Western senior Annina Gruber remembers how it felt to miss last year’s Howard County track and field meet.

Plagued by a back injury, Gruber’s 2005 season came to an end just before the county meet at Northwestern as rival Taylor won the championship. She wouldn’t let it happen again.

“I was so depressed watching that [meet],” said Gruber after helping the Panthers unseat the incumbent Titans 85-80 at Taylor on Wednesday. “I was just in tears, I wanted to run so bad. This year I made up for it.”

That she did. Gruber, who will run cross country for IPFW this fall, led Western with three wins, sweeping through the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 meters. Her last win, the 3,200 in 12:12.4, marked a 1-3-5 finish for the Panthers, giving them an insurmountable, 8-point lead entering the meet’s final event, the 4x400 relay.

Jenn Elliott was third for Western, behind Taylor’s Danielle Glick, and senior Cassie Myer was fifth. Elliott also finished second in the 1,600, which Gruber won in 5:41.04, relegating Glick to third.

“I knew I had to be ahead of [Danielle] to give us the points we needed,” Gruber said, “and Jenn Elliott was awesome, getting second and third. Our team was awesome and so into this meet. We really wanted to win Howard County.”

Northwestern was third with 54 points, and Eastern was fourth with 25.

Western’s first-year co-coach Joni McCracken said her team’s depth in the distance events was a major factor.

“Being able to have those three kids in [the 3,200] made the difference for us,” said McCracken. “Annina made a huge difference. She’s obviously tops in the county, and when you add her in, it makes a big difference.”

The Panthers had only two other winners, Laura Keyton in the 300 hurdles (50.0 seconds) and Rachel A. Smith in the pole vault (8 feet, 8 inches). Gruber’s time in the 800 was 2:29.6.

“Our goal this season was to take every meet, where we placed last year and cut that in half,” McCracken said. “So far they are bettering that each time. Going into this last stretch of the MIC and sectional, they believe in themselves. They’re becoming winners.”

Titans coach Alan Tunmer knew his team would suffer against Western’s distance corps.

“I’ve got two distance people who’ve been hurt and they’re not in shape yet,” said Tunmer. “It could turn things around in the conference and the sectional because you can only put two [runners] in the distance races.”

Taylor had its share of bright spots. Lindsey Corbitt (100 hurdles 17.10 seconds), Denae Beavers (200, 27.4) and Brittni Oliver (long jump, 15-4 1/2) were all winners, as well as all three relays. They were manned by Morgan McWhorter, Courtney Dunlap, Bridgitte Mendenhall and Glick in the 4x800, Sharayah Head, Lindsey Boyd, Jessica Wininger and Jamie Dunlap in the 4x100, and Jamie Dunlap, Beavers, Head and Mendenhall in the 4x400.

“We set a school record in the 4x8, we set a school record in the 4x1, and we did well where I thought we’d do well,” Tunmer said. “I knew their distance was going to hurt us. I tried to combat it but we just couldn’t do it because we’re not in shape yet. That makes a big difference.”

Purple Tigers sophomore Megan Schubert continued to set the local high jumping scene on its ear. She upped her own school record with a meet-record leap of 5 feet, 7 inches. Classmate Lindsey Sewell won the 400 meters in 1:00.3 and was second in the 200.

“Lindsey Sewell is doing a tremendous job for us,” said coach Peter Schroer. “She’s probably run two 200s in her life. We just want to keep her healthy and finish strong. Megan was just having a great day high jumping. She’s having fun establishing herself.”

Jackie Combs won the shot put for Northwestern with a toss of 31 feet, 6 inches, and Audrey Gaither won the 100 in 13.20 seconds.

“We didn’t finish as strong at the end as we would have liked, but I’m very pleased with the effort they put in,” Schroer said. “You’ve got to give credit to the teams ahead of us. First and second are two teams I really like and really respect.”

Kasey Kemp was Eastern’s only winner. She threw the discus 96 feet, 9 inches.

Panthers win 5th straight

Western won early and often in running away with the boys title.

The Panthers amassed 110.5 points, more than double second-place Taylor’s 52.5 total. Northwestern was third with 44, and Eastern was fourth with 37.

Senior Brandon Youngdale was the big stick for the Panthers, capturing four events, including his trademark high jump at 6 feet, 7 inches, a new meet record.

Youngdale started the evening by edging Eastern’s Austin Roark in the long jump with a leap of 19 feet, 11 1/2 inches, cruised to victory in the 400 meters in 52.9 seconds, and led off the winning 4x400 relay (3:39) that included Kyle Irwin, Brad Speck and Alex Sigler.

“I’ve been consistent [in the high jump] all season with conference coming up,” Youngdale said. “Matt Cox from Maconaquah jumped 6-6 [at the Kokomo Relays]. That’s definitely not something to look over. Aaron Heinzman [from Hamilton Heights] goes 6-4 and he’s very capable of going 6-6, so you’ve just got to keep all of those people in mind.

“This meet gets us right with our confidence. It means a lot [to win], even after we lost some pretty good seniors last year. We’ve always got people stepping up for us. Zac Martinez stepped up for us in the distance, Luke Minor ran a great race in the mile. That’s what we need for these meets coming up.”

Minor win the 1,600 in 4:40.1, Sean Holsapple won the 110 hurdles in 15.52 seconds, Irwin won the 300 hurdles in 42.5 seconds, Eric Fiscus won the shot put at 44 feet, 5 inches, and Blake Stellhorn won pole vault with a vault of 13 feet. Western also won the 4x800 relay in 9:09.3 with Tom Grider, Ryan Ore, Shawn Parkins and Martinez.

“Our last two meets we really had to put it together and we did,” said Panthers coach Dana Neer. “Our senior class has been so strong for us over the last four years, so congratulations to them for helping us win our fifth in a row. We had a great night.”

A senior, Thompson won all three of his events, including the 100 (11.50 seconds) and 200 meters (23.4) and anchoring the 4x100 relay team of Kelvin Vazquez, Zsan Black and Alex Waltman.

“It was the 200 I was worried about because the first meet of the season, [Western’s] Kyle Brown beat me, so I knew he was my competition,” Thompson said. “Right now, we’re undefeated [in the 4x100] and we want to win conference and sectional. We have five good runners who can all run that, so we’ve been trying to see which one is the best way to go, but whoever we run, we’re going to have a good team.”

Titans coach Steve Hanlon was pleased with the second-place finish.

“It’s been a while since we weren’t in the cellar of this meet,” he said. “We’ll take second. Western’s just real strong and real deep.

“Jason Thompson, as usual, had a good meet. He just continues to surprise me. If we could get his long legs moving a little better on the curve, I think he could really do something in the 200. We’re working on it.”

The Purple Tigers nabbed three firsts. Matt Ullmer won the 800 meters, going wire-to-wire in 2:09.1, and was second in the 1,600. Freshman Kory Kennedy won the 3,200 in 10:25.3 and was third in the 1,600, and classmate Brock Ford won the discus with a throw of 125 feet, 3 inches and was third in the shot put.

“Matt and Kory did an excellent job,” said coach Peter Schroer. “In the 1,600, [Matt] thought he was going to be able to kick a little stronger than he did. That’s something he’s going to have to work on with his tactics.

“Ford, it’s a big jump for him. He won [the county discus] when he was in seventh grade, he won when he was in eighth grade, then to come in and win the discus as a freshman, working with a larger disc is a transition, and he’s made it pretty well.”