Over the next several weeks, Missouri MileSplit will be doing a deep dive into the top returners for each event heading into the 2025 Track and Field season. We will have premium rankings pieces highlighting the top 100 returners in each classification as well as an overall outlook for each event for all non-subscribers. Let's take a look a the Girls Shot Put.
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Class 5 Outlook
Liberty's Price (right) took gold, and Blue Springs Criglar (left) took bronze at state.
Class 5's top returner based on last year's enrollment numbers is Liberty's Alyssah Price, the reigning State champion, with her 13.04m (42-9.5) personal best. Based on projections for this season, it looks like Jefferson City will be moving back into Class 5, and thus 2024 Class 4 runner-up Lillian Davis (at top), as well as her teammate and fellow all-stater Stevenette Samuels, will be in the mix to dethrone Price. 
Jefferson City returners Lillian Davis and Stevenette Samuels teamed with then senior Amaya Ford to go 2-4-6 in the Class 4 Shot Put last year.
Price was two feet ahead of the next closest returner at last year's State meet and sits 2 1/2 feet ahead on overall personal bests. A'Mya Criglar, who finished third at the State meet, took a big step forward in 2024 and heads into this season as the second of three girls over 40 feet. Raymore-Peculiar's Sarai Clark is the third with her 12.29m (40-4) personal best, just a centimeter behind Criglar. She finished eighth last May, just behind Carthage junior Chasity Straw. Straw is sixth among returners on personal best. Francis Howell's Addyson Brown and Criglar's teammate Ramiyah Petty-Calhoun are fourth and fifth on best throw and round out the five returners who have a best mark over 12 meters.
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Class 4 Outlook
With Jefferson City moving up to Class 5 more than likely, the Class 4 landscape in the Girls Shot Put gets a major facelift. Pacific's McKenna Lay (below) is the top returner now with a 12.74m (41-9.5) personal best. Lay was eleventh at the State meet and only cleared 11.8 meters once last year, but will still be among the top Class 4 state title contenders.
Among the top finishers at the state meet, it's Parkway Central's Priya Cheatham (below) who is tops. Cheatham cleared 40 feet last spring with her 12.24m best last year. After posting a 12.1 meter mark only twice last spring, she has already cleared that twice this winter and appears ready to take another step forward in 2025. Warrenton's Avery Shaw is third among returners with her 12.0m (39-4.5) best and Helias Catholic's Abigail Verslues appears to be fourth. There will be several new faces on the podium in Class 4 this spring. 
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Class 3 Outlook
The top four finishers at last year's Class 3 State Championships were seniors which means we will see a fresh face atop the podium this spring. Holden's Brionna Johnson was fifth as a freshman last May and is a full meter ahead of the next closest returner with her 11.95m (39-2.5) personal best.
CA photoHancock's Eaja McBroom was eleventh at State, but is second among returners based on marks with a 10.93m (35-10.5) personal best. She came in just behind seventh and eighth finishers Samantha Turner and Cora King. Turner has thrown 10.82m (35-6) and comes into the season third, King has thrown 10.68m (35-0.5) and comes into the season fifth. Watch for Eldon's Phoebe Zacher to move up, as well, as she threw 10.73m (35-2.5) before finishing tenth at State.
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Class 2 Outlook
In looking at personal bests, East Buchanan's Brooklynn Johnson stands on top with a 12.14m (39-10) personal best, but in looking at State finishers, it's 2024 champion Kylee Dubray from Butler who stands on top. Both girls are second in those respective categories and should be poised to go toe-to-toe one again in 2025 for the top spot. Dubray won the State meet with an 11.79m mark, but she has thrown 11.87m (38-11.25) in her short career.
In fact, the entire top four from last year's State meet return for the 2025 season with third place finisher Penelope Hansen and fourth place finisher Aubrey Schwartze are back for this spring season. Hansen is the third best returner with her 11.35m (37-3). Schwartze is seventh among returners, but stepped up to the plate to climb all the way to fourth where it mattered most last year. Vienna's Ava Kloeppel is fourth among returners with her 11.32m (37-1.75) personal best, but Vienna appears to be heading to Class 1, which means she will be among the top Class 1 returners. Miller's Rachel Nunez comes in fourth with an 11.26m (36-11.25) best. Jefferson Festus senior Megan Wood may be eighth among returners, but she was eighth at last year's State meet making it five all-staters coming back for the 2024 season.
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Class 1 Outlook
Half of the 2024 Class 1 medalists are back for the 2025 season, but it's State runner-up and recent Drake University commit Ava Graham who stands well ahead of the rest. With her 12.43m (40-9.25) personal best, she is four feet ahead of Winston's Shealyn Pliley and one of the top returners in the entire state, regardless of class. Pliley was eighth last season and comes back with an 11.0m (36-1) personal best.
Ava Graham will try to add to her shot put gold and silver state medal collection a final time.
Three more girls are back with a best mark over 10.7 meters. Appleton City's Alexis Turner was sixth at last year's State meet and has thrown 10.95m (35-11) in her career. New Haven's Alayna Lagemann was tenth last May, but is fourth among returners with her 10.8m (35-5.25) personal best. Santa Fe junior Brooke Dierking is the fourth of the returning all-staters we'll mention as she comes in fifth on personal bests with a 10.7m (35-1.25) mark. Vienna appears to be moving in to Class 1, though, so we will see Ava Kloeppel and Aubrey Schwartze making a play for state hardware. Kloeppel was twelfth at State last year, but Schwartze was fourth.