Griffith looking to keep Class 3A titles in Butler
Drew Griffith didn’t really get to run very much during his freshman year at Butler when he had to deal with a plantar fasciitis injury.
But after what he did in 2021, everyone has a pretty good idea who the Golden Tornado distance specialist is heading into his junior year.
“There’s definitely a lot more pressure this year because, last year, nobody really knew who I was,” Griffith said. “I was injured a lot of my ninth grade year and I really didn’t get to run.”
Griffith overcame the injury and finished second to teammate C.J. Singleton in both the WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A cross country finals. Now, with Singleton off to Notre Dame, it could be Griffith’s turn to bring the title back to Butler.
If so, he has Singleton to thank for it.
“I really learned a lot, especially about training and how I should be running races,” Griffith said. “He pretty much taught me what to do and I just kept it going.”
If he wins, he will keep up a recent championship tradition for the school. Butler has had five runners bring home six individual cross country titles in its history, but three of them have come in the past five seasons.
Noah Beveridge ended a 25-year drought when he won in 2017 and Singleton won in both 2020 and 2021.
Since the WPIAL split into two boys classifications in 1963, only one Class
Boys
3A program — Mt. Lebanon (1998-03) — has had four individual champions in a six-year span. The Blue Devils are also the only school to win three consecutive individual Class 3A titles, with Greg Costello in 1998 and Shawn Cavanaugh in 1999 and 2000.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” Griffith said. “I’ve really been putting the work in all summer and I really just think that this year is going to be a good year.”
There are several runners who will challenge him.
North Allegheny sophomore Jack Bertram and Peters Township senior Brett Kroboth finished in a dead heat at the Red, White and Blue Classic at White Oak Park last year and came in third and fourth, respectively, in the WPIAL final at California University (Pa.).
Bertram was 12.7 seconds behind Griffith at the WPIAL finals and came in third place, but slipped a bit at the state championships in Hershey where he came in 13th. Kroboth was fourth in the WPIAL and was fifth in the state last year.
While Bertram had to settle for third in the WPIAL individually last year, he did help North Allegheny win its fourth consecutive WPIAL title as well as its second state championship in a row.
North Allegheny lost four of its top six finishers to graduation, but returns Bertram and junior Michael Gaunter, who also counted in the tally at the state finals.
Butler, which was second overall in the WPIAL, could be a contender as well with Griffith, junior Owen Dressler and senior Ben Lyons back.
Class 2A
Ryan Pajak became the first Ringgold runner to win an individual WPIAL cross country title in nearly 50 years.
And there’s a very real possibility he could do it again.
Pajak, who came in second by two seconds to Knoch alumnus Mike Formica as a freshman, has shown himself to be one of the top runners in the district. He won the WPIAL title last year with a time of 16:58.9 that was 34.3 seconds better than runner-up Dominic Flitcraft of Hopewell.
Flitcraft will be back this year, as will the third-place finisher, junior Matthew Otto of Quaker Valley.
While Pajak will be the person to beat individually, Hampton may have enough coming back to repeat as the team champion. The Talbots, who had never won a cross country team title in their history, return their top five finishers from 2021, including juniors Jacob Bonnar, Nathan Garrett and Dale Hall.
North Catholic and Blackhawk, the No. 2 and No. 3 finishers a year ago, also return their top four runners.
Class 1A
It took a long time, but Riverview was finally able to end its run of second-place finishes and end Winchester Thurston’s five year run at the top of the classification.
Now the question is whether the Raiders can stay there.
Riverview lost three of its top four runners to graduation, but brings back senior Amberson Bauer, who was in the top 15 individually in the WPIAL. The Raiders also have sophomore Christopher Barnes, who was among those who scored in the WPIAL team finals.
Winchester Thurston, meanwhile, had three freshmen — now sophomores — among its top five last year and will have Peter Heintzleman, Charlie Routledge and Eli DeSimone among its starters.
Individually, all will be chasing defending champion Sean Aiken of Eden Christian, who is looking to become the third runner, joining Beaver Falls’ Domenic Peretta (2014-15) and Freedom’s Adam Hessler (2018-19) as the classification’s only back-toback winners.