GREENTOWN - -- It's amazing what having some distance runners means to the Taylor girls track and field team.

Danielle Glick, Courtney Dunlap, Morgan McWhorter and Bridgette Mendenhall accounted for 42 points in providing the boost the Lady Titans needed to win their first-ever Mid-Indiana Conference track championship here at Eastern High School Thursday night.

Taylor finished with 120 points -- five more than runner-up Maconaquah's 115. Western's boys ran away with their third consecutive title, scoring 127 points.

It's possible Taylor hasn't accumulated 42 distance points over the last 20 years combined in the MIC.

"Four years ago, we would have said 'what's distance?' Now ...," Taylor coach Alan Tunmer said.

The Titans took second in the 3,200-meter relay before Dunlap and Glick finished 2-3 in the 1,600 run. Dunlap added a second in the 800 run before Glick defended her No. 1 seed in the 3,200. With just a pair of 200 dashes separating the races, Dunlap came back in her fourth race of the night and took fifth in the 3,200.

"This was really exciting," Glick said. "It's great to be allowed to help out with [winning.] We were definitely out to win. After having won the county, that gave us confidence and got us ready.

"We've been thinking about this since county: adding up points and thinking about what we had to do and how close it was going to be."

Dunlap, the younger sister of Titan sprinter Jamie Dunlap, finished with four miles of racing.

"We had her run the 3,200 because we were worried about not having enough points," Tunmer said. "Having Courtney and Danielle go to 2-3 in the 1,600, well I was expecting 2-5 and so that was a nice surprise. Courtney said she just felt real good and ran her race and cut 10 seconds off her best time."

The sprinters came through as well as they scored two places in the 100, 200 and 400 dashes and took second in the 400 and 1,600 relays. The Titans held a 112-109 lead going into the 1,600 relay and knew what they had to do in the last event, Jamie Dunlap said.

"We knew we had to make sure we stayed in front of blue [Maconaquah]," the junior noted. "This means everything. This [MIC championship] is what we've wanted since the beginning of the season."

They also got the job done in the field events as Dara Minglin and Sharayah Head went 1-3 in the pole vault. Minglin added a second while Shavon Smith got fourth in high jump and Sami Glassburn was fourth in shot.

The Braves did what they could to stop the Titans as Krystol Hines and Deiandra Baker were 1-2 in the 100 and 1-3 in the 200. Deja Mattox and Savannah Sano were the top two finishers in the 400 dash and Maconaquah won the 400 relay. Hines finished as the meet's high point winner.

"We did the best we could and either matched or bettered ourselves in every event," Maconaquah coach Charlie Hubler said. "We did awesome. In several events we had surprises. Kolena Bowman scored in both the 1,600 and 3,200 and Hannah Woods took fourth in the hurdles. Neither of them were supposed to score.

"Taylor is a good team and they're solid all the way through. Now, we'll go at it again in the sectional."

Hamilton Heights got wins from Alyssa Burkhardt (800), Heather Reeves (3,200), Kelsey Hanley (Discus) and the 1,600 and 3,200 relays to lead them to third. Abby Watkins claimed the 100 and 300 hurdles for Lewis Cass. Northwestern freshman Megan Schubert set a meet record in the high jump by clearing 5 feet, 4 inches while Vanessa Aders got Western's lone win in the long jump. Kasey Kemp claimed the shot put for the host Comets.

Panthers again

Western made it hard for anyone to challenge it by winning eight of the 16 events. The Huskies were second with 77 points, but that was 50 behind the Panthers. Peru finished with 71 for third, edging Maconaquah (67) and Eastern (66.5).

Panther senior Tommy Jenkins did his part by winning the titles in the 100 and 200 dashes for the third straight year and Sean Holsapple grabbed both hurdle races before they teamed to give Western the 400 relay with Aaron Trost and Alex Sigler.

"Tommy is just a tremendous leader for all of our young sprinters," Panther coach Dana Neer said. "We're going to miss him. He and our other seniors, I want to say this is the finest group this coaching staff has had. They're hard working and they're extremely competitive and they just get along extremely well. That carries over to the track and the field."

Holsapple then teamed with Kyle Irwin, Brad Speck and Moshe Rison to win the 1,600 relay. Those four wins made Holsapple the boys' high point winner.

Blayne Burkholder won the pole vault for the third straight time although a headwind straight out of the east stifled his shot at breaking the meet record. Brandon Youngdale gave Western the high jump title as well.

Titan senior Christopher Sinnett ran to wins in the 1,600 and 3,200 runs while Peru's Conrad Warder took firsts in the 400 and 800 and helped the Tigers win the 3,200 relay. Eastern's Zach McDowell won the discus while Heights got wins from Cody Faulkner in the shot put and long jumper D.J. Harbin.