CROOKSVILLE — Grace Frame's long and winding road through high school athletics will reach its final stop this weekend.

That means the balancing act will finally be over for Crooksville's four-sport standout, whose venture to Ohio State's Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium for the Division III state track and field meet will be the last time she dons a red and black jersey. She will compete in the shot and discus.

Sixteen varsity letters later, she will finally get to take a vacation with the family next week. Until then, there is a matter of unfinished business — she is aiming for a spot on the state podium for the first time.

She was also in the state last year at Westerville North but failed to place. This year she is a regional champion in the shot, which came after two previous indoor state meet appearances.

"I feel like I am a little bit more prepared than I have been in the past," Frame said prior to practice on Wednesday. "I feel like nerves a lot of times are a big part of my issues. Instead of letting the nervousness fuel my adrenaline and kickstart me into doing better, I usually let it deteriorate me and I perform at a lower level because of it."

That has changed in recent weeks. She admitted to being anxious around bigger crowds in previous years, but throwing in front of larger contingents has helped her overcome her fears.

"Having so many people at the district meet (at Nelsonville-York) really helped me get used to throwing in front of larger crowds," Frame said.

Frame's path to the regional was part of a spring sports season that again kept her on the move almost daily. When she wasn't competing in track invitationals, she was playing first base and hitting in the middle of the order for the Ceramics' softball team that won a district title for the first time in Division III since the field expanded to four divisions. 

Frame was good enough in both sports to win an MVL title in the shot, finish runner-up in the discus and earn first-team All-Muskingum Valley League in softball. That came after a first-team All-Southeast District showing in basketball and lettering four years in volleyball.

The past two weeks have been particularly draining — physically and emotionally.

The entire softball team made a surprise appearance at the MVL meet to watch her compete, something she felt inspired her and made her feel supported. The day of the district track meet at Nelsonville, she qualified for the shot in the morning, then rushed to Chillicothe Unioto for the team's district semifinal game against Portsmouth.

Frame had the game's key hit — a third-inning grand slam that provided ample breathing room in a five-inning mercy. The roles were reversed the following Wednesday. Frame played in the regional semifinals against Portsmouth West at 2 p.m., but was forced to leave the game to be at Southeastern for the regional meet to throw the shot at 3:45.

She barely had time to process it all.

"It was difficult to go from losing a regional semi game with people that I would call my best friends to realizing that I was never going to play softball again," Frame said. "It's the sport I grew up loving. It's the sport I have been playing since I was 5. But I knew after I had my initial shock of losing and a 10-minute car ride of sobbing that I needed to move on, because my goal from the beginning has always been to get back to the state meet and get back on the podium."

She responded as well as possible, winning the title in the shot while still wearing her stirrups and eye black from the softball game.

"It was a very bittersweet moment," Frame said. "Bitter because we lost the regional semi, but sweet in the fact that I have never been on top of the podium. I've never won the regional championship."

Now that the focus has been narrowed, so has the pressure of performing at a high level for two teams, rather than one. She admitted to placing undue pressure on herself trying to rush from one sport to the next, which was only exacerbated by the rash of rainouts in softball that forced rescheduling. It cost her two softball games, including a road game against Tri-Valley.

A much different challenge awaits this time at Jesse Owens Stadium, a place in which she never got to compete as a freshman after failing to get through the regional. She got a pair of practice sessions in with Maysville throws coach Dustin Young, with whom she has worked for four years, to help prepare.

Even those came after working full shifts at the Crooksville pool.

""It's the pinnacle of her career and we're hopeful she can make the podium in both events," Crooksville coach Scott Houk said. "Just super excited for her. It's all going to be decided by a few feet, whether it's shot or disc. She's right there in the middle where she is in the mix to get on the podium. Just watching what she has done over the years, we're confident that she's going to get there."

Frame thanked her coaches, Houk and softball coach Casey Vallee, for being open minded to her goals of competing in both sports and working with her schedule. Houk said Vallee "was great to work with," and couldn't have asked for a better relationship given the circumstances.

"I want kids to run track, but some of our kids work and some of our kids are dual sport athletes, and we try to make everything work," Houk said. "When we have them, we try to do everything we can with them and we're always excited when they are there. We just want our kids to have the best opportunity to compete, no matter what they do. Some kids work at 4 o'clock and others play softball."

Houk said he marveled at her resiliency and ability to juggle the two sports for four years, calling her "an amazing kid from an amazing family." Even he was concerned about her state of mind with no time to process the softball loss the day of the regional, but the coaches took care of the check-in process at the meet so Frame was able to focus on throwing.

"That was tough for her," Houk said of the softball loss. "She's walking off the field early at a regional semifinal game having to tell her teammates goodbye. It was her last softball game and she's like, 'I have to go compete in 15 minutes.' She literally had a 15-minute car ride to gather herself, and then go compete. It took her a few throws but she got through it."

Frame, who will throw for Mount Vernon Nazarene in the fall, hopes the best is still to come. She has few regrets about maintaining a frenetic spring schedule.

"I can't wait to get up there," Frame said.