Corner High mourns student

Students and staff at Corner High School continue to mourn the loss of a popular cheerleader.

Mikal Ann Webb, 17, a junior at CHS, died at about 1 a.m. Saturday in a crash at the intersection of White Road and Ingram Road a few miles from the school. Webb had just taken another student home after they had returned from the Yellow Jackets’ playoff football game against Deshler in Tuscumbia.

Webb apparently lost control of her car and ran off the road into a tree. A paramedic who lives near the crash scene attempted to help, but Webb died at the scene, according to CHS principal Ron Cooper.

No cause has been established for the crash.

On Monday, students held a remembrance at the flagpole outside the school’s main entrance, where the flag was lowered to half staff. During the school day, the normal schedule was scuttled so that students could talk and grieve together.

Suzi McCormack, the school’s cheerleading sponsor, said that Webb was very popular among the student body in general, and particularly among her fellow cheerleaders.

“She was an extremely outgoing young lady. She was loved by everybody, smiling all the time, completely happy,” McCormack said. “She was a hard worker and a leader as a cheerleader. She had a great work ethic.”

Webb’s loss leaves a big hole on the Jackets’ cheer squad.

“It’s going to be devastating. Just doing our exercises and seeing that empty space on the mat is going to be hard,” said Layne Hallford, a freshman cheerleader. “I grew up with her. I’ve known her since I was four or five. Our families were really close.”

“Mikal Ann was the one who made the cheerleading squad really fun,” said Karsen Frye, a sophomore.

“She’s the one whose smile kept everybody going,” said teammate Kaeli Huddleston. “Even when we wanted to quit, she would keep us going.”

“When everybody was down in practice, she would make jokes and make everybody laugh,” said sophomore Autumn Fuller.

In a main hallway, students left memorial messages on a large banner taped to a wall. By early afternoon, it was covered with messages long and short.

Not far away, the cheer squad from neighboring Hayden High also sent a banner of support. The Wildcats have had to deal with a similar tragedy in the recent past; only last Friday, they dedicated an electronic sign at their school’s entrance road, placed in memory of cheerleaders Courtney Niceley, Sarah Casey and Whitney Bradford. Those three girls died in a crash on Alabama Hwy. 160 in 2007.

For Cooper, Webb’s death was still sinking in Monday afternoon.

“It’s hard to believe after seeing her at the ball game and smiling, at 1 o’clock she’s gone,” Cooper said. “Evidently something distracted her. We don’t know what.”

Cooper said they do know Webb was not texting while driving.

“Everybody loved her. She had a bubbly personality,” Cooper said. “She always had that smile — I saw it the other night, and I can still see it now.”

The Jefferson County School Board made available a team of counselors for Corner students, standard procedure when a student dies. Superintendent Dr. Phil Hammonds also came to the school to offer his support.

The counselors were also there for the staff, who also grieved over Webb’s loss.

“We met this morning, and a lot of them were in tears. Some of them had taught Mikal Ann a long time,” Cooper said.

Mikal Ann was the sister of Nick Webb, a senior who scored the Yellow Jackets’ only touchdown in their playoff loss to seventh-ranked Deshler.

Visitation will be held Tuesday evening, 5-8 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Adamsville. A funeral mass will be held at 10 a.m. today at the church.

Cooper said that a memorial will be held at the school in the near future, but no time has been set yet.