Depth carries North Allegheny girls, Drew Griffith leads Butler boys to WPIAL 3A team titles
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Tuesday, May 7, 2024 | 9:48 PM
North Allegheny’s Sophie Aglietti wins the pole vault during the WPIAL Class 3A team track and field championships Tuesday at West Mifflin High School.
Butler’s Landon Lacey wins the 100 meters during the WPIAL Class 3A team track and field championships Tuesday at West Mifflin High School.
Norwin’s Melani Schmidt edges Mt. Lebanon’s Selma Gajgoric to win the 100 meters during the WPIAL Class 3A team track and field championships Tuesday at West Mifflin High School.
Mt. Lebanon’s Jenny Smith takes second in the pole vault during the WPIAL Class 3A team track and field championships Tuesday at West Mifflin High School.
Norwin’s Ryan Schiller wins the 110-meter hurdles during the WPIAL Class 3A team track and field championships Tuesday at West Mifflin High School.
Norwin’s Brandi Brozeski wins the 100-meter hurdles during the WPIAL Class 3A team track and field championships Tuesday at West Mifflin High School.
Butler’s Drew Griffith, Owen Dressler and Brendan Eicher win the top three places in the 3,200 meters during the WPIAL Class 3A team track and field championships Tuesday at West Mifflin High School.
North Allegheny’s Nicholas Humphries takes third in the long jump during the WPIAL Class 3A team track and field championships Tuesday at West Mifflin High School.
Butler’s Orein McBride-Cager wins the long jump during the WPIAL Class 3A team track and field championships Tuesday at West Mifflin High School.
As a former computer science teacher, North Allegheny coach John Neff built a nifty spreadsheet to keep a running score of the WPIAL team track championship.
“This is why it looks like I’m on my phone all the time,” he said with a laugh.
When Neff checked the numbers late Tuesday afternoon, he knew his girls team was in a battle. Norwin won seven individual events, but the North Allegheny girls ultimately won a third straight WPIAL 3A team title on their depth.
The NA girls won 78-72 over Norwin, with Mt. Lebanon finishing third and North Catholic fourth in the four-team championship at West Mifflin.
“Not until the high jump did we actually have it,” Neff said. “We needed those points against both Norwin and Mt. Lebanon. So it was the very last event where we finally got over 75.”
The boys championship wasn’t nearly as close. Butler ran away with the title behind senior Drew Griffith, a record-setting distance runner who won three individual events and was part of a winning relay.
The Norwin boys finished 34 points behind Butler for second. North Allegheny took third and Penn-Trafford was fourth.
Griffith, who broke a national high school record during indoor track season, won the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 meters, while also running a leg on Butler’s winning 3,200-meter relay.
“We don’t tell him you have to do this,” Butler coach Mike Seybert said of running four events. “It’s his choice. He wants to do this with his friends. We take the team title very seriously at Butler.”
It was Butler’s 11th overall and third in four years, following wins in 2022 and ’21.
Along with Griffith’s victories, the Butler boys got first-place finishes from Landon Lacey in the 100 meters, David Graef in the 200, Orein McBride-Cager in the long jump and high jump and Ayden Davis in the triple jump.
The team also had a number of second- and third-place finishes.
“Across the board, everybody pitched in what they were supposed to pitch in,” Seybert said.
The North Allegheny girls got first-place finishes from Izzy Costa in the high jump, Jamie Frisco in the shot put, Sophie Aglietti in pole vault, Audrey Maxwell in discus and Erin McGoey in the 3,200 meters, as well as a team victory in the 3,200-meter relay.
The Tigers won only six girls events, but a 1-2-3 finish in shot put showed the depth that helped the Tigers pile up points.
Neff said he discussed with his team what wins this championship.
“We talked about how almost every place is important, even if it’s a third or a second,” said Frisco, who won the shot put head of sophomore Taylor Neese and senior Lauren Burks.
“If you can push to take a spot, you should,” Frisco added. “It’s really valuable on our team. He rewards second and third just as much as first place.”
The girls title was the 14th for North Allegheny, tying Butler for the most in WPIAL history. The league has crowned team champions since 1984.
“We do have superstars … but we also have kids who are looking to scrap for seconds and thirds,” Neff said. “That makes me very proud of them. We’re going to try for first. If we can’t get first, we’re getting second.”
Norwin junior Melani Schmidt helped the Knights keep pace by sweeping the 100-, 200- and 400-meter sprints, as well as running the anchor leg in a come-from-behind win in the 1,600-meter relay.
Schmidt took the baton in second place and ran down the leader for the win.
“I just think about my teammates,” she said. “When they’re cheering me on, I think, ‘I’ve got to do this for them.’ So I kick it and I go.”
The North Allegheny girls defeated Norwin, 78-72; Mt. Lebanon, 81-69; and North Catholic, 113-31. The Butler boys defeated Norwin, 92-58; North Allegheny, 97-53; and Penn-Trafford, 98-52.
The NA boys were the defending champions.
Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.
Tags: Butler, Mt. lebanon, North Allegheny, North Catholic, Norwin, Penn-Trafford
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