The St. Louis area was well represented at the recent Great Southwest Classic, which was held in Albuquerque, N.M. Area athletes competed for Team Missouri and brought home several medals from the national meet.
Former Hazelwood East star Tianna Valentine finished second in the Elite Girls 100-meter dash. Peyton Chaney (Nerinx Hall) finished second in the Elite Girls 200-meter dash.
Nataliyah Friar of Wentzville Holt finished second in the triple jump and fifth in the long jump. Alauna Ray of McCluer finished third in the triple jump, right behind Friar.
Cardinal Ritter College Prep star Charles Jones finished second in the 800-meter run and came back to anchor Team Missouri to a victory in the 4×800-meter relay in a time of 7 minutes 43.05 seconds.
Team Missouri’s girls also finished second and fifth in the 4×200-meter relay, second in the 4×100 and second in the 4×400.
Performer of the Year
Former Marquette High standout Brittney Cloudy finished her track career at Saint Louis University as one of the top jumpers in history of the Atlantic 10 Conference. Cloudy was named the A-10’s Field Performer of the Year during the Indoor and Outdoor seasons. She won both the long jump and triple jump and the A-10 Indoor and Outdoor Conference Championships this season. Cloudy won eight individual A-10 Conference titles during her career. She also leaves SLU with several school records in the jumps.
All-American
Normandy High product Paris Daniels earned All-American honors by virtue of her eighth-place finish in the 200-meter dash and the NCAA Outdoor National Meet in Des Moines, IA. Daniels attends Kansas. The All-American performance capped off an excellent season for Daniels, who was the Big XII Conference champion in the 200. She was also part of the Jayhawks’ Big XII championship team in the 4×400-meter relay.
SWAC title
Former Normandy High star Darwin Price continued his excellent collegiate career at Grambling State by leading the Tigers to the Southwest Athletic Conference (SWAC) title in both indoor and outdoor track. At the SWAC Indoors, Price won the 3,000-meter run, mile, 5,000-meter run and finished third in the 800. He also set two meet records in the process. At the SWAC Outdoors, Price was the Most Outstanding Track of the meet after winning the 1,500 and the 3,000-meter steeplechase. He was also third in the 5,000 and 800. As a senior at Normandy, Price was a triple-winner in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs at the Missouri Class 4 state championships in 2008. Price is also a standout in cross country and a top amateur boxer throughout his track career as well.
