Runners start the 2K portion of the 40th annual Butler Road Race Saturday in front of the Butler Courthouse. There were 145 finishers in the event, led by Slippery Rock's Josh Jones, who won the event for a third straight year with a time of 6 minutes, 24 seconds.

Evan Gomez knew what the conversation in the car ride home would have been about if he didn't win the Butler Road Race Saturday.

The 2011 Butler and 2015 Duquesne graduate was challenged by his girlfriend and college teammate Danica Snyder to win the 5-mile event, which she had won three years in a row.

“If she won and I didn't, I'd be hearing it,” Gomez said.

Much like in the spring, when both won Atlantic 10 titles for the Dukes, both came through. Gomez won his first title with a time of 27 minutes, 15 seconds.

Snyder won her fourth straight women's title, placing 10th overall, with a time of 30:54.

Despite steady rain throughout the race, Snyder bested her time from last year by nearly two minutes.

Snyder challenged Gomez not long after both won conference titles the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

“We had just had an article in the paper recently and it's be awesome if we could come back and run the 5-mile,” said Snyder, who also graduated from Butler in 2011. “I had a feeling he might win, so let's give them another reason to write an article. I convinced him, he wasn't that reluctant.”

Snyder and Gomez were two of 377 non-reluctant participants that slogged through the rain in the 2K and 5-mile events. Josh Jones was reluctant to get out of bed. Following a late night at work Friday, Jones was slow to get started before a persistent alarm clock got him going.

“My parents repeatedly called my cell phone,” said Jones, who graduated from Slippery Rock High School this spring. “It was a struggle to get out of bed. I worked late last night and got home around midnight.”Once Jones got up and moving, he cruised to his third straight 2K championship.Jones finished in 6:55, beating Alex Edmunds, 22, of Chicora, by 31 seconds.“I wasn't sure how I was going to feel today,” Jones said. “I've been getting back into training more for the fall. I've had some leg injuries, so I've been stretching and watching not to push it too hard.”The winner of the women's thought it would be fun to run her first 2K with her friends.Alicia Baker, 20, of York and a track athlete at Ursinus College, finished in 8:20 to edge Tabitha Donaldson by 13 seconds to claim the crown.“It was good that it started downhill, because you could let the hill do the work on the way out and I had to push on the way back,” Baker said.

There was no pushing required to get Snyder to come back for the race. This year, she ditched her runner's watch and tried a new approach. Snyder finished well ahead of Marth Beth Acker, 35, of New Wilmington.“I was looking to go out and push myself as hard as I could without overexerting,” Snyder said. “I said forget the watch and go on feel.”Gomez, who said warm up runs at college are around 10 miles, was ready for the challenge.Halfway into the road race, Gomez knew he was up to Snyder's challenge. He finished 54 seconds ahead of Slippery Rock resident Andrew Maxwell to give the couple twin titles again.“At the turnaround,” said Gomez about when he thought he could win. “Going into the turnaround was hard, but I felt good on the downhill.”

5 Mile women's winner Danica Snyder at the 40th Annual Butler Road Race.

Dave Convery, 57, of Butler, starts the 5-mile race while being encouraged by Butler Road Race President Mike Franko, right, before the start of the 2K event. Convery became the race's first wheelchair competitor and finished the course in 59 minutes, 40 seconds.