Hall of Fame
The awards banquet Friday night will honor coaches of the year, distinguished coaches, and induct five people into the Hall of Fame this year. Hall of Fame inductees this year are:
-Tony Edwards, one of the premier throws coaches in the state for decades. He coached at Mizzou in the 1990s, was the Marquette High School boys' head coach from 1997-2008, while mentoring one of the greatest females in state history, Amarachi Ukabam, who still holds the discus state record of 175-2.
-Lavar Miller is an all-time great Missouri jumper. Miller was an 8-time state champion at Berkeley High School before graduating in 1996. Miller went on to college success at Barton County Community College and Arkansas. Miller finished with a HJ PR of 2.24m/7-4.25'' in 2001 and a TJ PR of 16.30m/53-5.75''.
-St. Charles native, DeSmet Jesuit and St. Louis University alum, St. Louis University High School Head CC/TF Coach Joe Porter has led the Junior Billikens since 2010 after being an assistant to MTCCCA HOFer Jim Linhares. SLUH's earned eight straight state trophies in Porter's time as head coach and his teams claimed the 2013 and 2014 Class 4 state titles, along with two state track trophy teams. Recent MTCCCA President.
-Jim Thomson, CC/TF Official for more than 50 years. Also coached athletes in the St. Louis area.
-Parkway Central HS Girls Head CC/TF coach Ryan Banta, a leading educator on the sprints, author of "The Sprinters Compendium", has worked with some of the best athletes in state history at his alma mater, including the school season state record 4x800 of 9:06.89 by Diane Robison, Emily Sisson, Kathleen Thompson, and Lauren Johnson. Lizzie DeJoie, Skyye Lee, Kayelyn Tate, Nnenna Okpara are a few of the many standouts he's coached. Banta's 2022 Lady Colts captured the Class 4 state track title in dominating fashion, scoring 78 points, for a 26-point margin of victory.