Kokomo Tribune - Tuesday, May 20, 2008

When Megan Schubert won the Bremen Regional high jump competition as a sophomore in 2006 and placed sixth in the state that year, she assumed she’d be making an assault on the summit of her event the following year.

But last season was a struggle for Schubert, the Northwestern senior who captured her fourth straight sectional title at Madison-Grant last week. Last season she suffered what was believed to be a severe sprain to her right, plant ankle.

Schubert finished the season with the ankle heavily wrapped, and only after she failed to place at the state meet was it discovered there was more damage to the tendons than previously thought. It required offseason surgery.

Fully recovered, today Schubert is the No. 1 seed at Bremen in high jump as 43 Howard County area athletes compete for a berth in the 2008 IHSAA State Finals on May 30 at Indiana University.

The top three finishers in each regional event, plus any athlete who meets or exceeds the state’s three-participant standard, advance to Bloomington.

“Even making it out [of sectional last season] was a blessing and I was so thankful for that,” said Schubert, who signaled she was ready for her final season by winning the Hoosier State Relays crown this spring for schools classes 1A-3A.

Also this spring Schubert signed her letter-of-intent to continue her track and field career at the University of Louisville.

“God and I definitely had different plans last season, so it’s good to finally get back to the point where I was before I hurt myself,” she said. “I’m very thankful for where I’m at now and I’m looking forward to regional, state and Louisville.”

Schubert has made the past three trips downstate as the lone county athlete to compete. This year she could very well have some company.

The Western Panthers travel to Bremen armed with their first-ever sectional title and take a large contingent — including Nikki McCracken, seeded No. 2 in pole vault at 10 feet, and Cara Earlywine, the No. 3 seed in the 100- and 200-meter dashes.

McCracken placed sixth a year ago at Bremen and her best vault this year has been 10-3 3/4, set less than two weeks ago at the Mid-Indiana Conference meet.

Earlywine swept the 100 and 200 at Madison-Grant last week and was fifth in the regional 200 last year. She ran her best 100 time of the season (:12.81) in the sectional preliminary race and had a season’s best time of :26.84 in the 200 finals.

Earlywine pairs with freshman Alleca Kerker (No. 4 seed in the 100) to form half of the ninth-seeded 4x100 relay team, and first-year Western coach Marvin Boswell has pushed Earlywine to expand her horizons this season to include a leg of the 4x400 relay team.

“We try to build the team based around 200, 400-type runners, and with Cara, we’ve talked to her about [the regional 200] and she’d like to continue to improve that,” Boswell said earlier this season. “Well, the best way for her to improve her time in the 200 is to run that 400 race, so we bumped her up there.”

Kerker’s classmate Sable Staller has the sixth-best seed height (5-0) in high jump and is one of four freshmen among the top eight. Another is Eastern frosh Zoe Wolfe, the No. 3 seed at 5-2.

Kokomo junior Ashley DeWitt, who just recently took up throwing, is the No. 2 seed in shot put with a sectional-winning toss of 40 feet, 2 inches.

Teammate Shelby Ransbottom is the No. 7 seed in the 100-meter dash with a time of :13.22.

Western’s Lizi Chandler, the only senior of the 14 girls competing for the Panthers, returns to Bremen and is No. 5 in shot put (37-5 1/5).

Teammate Jennifer Dale, a member of both the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams, is No. 8 in pole vault.

Northwestern sophomore Kara DeFabritis earned a No. 8 seed in long jump, winning sectional with a leap of 15 feet, 8 1/2 inches.

But DeFabritis had to be replaced on the 4x400 relay by Rachel Lowden, who teamed with Lauren Brun, Lauren Dewhurst and Lindsey Sewell to win in 4:15.48 and earn the No. 8 seed at Bremen.

Peru freshman Shyann Szabo is seeded sixth in the 200 meters and eighth in the 400.

McCarter qualifies for regional

Former Kokomo hurdler Jaime McCarter is back at regional, this time for Carroll High School.

McCarter, who won the 2006 Madison-Grant Sectional 100-meter high hurdles as a sophomore for the Wildkats, finished third in both the 100 high and the 300 low hurdles at the Lafayette Jeff Sectional last week.

McCarter advances now to the West Lafayette Regional. Her times at Jeff were :17.41 in the 100 hurdles and :50.13 in the 300, and she has season-bests of :16.60 in the 100 and :49.51 in the 300.

Bremen Girls Track and Field Regional:
Area contestants:

Cass (2): Rhiannon Sanders discus; Kassi Sprinkle shot put, Brittianni Gillem 1600.
Eastern (1): Zoe Wolfe 300 hurdles, high jump.
Kokomo (8): Maddie Cassidy 400, 4x400; Ashley DeWitt shot put, discus; Abby Hemmeger 4x400; India Jackson long jump; Taquasha O’Neal 4x100; Mashilah Powell 4x100, 4x400, high jump; Shelby Ransbottom 100, 4x100; Whitney Weir 300, 4x100, 4x400.
Maconaquah (6): Krista Armstrong 4x100; Megan Frantz 800; Michelle Lay 200, 4x100; Deja Mattox 4x100; Jessica Richard pole vault; Caitlin Wahlig 4x100.
Northwestern (10): Hannah Ault 4x800; Lauren Brun 4x400; Jennifer Claudio 4x800; Kara DeFabritis long jump; Lauren Dewhurst 4x400; Nicki Hendricks 4x800; Rachel Lowden 4x400; Megan Schubert high jump; Lindsey Sewell 400, 4x400; Annie Sloss 4x800.
Peru (2): Tiffany Raber 100 hurdles; Shyann Szabo 200, 400.
Western (14): Lizi Chandler shot put, discus; Jennifer Dale 4x100, 4x400, pole vault; Cara Earlywine 100, 200, 4x100, 4x400; Jenn Elliott 800, 1,600, 4x800; Ashley Gaskins 1,600, 3,200; Kayla Gaskins 4x800; Alleca Kerker 100, 4x100; Nikki McCracken 100 hurdles, pole vault; Corianne Myer 4x800; Lacey Myer 4x800; Breana Nicholas 3,200; Danae Rittmann 4x100; Sable Staller 4x400, high jump, long jump; Maggie Talbert 4x400.