Fast and furious
Maura Kimmel made a bet with her mom.
Break a school record, get a dog.
Kimmel decided to leave nothing to chance, so she broke two records instead.
The Moniteau senior, who won PIAA Class AA Track and Field titles in the shot put and discus last weekend, is reminded about her record-shattering success every time she looks at her 1-year-old Golden Retriever named Pacer.
“OK, so, everyone makes fun of me for this,” Kimmel said. “I named him after my discus. I got a Pacer (brand) gold discus. And he's my Golden Retriever.”
No one is chiding Kimmel about her skill in the throwing events.
With tosses of 45 feet, 1½ inches in the shot and 146 feet, 7 inches in the discus, Kimmel finds herself atop the prestigious all-time Butler County area track and field honor roll, which spans decades.
“I don't think I even could have imagined something like that,” Kimmel said. “I didn't even know there was such a list out there. It's not something I set a goal to do.”
Kimmel broke Jayne Beatty's records at Moniteau. Beatty is still in the top five in both events.
Beatty threw 41-4 in the shot and 132-7 in the discus, both in 1980.
As a sophomore, Kimmel had the opportunity to meet and get some coaching tips from Beatty.
“My goal was always to break Jayne Beatty's records,” Kimmel said. “I would always see her name on the wall with those records. As a sophomore, she came to one of our meets and I met her and she said she wanted to work with me. I worked with her for a few weeks. It was really awesome.”
Kimmel was one of several athletes this year to break into the top spot in their events on the all-time honor roll.
Butler senior Emily Horstman became the fastest female in the 100-meter dash in Butler County area history and the only girl to break 12 seconds when she ran an 11.96 this season.
Horstman also teamed with Shana Hoy, Liz Simms and Alexis Leech in Butler's 1,600-meter relay, which grabbed the top spot in county area history with a time of 3 minutes, 54 seconds this season.Knoch junior Jordan Geist continued his assault on record books of all kinds with throws of 74-3½ in the shot and 193-6 in the discus this spring.He won Class AAA state titles in both events for the second consecutive year.Geist's best throw in the shot is nearly 13 feet farther than anyone else on the all-time list. His discus throw is 20 feet better than anyone else in Butler County area history.Seneca Valley senior Mike Kolor also finds himself on the list twice, as the top runner in the 1,600-meter run at 4:11.21 and in third place in the 800 — an event he rarely ran — with a time of 1:54.12.“It's just an honor,” Kolor said. “When you think about all the people who have competed and all the schools in the county (area), to be at the top of a list like that, it's pretty special.”No one is on the list with more frequency than Annessa Schnur Steele, who appears a staggering 13 times in nine events.The 2000 Butler graduate and former Butler girls track and field coach still holds the top spot in the 400-meter run (55.9) and in the 3,200-meter relay with Krystal Epps, Danielle Painter and Meghan Schnur.The Butler 1,600-meter relay team this spring knocked Steele and Meg Sedwick, Tanya Aubrey and Katie Butler to the second spot.In 2013 she lost her 12-year hold on the long jump when Mars' Lydia Dennis eclipsed her.“Records are meant to be broken,” Steele said. “It's still exciting. Going down the list, it's nice to still be involved.”Steele's eclectic career on the track and in the field was a reflection of the strength of the Butler teams from 1997-2000. The Golden Tornado won the WPIAL title all four years.Steele was Butler coach Mike Seybert's secret weapon.“It was fun. It was a bit stressful as well, always doing so many different things,” Steele said. “It came down to what events Coach Seybert needed me in a particular meet. That's where I ended up. Coach Seybert was so good at not only recruiting people to come out for the team, but in scouting other teams.
“A lot of people don't think of track and field as having a strategy,” Steele added. “He was the best at that.”Steele's dabbling in so many events and her success at all of them — she made a trip to the state track and field championships in four events all four years of high school and won eight state medals — landed her a scholarship at the University of Michigan.There, she continued the trend and competed in the heptathlon as well as other events, helping the Wolverines to five straight Big Ten indoor and outdoor titles in her five years there (one as a redshirt).“At Michigan it was kind of similar to Butler,” Steele said. “What events I competed in changed from meet to meet.”Other notes about the All-Time Butler County Area Track and Field Honor Roll:Dutch Ross is the earliest entry on the list.In 1935, the Butler runner logged a time of 10.7 seconds in the 100, which is still tied for second.Mars' Brad Mueller holds the top spot at 10.5 seconds in 2002.Bob Butler of Union and Tom Cowowski of Butler are 1-2 in the 200-meter dash. They both notched their honor roll times in 1967.Of the 36 events, 16 top spots have been claimed in this decade. (From 2010-present).Butler has the most athletes/relay teams leading the all-time list with 13 followed by Knoch and Seneca Valley (five), Mars (four), Slippery Rock (three), Moniteau and A-C Valley (two) and Union and Freeport (one).
