Griffith headlines impressive Butler Invite
April 20, 2024 Last Updated: April 20, 2024 12:35 AM Sports
Butler’s Drew Griffith
crosses the finish line in first in the Ed Hartman Memorial Mile run at the
Butler Track and Field Invitational at Art Bernardi Stadium on Friday. Justin
Guido/Special to the Eagle
BUTLER TWP — As an
athlete and coach, Mike Seybert has seen just about everything when it comes to
track and field. Friday afternoon, however, offered him a first.
Seybert, head coach of
Butler's boys, was standing on the 50-yard line at Art Bernardi Stadium,
cheering on senior Drew Griffith as he attempted to run a sub-four minute mile
as part of the 59th Annual Butler Invitational.
The latter was on pace
to do so and as he came down the front straightaway, the crowd erupted.
"I've been coming
here for 39 years and I've never heard the crowd get that loud," said
Seybert. "Drew wasn't going to get short-changed today. Everybody here was
pulling for him."
Griffith just missed
out on his goal, finishing in four minutes, .77 seconds. The race, dubbed the
Ed Hartman Memorial Mile, in honor of the late star athlete and 1979 Butler
graduate, was run as part of the Invite's 1,600-meter run. Griffith took first
place in that event at 3:59.80, the best time in the country this season
according to MileSplit.com. Less than a second later, he crossed the finish
line for the mile.
"There's that
part of me that thinks, man, just seven-tenths of a second or whatever it was
... I mean it's like the snap of a finger, that quick. But I can't over analyze
it. I'm super-happy with my time."
The 1,600 time broke
the previous Invite record of 4:12.58 set by Butler's Noah Beveridge in 2018
and also snapped Butler's school record of 4:06.07, achieved by C.J. Singleton
in 2022.
Singleton was on hand
to lend his support. He currently is attending and competing at Notre Dame and
will soon be joined by Griffith, who won Track MVP on Friday.
"It was special
having him here, somebody I'll be running with the next couple of years,"
said Griffith. "He mentored me my first year and helped me a lot."
Also winning for
Butler were two relays. The 4x100 quartet of Logan Ekas, Landon Lacey, David
Graef and Kevin Shriver finished in 42.60, over a full second ahead of
second-place McKeesport. In the very last heat of the meet, Griffin Bauer,
Aaron Stebick, Graef and Landon Lacey won the 4x400 relay in 3:22.61. The
efforts helped Butler win the team title with 55˝ points. Norwin was second
with 45.
Slippery Rock's Levi
Prementine knows the thrill of winning a state championship — twice. Last May,
he earned PIAA Class 2A gold in the long jump and 300 hurdles.
Now a senior, he is
hoping to make a run at the same distinction in the 110 hurdles. His
performance Friday indicates he's got a legitimate shot.
Prementine won with a
time of 14.80 seconds, one-hundredth of a second faster than runner-up Davin
Gartley of Quaker Valley.
"It means a lot
to win here," he said. "Everybody here is trying their best and it
gives me the chance to show what I can do."
Prementine placed
sixth in the event at states last year. He turned in the fastest time in
Friday's preliminaries at 14.83.
"I actually felt
better in that race than I did in the final," he said. "There was
about two hours inbetween and I began to feel sluggish, but the other guys were
dealing with that, too."
Later in the day,
Prementine won the 300 event in 39.30 seconds.
Hayden Smith did not
waste his last chance to compete at the Butler Invite. The senior for Union/A-C
Valley went a personal-best 6-11 in the high jump to not only win the event,
but break a 28-year-old standard. Hempfield's Kevin Hohol set the previous
record of 6-10.5 in 1996.
"It feels
awesome. Breaking the record was my goal and this was my last chance to do
it," said Smith.
After securing the win
over his nearest competitor (North East's Noah Crozier, 6-9), Smith took three
cracks at 7-1.
"I had it
cleared, but my left elbow clipped the bar," he said.
Following are the
Butler County-area athletes who earned a medal by placing in the top eight at
Friday's Butler Track and Field Invitational.
Boys
3,200 relay: 2-Butler
( Ethan Thomas, Logan Rogers, Zach Slear, Drew Knight) 8:04.41
110 hurdles: 1-Levi
Prementine (SR) 14.80; 4-Eli Anderson (SR) 14.88
1,600 run: 1-Drew
Griffith (B) 3:59.80
400 relay: 1-Butler (
Logan Ekas, Landon Lacey, David Graef, Kevin Shriver) 42.60
300 hurdles: 1-Levi
Prementine (SR) 39.30; 4-Kyler Matson (SV) 40.01
200 dash: 2-Landon
Lacey (B) 22.54
3,200 run: 2-Michael
Braun (F) 9:02.76
1,600 relay: 1-Butler
( Griffin Bauer, Aaron Stebick, David Graef, Landon Lacey) 3:22.61; 3-Slippery
Rock ( Eli Anderson, Tyler Arblaster, Trent Davey, Doug Popovec) 3:28.17;
6-Seneca Valley ( Kyler Matson, Karter Leroy, Elliott Deutsch, Max Wagstaff)
3:31.38
Shot put: 4-Dawson
Camper (U/ACV) 49-5.5
Discus: 8-Logan
Campbell (MO) 127-2
Javelin: 4-Nico
Baggetta (B) 155-1; 8-Luke Cramer (KC) 148-10
High jump: 1-Hayden
Smith (U/ACV) 6-11; 4(tie)-Adam Rohrbaugh (MA) 6-1; 8-Braylon Littlejohn (B)
6-1
Long jump: 2-Levi
Prementine (SR) 21-10.5; 4-Orein McBride-Cager (B) 21-0.5; 8-Dustin Joyce (SR)
20-3.5
Triple jump: 7-Dustin
Joyce (SR) 43-8.5
Pole vault: 3-Ashton
Grossman (MO) 13-8
Girls
3,200 relay: 4-Seneca
Valley ( Claire Riehl, Paige Damico, Delaney Mansfield, Sydney Heltzell)
9:48.27; 5-Butler ( Ava Brewster, Makayla McLister, Lyla Bowden, Madison
McGarrah) 9:52.35
100 hurdles: 8-Autumn
Flowers (MA) 16.13
100 dash: 5-Seava
Cresta (NC) 12.78
1,600 run: 7-Madeline
Meeuf (NC) 5:11.0
400 relay: 3-North
Catholic ( Seava Cresta, Daphne Flerl, Isabella Iaquinta, Sunni Love) 50.31;
7-Butler ( Aubrey Rock, Lauren Bowden, Ari Morrow, Jocie Slesinski) 50.63
300 hurdles: 3-Lauren
Bowden (B) 46.11
800 run: 7-Madison
McGarrah (B) 2:19.94
200 dash: 8-Seava
Cresta (NC) 26.76
1,600 relay: 3-Butler
( Audrey Lehman, Madison McGarrah, Jocie Slesinski, Lauren Bowden) 4:05.77
Shot put: 6-Madison
Hunt (K) 34-5.25
Javelin: 3-Karlee
Buterbaugh (K) 127-5; 8-Evie Paserba (B) 111-6
Long jump: 2-Aubrey
Rock (B) 17-5.5; 5-Daphne Flerl (NC) 17-4; 6-Kendall Loos (K) 17-3.5
Triple jump: 4-Kara
Fennell (K) 37-0.75; 6-Hannah Ithen (U/ACV) 35-1
Pole vault:
2(tie)-Aubrey Rock (B) 11-8; 4(tie)-Mackenzie Magness (F) 11-2; 7(tie)-Kara
Fennell (K) 10-2