Team Missouri and Team Texas engaged in a little old-fashioned trash talking before the prestigious Great Southwest Classic track and field meet held in Albuquerque, N.M., a few weeks ago.
"They said, ‘the only thing to come out of Missouri is mules' and we said ‘yeah, but we crossed them with thoroughbreds,' " said Martise Scott, one of the coaches of Team Missouri.
Led by Hazelwood East standout Tianna Valentine and Ladue's Samantha Levin, the Team Missouri girls squad ended up earning some respect of its opponents from down South. Team Missouri swept Team Texas in the relays, which, according to Scott, was the first time any state had ever done that to powerful Texas.
"We whipped Texas's behind (in the relays)," said Scott with pride. "It was one of the first times. They usually come to the meet with two or three busloads. We usually come with like 25 kids."
This Team Missouri squad was tiny again but deadly. Texas (187.50) and Arizona (146) actually placed ahead of Missouri (126) overall in the team standings but they had much bigger teams and had several entrants in the events.
Valentine won the 100 meters in a personal record of 11.48 seconds and joined Peyton Chaney (Nerinx Hall), Asia Thomas (Cape Central and Ayesha Ewing (Cardinal Ritter) to win the 800 relay in a new meet record time of 1:35.39. The previous record was 1:36.56.
"They were flying," said Scott, who teammed up with Ryan Banta (Parkway Central), Rodney Dotson (St. Louis Blues) and Scott Knox (Moberly High). "They ended up putting us in a slow heat, which shouldn't have happened. The girls weren't happy about that."
Team Missouri also finished first and broke a record in the 1,600 relay. The team of Samantha Levin (Ladue), Kendra White (McCluer North), Thomas and Montenea Speight-Roye destroyed the previous record of 3:41.20 by clocking a 3:37.65.
Levin, who also won the open 800 in a time of 2:10.62, anchored that relay. If she had been pushed the record would have been even more impressive.
"She was anchor but she didn't have much to anchor," said Scott of Levin, who destroyed the long-time 800-meter record held by Hazelwood Central's Ann Heffner at the state meet this past spring when she ran a 2:06.74. Heffner's record (2:09.78) had stood since 1992.
Valentine also led Team Missouri's 400 relay to a first-place finish. Valentine, Shawntanay Johnson (Fox), Chaney and Ewing ran a 44.79 time.
Chaney, who hails from Swansea, Ill., also won the open 200 (24.58) and had the second best time in the 100 (11.72).
Speight-Roye (53.85), White (54.64) and Thomas (55.44) also finished second, third and fourth, respectively, in the open 400.
Scott thought the 10th place finish in the heptathlon by Cheyenne Hoerr (Affton) was also noteworthy because it was her first time competing in the event.
The Team Missouri boys squad didn't fare as well as the girls, finishing eighth overall with 35 points.
"We're starting to lose more and more talented boys (for the meet) because of the 25 days of football and basketball but primarily football," said Scott.
The Great Southwest Classic is crawling with college recruiters so Scott thinks it's an important stop for serious high school track and field athletes.
"Sponsorship is a big thing for us," Scott added. "We're trying to improve on both sides."
