By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor

BIRMINGHAM – A year ago, Elise Picard showed up to her first state track and field meet with little experience and found herself inside the top four of two different events. A year later, she walked away with three state championships.

Competing in the AHSAA Class 1A-3A State Indoor Track and Field Championship, Picard polished off the indoor season with championship performances in the 800-meter run, 1,600-meter run and 3,200-meter run to sweep the distance races at the event.

It continued a special year that also saw her win the state’s cross country championship back in November, as she carried that into the indoor season to finish off the trifecta at the state meet.

She had never won a track state championship entering the meet, but it didn’t show in her performance, as she won each event in comfortable fashion.

The most stressful of the three wins came in the 800-meter run where she finished with a time of 2:25.88, which was less than a second ahead of Elle Ingram in second.

The other two events, however, she was able to pull away to win by at least 12 seconds.

She finished with a time of 5:26.31 in the 1,600-meter run to finish 12 seconds ahead of teammate Catherine Hinson. In the 3,200-meter run, she won by nearly 20 seconds with a time of 11:47.14, while second place finished with a time of 12:06.59.

Her success was crucial in helping Indian Springs’ girls team finish third overall on the podium with a score of 44 points, which narrowly edged out Fayette County’s 43.6 points.

Hinson was also key in that success for Indian Springs thanks to three top-10 finishes and two podium finishes.

She finished just behind Picard in the 1,600-meter run to claim second with a time of 5:38.55, while she finished third in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 12:07.18, which was less than a second out of second place. Hinson also finished ninth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:35.25.