Annessa Schnur never met an event she didn't like. At the very least, she never met one in which she couldn't place.

The Butler High grad cemented her place in Butler County track and field history when, as a member of the Golden Tornado, she placed in the all-time top 10 in nine different events.

That list includes the best time recorded in the 400-meter run (55.9 seconds) and the longest distance in the long jump (18 feet, 4 inches), as well as appearances in all three relay events at least twice each.

The results were taken from an all-time list of school records submitted to the Butler Eagle in 1996 and updated from yearly.

"I think (then-Butler coach Mike) Seybert's purpose of throwing me in there was to put me wherever we needed points," said Schnur, who graduated from Butler in 2000.

Schnur's greatest asset was her versatility, but with that came success.

"Annessa was one of the fastest sprinters in the state," said Seybert, who was an assistant coach and head coach for Butler for 19 seasons before stepping down at the end of last season.

"She could go where we needed her. She could sprint, run, jump," Seybert said. "She competed in 12 or 13 different events."

Schnur's teammate, Katie Butler, was also among the most successful all-time athletes, as she landed in the top 10 in five different categories, including the best in the 800 (2:14.7 in 1999, her senior year).

She was also second in the 100 hurdles, sixth in the pole vault, on the top three 1,600 relays and No. 2 and No. 5 in the 3,200 relays."I saw her in eighth grade and she was one of those kids who was so competitive, so fast and so strong," said Seybert.Krystal Epps, who graduated last year, also placed in the top 10 in five events: second in the 400, third in the 800 and 10th in the 200. She was also a member of the No. 1 and No. 7 3,200-relay team, and the No. 4 and the Nos. 6 through 8 squads in the 1,600 relay."In ninth grade, she was fast, and in 10th grade a little faster," said Seybert. "She was a WPIAL champion (in the 800) as a sophomore."Her strength and speed will only get better as she goes through college (at Duquesne)," he added.The aforementioned trio was part of a late 1990s run that saw both the Butler boys and girls squads each post 60-plus consecutive dual-meet victories.Both Butler squads appear the most in the top 10 lists, but another school that enjoyed a string of success was the Slippery Rock girls team, which boasts six No. 1 performances.

Melissa Sopher, now a sophomore at Slippery Rock University, holds the top spot in the 100 hurdles (15.06, although Mars' Mary Malloy had a 15.1 in 1980 that was not electronically timed) and the 300 hurdles (43.78)."I didn't think how fast that was at the time," said Sopher. "There are a lot of good girls out there coming up, so I don't think it will be standing for long."Rockets coach Mike Kish credits Tom Meling for aiding Sopher's progression."He learned as much as he could to help take her to the next level," said Kish, now in his 25th year as coach at Slippery Rock."Melissa's a wonderful young lady and enjoys life. She takes on track experience like life. To me it's a pleasure to see an individual who has the ability and lives with it. Some don't take it to that extra length," Kish added.In the late 1970s and early 1980s, when Slippery Rock was a member of the WPIAL, three athletes set standards that are still standing.Kathy Lennox holds firsts in the 1,600 (5:12.32) and 3,200 (11:07.2) that she set in 1983. Liz Davis holds the top time in the 100 (12.1 in 1980), while Pam Gearing's effort in the high jump (5-10 in 1977) is still a WPIAL record."Back in the days when I had a little gumption, I would run alternating quarters with (Lennox) because no one else on the team was in her league," Kish said.

Jen Crouch of Knoch had a spectacular year in 1989, and her top javelin throw (165-9) and shot put effort (43-7) are still No. 1.Her javelin throw is still a WPIAL record for both classifications."She was a good athlete," said former Knoch girls coach Fred Bernard. "That javelin throw was the best in the nation. That was a heave."Speaking of heaves, Jim McElhaney had a few in his days for Butler. His throw of 173-3 in the discus in 1982 is seven feet ahead of Freeport's Ed King and Mars' Joe McKinney (166-4) marks, and his showing in the shot put (59-0 in 1982) trails only the Yellowjackets' Bob White heave (61-9 in 1984)."I guess back then I didn't realize how long it would be there," said McElhaney, a 1996 inductee to the Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame."It's been about 20 years. Apparently, it's held up pretty well," he added.McElhaney's had been closing in on the state record in the discus before he broke his foot before the WPIAL finals.He settled for second place in the state meet in the shot put. He had medaled at states his sophomore and junior years in the discus.Mars' Brad Mueller, now a cornerback on the Boston College football team, ran a 10.5 his junior year at Mars (2002), eclipsing the mark recorded by Butler's Bertram "Dutch" Ross in 1935 and equaled by Butler's Nick Chiappini in 1999.Ross was converted from the 100-yard dash, which he ran his senior year. Still, Mueller is impressed that some times have stood the test of time."You have to realize, back then, those times were not electronic, so you don't know how fast they really were," he said.Mueller's school-record 21.85 in the 200 placed him fourth on the all-time county list.

Mueller was a three-time WPIAL and two-time champion in the 100. He also was a WPIAL champion twice in the 200 and once in the PIAA championships, making him a double winner at Hershey as a senior.Mueller's school record eclipsed that of Bill Crummy, a 1990 Hall of Fame inductee. Crummy's 22.1 in the 200 puts him fifth in the county, but his 14.0 in the 110 high hurdles (converted from yards) in 1975 is still the area's best effort, sixth-tenths of a second better than Butler's Ted Bobby in 1969."When I ran it as a sophomore, the WPIAL record was 14.8," said Crummy, who teaches at Seneca Valley and is a hurdles coach at Pine-Richland High School."I wouldn't have thought it would have lasted this long. I'm around it enough, being a coach for 17 years, and seeing what's there," he added.The oldest record that still holds up dates back to 1967, when Union's Bob Butler ran a 21.6 in the 200.A-C Valley's Bruce Hughes fired off a javelin throw of 220-8 in 1971, which is still more than 10 feet above that of the nearest competitor, Knoch's Jim Geist (210-4 in 1985).It's been 35 years since Butler's 1,600-meter relay team of Tom Paserba, Ted Bobby, Chick Maffei and Frank Hilovsky ripped off a 3:19.0, which no one in the county has been able to surpass."We broke Farrell's (WPIAL) record and we had a faster time than Slippery Rock University," said Hilovsky, who anchored that relay.The time came at the WPIAL finals. The relay placed second in states behind Abington."We ran on cinder tracks back then," said Hilovsky "We did that at Mt. Lebanon. Everybody was pushed in that meet. We didn't realize we had broken the record."

Speaking of relays, the Butler 3,200-meter relay team of 2000 was the second best at the state meet that year.It wasn't good enough, so Adam Voll, Kregg Kozik, Erinn Otterson and John McGee decided to do it right as seniors and go out on top.The 2001 team did more than break their school record. They shattered the WPIAL record and captured the Class AAA championship with a time of 7:40.22.That was the second-fastest time in state history and the second fastest by a high school team that year."Our relay really formed during our junior year," said Otterson, now a junior on the Penn State track team. "We had a year to think about it. We were friends, and that made it special."That senior year, McGee ran a 1:53.38 in the 800, tying Butler's Ed Hartman time (1:53.4 in 1978), which stands atop the county's best.Otterson also turned in a 4:20.1 in the 1,600, which is fourth in the county all-time, 3.1 seconds behind Hartman's 4:17.0, also in 1978."I wanted the mile record my senior year and I think I would have gotten it at states, but I was hurt," said Otterson.But Otterson knew what was most important."Our relay was the focus. Everything else was secondary," Otterson added."We knew they would do well and had a great chance at states," said Seybert. "But no one could have forecasted that six, eight, 10 teams could run as fast as they did."At the beginning of their senior year, the four runners sat down with assistant coach Larry Young, who works with the hurdlers, to determine their goals for the year."He had us write down what we thought we could do that year," said Otterson. "He wrote his down and said he'd open it up at the end of the year."He wrote down 7:40, actually 7:39. That was kind of cool."