Annina Gruber of Western won the Oak Hill Invitational on Tuesday in 16:04, then capped the week off with a first-place finish in 15:07 at the Maconaquah Invitational, leading the Lady Panthers to team championships at both meets. Her wins came at comfortable margins of 11 and 12 seconds.
"Me and my coach talked about it and he said I should win it pretty easily," Gruber said after her Oak Hill victory.
The race went so easy in fact the senior frontrunner, and this week's "Runner-of-the-Week", backed it down the second half.
"I didn't have anyone with me so I just took it in," she said.
Not so last year. Gruber finished eighth at Oak Hill and was inconsistent throughout the season.
"I always went out too fast in my races," she admitted.
A more confident runner, Gruber still wants to run up front but now knows the race is won at the end, not the beginning.
"This year she is racing much more mature," said her coach Dana Neer.