relays gold medal to Frisbie.

“She’s a great competitor, because some girls can win with big jumps, and Sam can make some big jumps,” FSHS coach Steve Heffernan said. “But she also understands the event well enough that she knows if she doesn’t miss any of the heights that she can automatically make, and isn’t sloppy, a lot of times that gives her a chance to win. That’s exactly what happened today.”

Last May at state, Frisbie and Blue Valley West’s Jaclyn Blake cleared 5-4, but Frisbie took home the title by tiebreak.

Free State High's Samantha Frisbie clears the bar in the high jump at the Kansas Relays. Frisbie won the event with a jump of 5-feet, 41/2-inches Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

Saturday’s win reaffirmed Heffernan’s belief that Frisbie is as dangerous as anyone in Kansas at the high jump, even if she doesn’t win in a landslide.

“We hope to get some big jumps from her,” Heffernan said, “but she knows how to compete, and that’s fun.”

Frisbie’s title was the city highlight from the meet’s final day Saturday, but FSHS had many reasons to strut the Firebird green. Free State’s boys distance runners concluded a solid meet with two top-four finishes Saturday. The four-mile relay team of Alex Rock, Spencer Martin, Aaron Trent and Danny Schneider placed fourth in a time of 18:47.11.

Then, a fatigued Schneider, Rock and Martin teamed up with senior Nick Squier and still took second out of 33 teams in the 4×800. Their time of 8:09.85 was two seconds back of the winner, East St. Louis.

“That’s not a bad time,” Schneider said. “We were trying to get something a little faster, though. I think the four-by-mile had more of an impact than we think.”

Kansas University track signee Ashley Brown, right, clears the last hurdle en route to winning her heat of the high school girls 100-meter hurdles.

Other highlights from Saturday’s final day:

l FSHS sophomore Alysha Valencia placed sixth in a loaded girls 1,600-meter field, finishing in 5:15.12.

Her compeition included several Kansas state champions from a variety of distance events and two out-of-state girls who broke the five-minute barrier, a first in Kansas Relays history.

Valencia used a strong kick to catch several girls on the homestretch after being as low as 10th place in the last lap.

“I’m still learning how to run,” Valencia said. “If I would’ve started (the kick) 50 meters sooner, I could’ve gotten two more girls.”

• Lawrence High sophomore Amy Magnuson placed ninth in the preliminaries of the 100-meter hurdles, barely missing the eight-person finals. Magnuson’s time was 16.23.

“She said she twisted her ankle on her second step,” LHS coach Jerry Skakal said. “Not a lot, but just enough to throw her off a little bit. She still ran really well.”

• Lost in the shuffle of Frisbie’s high-jump title was another fine performance by a Firebird. Sophomore Emma Brooke tied for ninth in the competition, clearing both 4-101/4 and 5-01/4 with ease before scratching at 5-21/4.

Overall, both Heffernan and Skakal left Memorial Stadium thrilled with the abundance of personal bests turned in by their athletes this weekend. The next time the stage is this big will be at the Kansas state meet in Wichita next month.

“That’s why I like this meet. It’s a big barometer,” Skakal said. “It shows the kids there’s light at the end of the tunnel. But you have to work to get there.”