Tayinna Johnson was angry, rudderless and lost.

She acted out. Got in trouble. Was almost kicked out of school.

Then as a sophomore at Moniteau, she stumbled upon track and field.

It saved her life.

“When I was younger, I was mouthy and did stupid stuff,” Johnson said. “I fought a lot. I was a very physically aggressive type of lady. I had a lot of pent-up anger.”

Her gym teacher, Zoe McDowell, offered her a possible outlet for that misdirected fury.

At 5-foot-9 and athletic, McDowell figured Johnson could excel on the track for the Warriors.

She convinced Johnson to give it a shot.

Johnson, though, was starting from scratch.

“I had run cross country in the seventh and eighth grade, but I quit before the ninth grade because I didn't think I could run the extra mile. I didn't think I could do it. I always had a problem with sticking with things.”

Johnson's first day of track practice couldn't have gone worse.

The athletes were asked to run from one end of the gym to another, stop and do five jumping jacks and then five pushups before running back again.

Johnson couldn't complete five pushups.

“I almost cried,” Johnson said. “I don't even remember a lot after that.”

But Johnson kept coming back.

That even surprised her.

Her sophomore track season went by with few accomplishments. The biggest one for Johnson, though, was simply remaining on the team.

Her behavior improved.

By indoor season as a junior, something clicked for Johnson.

When the outdoor season hit, Johnson continued to flourish, ran a time of 16.5 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles and placed second at the District 9 Class AA Track and Field Championships to qualify for the state meet.

“I cried on the podium,” Johnson said. “I was just so happy.”

Johnson didn't have the PIAA Track and Field Championship race she was hoping for, but that hardly mattered to her.

What did was the sense of accomplishment she achieved from sticking with track against her self-destructive instinct to quit.

“Track is probably the best thing that could have happened to me, really,” said Johnson, now a senior. “It helped my social skills. It helped me get out some of that pent-up aggression. It gave me something to focus on. I had goals and that was really great for someone like me.”

Because of the coronavirus pandemic and the cancelation of spring sports, Johnson won't have the chance to build on the success of her junior campaign.

The senior also won't have a chance to rectify one of her biggest regrets.

“I wish I would have made better relationships,” Johnson said. “One of my coaches told me when he looked at the team, he saw the team and then Tay.

“When I was focused on the hurdles, I was focused on the hurdles,” Johnson added. “I guess I came off as a little standoffish.”

Johnson was adopted by her grandparents at a young age.

Her grandfather was in the Army and Johnson enlisted as a soldier in November.

Johnson will study helicopter repair during her six-year commitment in the Army.

She will also likely run track, the sport that rescued her from a bleak future.

“I turned it around,” Johnson said. “If you would talk to my teachers at Moniteau, I think they'd say I turned it around. I hope so.”