The Boys Team and the individual girls that qualified ran very well at the PIAA STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS on Saturday.   Sophomore Jenn Cichra finished in 20:01 ( personal best) 64th of 227 Senior Autumn Pettinato ran 20:12 - within 5 seconds of personal best and finished 87th of 227 on an extremely difficult and slick course in Hershey, PA The Boys finished 4th overall in the State - the 3rd best finish of any Butler team in its history behind only the 1980 & 1981 Teams that finished 3rd and 2nd respectively. Additionally, the boys placed 3 individuals in the top 25 ( a Butler first) which garnered them each all-State status- the were Sage Vavro- 9th 16:12 / CJ Singleton 13th 16:18/ Skyler Vavro 23rd 16:28. Rounding out the Butler Scoring were Senior Tim Patterson  17:00 / Cole Lyons 17:49 / Raine Gratzmiller 18:13/ Ryder Kriley 18:43. 

Today the Golden Tornado Boys and Girls Cross Country Teams traveled to California University of Pennsylvania for the annual TSTCA XC Championships. The Butler teams ran valiantly and performed well as the boys placed second of twenty-nine full teams falling only to defending State Champions North Allegheny 67 to 81. Butler had four runners in the top eleven and were led by Sophomores Sage Vavro and CJ Singleton finishing 4th and 5th respectively. The were followed by Skyler Vavro and Senior Tim Patterson in 9th & 10th. Rounding out Butler scoring was Raine Gratzmiller in 53rd. On the Girls side, the Tornado finished a fine fifth of 27 full teams. The girls were led by Senior Autumn Pettinato, Sophomore Jenn Cichra, and Senior Chelsey Kabel in 21st, 22nd and 31st respectively. Rounding out the scoring for the Tornado girls were Sophomore Kara Kemple and Freshman Krislyn Green.   Both teams travel to Cal U again next week for the WPIAL Championships in a bid to qualify for the PIAA State Championships to be held on November 2nd in Hershey, PA    Results website - http://smileymiles.com/2019Results.html   TSTCA CHAMPIONSHIPS – California University of Pennsylvania Thursday – October 17th, 2019   Results – AAA Varsity Boys   1. NORTH ALLEGHENY – Finish Position – 1 – Team Score - 67 2. BUTLER – Finish Position – 2 - Team Score - 81 - Average Time: 16:57.72                                           Overall        Cum.                       Place Bib No Name                         Place        Place      Time             1    194  Sage Vavro                      4            4       16:14.46     2    188  Cj Singleton                    5            9       16:34.83     3    195  Skyler Vavro                    9           18       16:55.21     4    181  Timothy Patterson              10           28       16:55.96     5    166  Raine Gratzmiller              53           81       18:08.13     6    178  Cole Lyons                     56          137       18:10.47     7    173  Ryder Kriley                   71          208       18:24.38   3. MT. LEBANON – Finish Position – 3 – Team Score - 102 4. PINE-RICHLAND Finish Position – 4 – Team Score - 154 5. SENECA VALLEY Finish Position - 5 – Team Score - 199   TSTCA CHAMPIONSHIPS – California University of Pennsylvania Thursday – October 17th, 2019   Results – AAA Varsity Girls   1. NORTH ALLEGHENY – Finish Position – 1 – Team Score - 43 2. SENECA VALLEY – Finish Position – 2 – Team Score - 80 3. UPPER ST. CLAIR – Finish Position – 3 – Team Score - 114 4. PINE-RICHLAND Finish Position – 4 – Team Score - 155 5. BUTLER    Finish Position -     5 of 27 Teams - 206 Average Time: 21:16.96                                      Overall        Cum.                       Place Bib No Name                 Place        Place      Time            1    184  Autumn Pettinato 21           21       20:33.75     2    163  Jennifer Cichra      22           43       20:37.90     3    168  Chelsey Kabel        31           74       21:00.68     4    169  Kara Kemple          63          137       22:02.24     5    167  Krislyn Green        69          206       22:10.25     6    193  Aubree Tack          87          293       22:38.39     7    165  Samantha Cornell     105         398       23:01.19

EXTRA – BUTLER BOYS DEFEAT NORTH ALLEGHENY AND WIN SECTION TITLE!!! On Tuesday afternoon the Butler High School Cross Country Teams hosted the dual State defending Champion North Allegheny Boys and Girls and the Titans of Shaler. The Tornado Boys crushed the Titans 16 to 47 but, did the most damage by Toppling the Tigers of NA 26 to 30 to claim the Section 3 Crown for the first time since 1993. The Boys finished the dual meet season 7 and 0. For the Boys it was Sophomores C.J. Singleton and Sage Vavro leading the charge in 1st and 3rd, with Senior Tim Patterson and Junior Skyler Vavro in 5th and 6th respectively. Sophomore Raine Gratzmiller rounded out the scoring in 11th. Also performing well were Junior Cole Lyons and Sophomore Ryder Kriley. In the Girls Race – The Tornado blew away the Titans 18 to 40. But, fell to defending State Champions and Nationally ranked Tigers of NA 18 to 42. The girls were led by Senior Autumn Pettinato, Sophomore Jenn Cichra and Senior Chelsey Kabel. Butler’s scoring was rounded out by the fine running of Sophomores Kara Kemple, Aubree Tack and Freshman Krislyn Green. Also running fine races were Sophomore Megan Pennington and Senior Caravel Losch. The Girls finished the dual meet season 5 and 2 tied for 2nd in the tough Section 3 of the WPIAL. Both Teams move onto continued Invitational competition before going to the WPIAL Championships on October 24th.

Butler High School Cross Country – 2019 – Sponsor – Head Coach Rick B. Davanzati Tuesday September 24st 2019 – Results vs Hampton   The Butler High School Cross Country Teams traveled to Hartwood Acres on Tuesday to face off against Hampton and came away with two wins. As the Golden Tornado dispatched of the Talbots in fine fashion. The Tornado Girls led the way as they swept the first three places as they downed Hampton 21 to 34. Leading the way for Butler were Jennifer Cichra, Autumn Pettinato, and Chelsey Kabel. Rounding out the scoring for the Tornado were sophomores Aubree Tack and Kara Kemple. Also running well in the win were Samantha Cornell, Carmen Skal, Caitlin Peratt, and Megan Pennington. The Girls are now 4 and 1 on the season. In the Boys Race – The Tornado outpaced Hampton by a 18 to 44 score as the Tornado were led by sophomores CJ Singleton and Sage Vavro in first and second. Solidifying the win were the quartet of Tim Patterson, Raine Gratzmiller, Cole Lyons, and Ryder Kriley. Also performing well in the win were Senior Nathan Monday, and Freshmen Ben Lyons and Joel McCloskey. The Boys are now 5 and 0 on the season.   The Teams wrap up the dual meet portion season next Tuesday at home versus State Power North Allegheny and Shaler. Meet starts at 4:00pm in the Stadium.

On Tuesday afternoon the Butler High School Cross Country Teams hosted the Mars Planets and the Indians of North Hills. Both fell to the High Speed Winds of the Golden Tornado. The Tornado Boys knocked the Planets out of orbit by a score of 20 to 41 and blew away the Indians 15 to 50 to go 4 and 0 on the season. For the Boys it was Sophomores C.J. Singleton and Sage Vavro leading the charge with Junior Cole Lyons, Sophomore Raine Gratzmiller and Senior Nathan Monday rounding out the Butler scoring. Also performing well were Junior Brayden Koegler and Sophomore Brayden Young. In the Girls Race – The Tornado knocked down both the Planets and the Indians by similar scores defeating Mars 17 to 46 and North Hills 15 to 46. The girls were led by the trio of Seniors Chelsey Kabel, Autumn Pettinato and Sophomore Kara Kemple. Butler’s scoring was rounded out by the fine running Sophomore Aubree Tack and Freshman Krislyn. Also running fine races were Junior Caitlin Peratt and Sophomore Megan Pennington. The girls are 3 and 1 on the season.

The Butler High School Cross Country Teams traveled to Seneca Valley on Tuesday to take on the Raiders of Seneca Valley and the Rams of Pine-Richland to open up the Dual Meet Season. The Tornado Boys came away with a double victory as they took down the Raiders of SV 19 to 39 and slammed the Rams 15 to 47 to go 2 and 0 on the young season. For the boys, it was Sophomores Sage Vavro and C.J. Singleton leading the charge with Junior Skyler Vavro, Senior Tim Patterson, and Sophomore Raine Gratzmiller rounding out the Butler scoring. In the Girls Race – The Tornado split defeating Pine Richland 25 to 31 but falling to SV 22 to 37. The girls were led by the overall 1st place finish of Senior Autumn Pettinato and the gutsy performances of Sophomore Jenn Cichra and Senior Chelsey Kabel. Butler’s scoring was rounded out by the fine running of Freshman Krislyn Green and Sophomore Kara Kemple. The girls are now 1 and 1 on the season.

Saturday August 31st 2019 – McDowell Invitational Results     The Butler High School Cross Country Teams traveled to Erie on Saturday August 31st for the 46th Annual McDowell Invitational.   The Tornado came away with two team Champions as both the Boys and Girls Varsity Teams took home First Place Plaques with some very nice early season performances:   In the Boys Varsity Race it was Butler finishing in 1st place taking the Gold plaque from 19 other schools. The boys were led by returning State Qualifier, Skyler Vavro, (Jr) in 6th. Close behind Skyler were the fine early season performances of CJ Singleton (So.), Sage Vavro (So.), and Tim Patterson (Sr.) in 7th, 8th, and 0th respectively. Rounding out the scoring was Raine Gratzmiller (So) in 24th Place.   In the Girls Varsity Race – The Butler Girls were not to be out shown by the boys as the also brought home the Gold Team finish. The girls were led by Senior Chelsey Kabel in 5th Place closely followed by Autumn Pettinato (Sr.) and Jenn Cichra (So) in 6th and 7th respectively. Butler’s scoring was rounded out by Freshman Krislyn Green (19th Place) and Sophomore Kara Kemple (29th Place).