BUTLER TWP — Ori Rinaman felt much better about his performance this time around.

Mars' junior finished the 110-meter hurdles in a personal-best time of 14.66 seconds to capture first place at the 50th Annual Butler Boys Track and Field Invitational at Art Bernardi Stadium Friday.

As a sophomore, he placed fourth with a time of 15.59.

“I medaled last year, but it wasn't my best effort,” said Rinaman, who later on Friday finished second in the 300 hurdles. “It feels good to win.

“Last year, I was focused on other events,” he added. “This year, the focus is more on the hurdles.”

Mars' record in the event is 14 seconds, set by Butler County Sports and Mars Athletic hall of famer Bill Crummy.

“To break that record would be awesome,” said Rinaman. “I'm just going to keep working hard and practicing my technique and see where it takes me.”

For the second straight year, Butler could not be beaten in the 4x800 relay.

The quartet of Brandon Critchlow, Patrick Fullerton, Adam Knauer and Josh Rader won the event in 8:21.16. Knoch placed second, .17 seconds behind the Golden Tornado.

Rader was the lone returnee from last year's winning foursome.

“It's a big deal to come back and win again,” he said. “It feels awesome.”

The 4x800 relay was the first track event of the day and was run in less than optimal conditions as a cold drizzle was falling.

“It didn't bother us,” said Knauer. “Three of us ran our best split. Winning here helps our confidence.”

Knoch's Jordan Geist showed no freshman jitters while taking the discus with a throw of 153 feet, 10.5 inches.

Earlier in the day, he took second in the shot put (58-0), three feet and one inch behind Hickory's Luke Lewis.

“They weren't my best throws, but I'm pretty satisfied,” said Geist. “I want to keep getting personal records and by the end of the season, I'm hoping to be at 175 for the discus and 65 in the shot put.”

Seneca Valley senior Brett Foster's best career time in the 800 run (1:57.07) landed him on top of the awards stand.

He placed fourth in the event here as a junior with a time of 2:00.71.

“I'd like to get my time below 1:55,” said Foster, who starred for the Raiders' cross country team last fall. “And of course, every senior wants to win at WPIALs.”

Earning second-place medals were Seneca's Brad Banks in the 400 run and Mars' Sonny Zangaro in the high jump. Knoch's runner-up quartet in the 4x800 relay included Don Bierhals, Paul Kasunic, Luke Brewer and Andy Kingan.

Butler also had a relay team take second as Robert Burdine, Terence Cannon, Tyler Roudybush and J.C. Yannotty placed behind Fox Chapel in the 4x100 event.

Hampton's Caleb Smithco went 48-1 in the triple jump, breaking the invite record that had stood for 44 years (New Castle's Butch Walker, 47-9 in 1970).

Fox Chapel won the boys team title for the second straight year.