Ex-Butler standout
This is part of a summer series of Q&A features profiling Butler County area sports personalities.
Annessa (Schnur) Steele enjoyed a lot of success when she was a member of the Butler High School track and field team, having helped the team win a WPIAL Class AAA championship in all four years.
She took over the girls squad and has brought two WPIAL crowns in her first two seasons as well as an indoor title this past winter.
Her accomplishments have been well-documented as a an athlete as she is ranked in the top 10 in nine different events in the Butler County Honor Roll and finished with 13 WPIAL gold medals and added eight more PIAA medals.
What was it like to return to your alma mater and win a pair of WPIAL championships your first two years?This school means so much to me as an athlete. It did so much for my career. It’s been a dream of mine to come back and get back to the success we used to have.
What was more satisfying, winning a WPIAL title as an athlete or a coach?It’s different. You hate to say as a coach so not to take away any feeling as an athlete, but seeing the girls put so much time and seeing it as an adult is special.
Having starred at Butler, what has been the biggest adjustment you’ve had to make as a coach?I’ve been pretty lucky in the sense I was able to help out as a volunteer and help out the junior high team (2005-06). I guess the biggest thing is organizing practices and make the right workouts every day, especially when you have more than 100 athletes.
Has track and field changed much since you ran back in the late 1990s such as attitudes or training?I think it has in sports as a whole, not just track and field. People get caught up in just one sport a year. When I came through, more kids were doing three sports a year. Each season you would do something else. With AAU, kids focus on one area. Myself, I played three sports and it didn’t hurt me.
What was it like to just be inducted into the inaugural Butler High School Hall of Fame class?I was really awed. To be just one of two females (Leatha Dudeck-Baker was the other) and to be in a group with the males is great. I really love Butler and to put me in that class is an honor.
You were also a strong soccer player and played basketball. Did you ever have the desire as a youngster to pursue either sport over track and field?I think I could have played soccer or basketball at a smaller school, like Division II or III, but with track and field, I got more scholarships. I loved basketball, that was my favorite one for the team aspect, and track as well.
You received a scholarship to the University of Michigan. What was the biggest adjustment in making it to the next level?It was a really, really huge adjustment. I used to run about 20 miles a week, but before the season it jumped to 80 miles a week. We would be (at practice) three to four hours a day, especially track. It became an all-year sport. Cross country to indoor to outdoor track. It was like a full-time job. The first year was tough, but then you got used to it.
You also competed in the heptathlon at Michigan. How different was that?I was so used to running in four events in high school and here I’d have two days to do five. It depended on the meet, wherever they thought I could score points. The event I always focused on in the Big Ten meets was the (800).
Having competed in so many events in high school, where did you feel your strengths were and how do you think you would have fared if you concentrated on just a couple of events?The long jump and the 400 were probably my favorites. Every state meet, from ninth grade through my senior year, I did four events. Sometimes, I thought if I focused on just one event and didn’t beat my legs, it might have been different.As an athlete and a coach, I still see track and field as a team sport. I was able to get a lot of medals at the state meet, but my focus was always on the team.
Is it tough to see athletes you coach breaking your school records or do you find it rewarding to see?The girls always ask me the same thing, but I’m really so proud of these kids. At this point, I don’t care if I have the record. really. It’s about helping these kids develop, helping their future and helping the team be successful.
With the indoor and outdoor seasons completed, what do you do as a coach in the summer and fall months?I really encourage the kids to do other sports in the fall. In summer we give them a break. they’ll do some lifting, but that’s optional and the hurdlers and jumpers usually go to the track one day a week.There are a lot of USA meets at Slippery Rock University and other places. Lifting is the biggest thing.
What’s the one piece of advice you try to stress to your team?Track can be so individual and sometimes the girls can get stressed out, but they know we are all in this together. Every athlete will have a bad race or meet, but we’re here to pick each other up and give everything we have.
