Butler's WPIAL Class AAA 4x800 relay championship team includes, from left, Chesna Tomko, Erin LeMay, Liz Simms and Maggie Welty.The unit set a school record in winning the event Thursday night at Baldwin High Scjool.Justin Guido/Butler Eagle

WHITEHALL — Butler's Chesna Tomko, Maggie Welty, Erin LeMay and Liz Simms all had big smiles on their faces when they stepped onto the top perch of the podium to accept their gold medals after the girl's set a school record time of 9 minutes, 16.62 seconds in the Class AAA 3,200-meter relay race at the WPIAL Track and Field Championships Thursday,

The Butler 3,200 relay team was one of several strong showings by Butler County area athletes:

The Seneca Valley boys 3,200-meter relay team had to overcome some adversity to find itself on top of the podium.

Alex Dixon suffered an injury and was scratched from the relay, but Andrew Bachik filled in admirably as the Raiders edged Butler with a time of 7:51.37.

Butler senior Noah Beveridge just wanted to defend his title in the Class AAA boys 3,200.

And he did just that with a time of 9:20.09.

Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic sophomore Joe Kearney hit a 22 feet, 8 1/2 inches on his final jump to secure first place.

Jacob Wolfrum headlined a slew of runner-up finishers with a Butler school record in the 300 hurdles with a time of 38.73 seconds.

Other second-place finishers were Butler's Jack Codispot in the Class AAA pole vault (14-3), Butler's Jena Reinheimer in the Class AAA discus (132-7), the Golden Tornado Class AAA 1,600-meter relay team of Gabrielle Boden, Tomko, Maddie Tonini and Simms (3:54.32), and Sidney Shemanski of Freeport in the Class AAA 800 (2:16.07).

Read the full story in Friday's Butler Eagle.