JEFFERSON CITY • When Ladue senior Samantha Levin is in the heat of competition, she's usually able to tune everything out.
But when the crowd roared at Dwight T. Reed Stadium as she approached the finish line of the 800-meter run Saturday at the Class 4 girls track and field championships, it was impossible for Levin not to take notice.
"I definitely heard it," she said. "Sometimes I don't hear people in the stands. But I heard it this time."
Levin rewrote a section of the Missouri High School Activities Association record books for the second consecutive day. On Friday she ran the event in a preliminary time of 2:08.55, breaking the Class 4 state record set by Ann Heffner of Hazelwood Central in 1992.
And on Saturday she outdid herself once again, finishing the 800 in 2:06.74.
"It hasn't hit me yet," Levin said. "I wasn't sure what my time was but I heard people cheering, so I thought maybe I got the record. I knew I wanted to go after it."
It was one momentous accomplishment after another for Ladue, which set state records in two more events before the day was done.
Senior Montenea Roye set a new state mark in the 400. She crossed the finish in 53.84, breaking the previous record of 54.85 set by Park Hill's Charmain Forest in 1987.
The last record to fall came in the 1,600 relay with LSU recruits Levin and Roye leading the charge. Juniors Shayla Arnold and Emily Warner were the other contributing runners in Ladue's final time of 3:48.00, beating the previous mark of 3:51.48 set by Normandy in 1986.
"It was like a perfect storm with how they've all come together," Ladue coach Keith Harder said. "I kind of figured (records would be broken) from the start and they knew and thought they could do it as well. It's been on each of their minds for a long time."
Nerinx Hall was the other big local winner in Class 4. The Markers netted 42 points for third place in the team standings behind meet champion Lee's Summit North (58 points) and second-place finisher Lee's Summit West (47 points). Ladue was fourth with 34 points.
One day after winning the 3,200, senior Colleen Quigley netted a championship for Nerinx Hall in the 1,600 (4:52.17) while junior teammate Peyton Chaney was first in the 200 dash in 24.54.
Other individual area Class 4 champions were Holt's Nataliyah Friar (triple jump, 39-11.25), Hazelwood East's Tianna Valentine (100, 11.69) and Parkway West's Nicole Douglas (300 hurdles, 43.21).
In Class 3, MICDS won its first state team championship with 71 points, well ahead of runner-up Festus' 45 points. Affton was fourth with 31 points.
MICDS had an outstanding meet overall but senior dynamo Lauren Waterbury was the key. Waterbury won the 200, 400, long jump and anchored the championship 800 relay.
"She's the glue," MICDS coach Jim Lohr said.
Affton got an outstanding performance from junior Hali Ford, who won the triple jump and the 100 hurdles.
