If there's a way for CJ Singleton to run faster, the incoming senior on the Butler cross country and track and field teams is going to do it.

Whether that means going to the Nike Outdoor Nationals in Eugene, Ore., or traveling to Flagstaff, Ariz., for some intensive high-altitude training, sign Singleton up.

“It's an opportunity for me to elevate my running,” Singleton said. “Even if I can just drop my times a little bit by doing this, a couple of seconds, I want to do it.”

At the end of next week, Singleton will take off for Flagstaff — which sits 6,910 feet above sea level — to run with a group of 14 high school athletes from across the nation for nearly two weeks.

It's an informal training trip, but one Singleton couldn't pass up.

“It's a chance to make some new friends,” Singleton said. “I haven't met any of them. It's going to be a fun trip.”

At the Nike Nationals last week, Singleton placed seventh in the 5000-meter run with a time of 14 minutes, 43.10 seconds.

Singleton was proud of his effort against some of the best high school runners in the country.

“But it was bittersweet,” Singleton said. “The top six got All-American.”

Singleton had a few bittersweet moments as a junior.

He won the WPIAL Class 3A cross country championship and also set a school record in the fall — sweet.

This spring, Singleton again claimed a WPIAL individual title, winning the 3,200. As a team, Butler was also WPIAL champs in dominating fashion — very sweet.

Singleton, though, placed fifth in the 3,200 at the PIAA Track and field Championships — a little bitter.

“Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a state title,” Singleton said. “That was a big thing I came for. But I got to win the WPIAL championship with all my friends. I don't want to focus on what didn't happen. I want to focus on what did happen and what will happen.”

Singleton is determined to return next season and win WPIAL and PIAA titles.

Butler boys track and field coach Mike Seybert would rather focus on the sweet, too.

“CJ just had an incredible year from cross country to track,” Seybert said. “His strength is his speed and racing savvy. He's just a driven young man.”

Singleton had some help in that regard.

He and recent Butler graduate Skyler Vavro are best friends and both distance runners.

They pushed each other.

Vavro also competed at the Nike Nationals in two events — the 1-mile and steeplechase.

Vavro only practiced the steeplechase twice before running it in Oregon. He placed 10th out of 50 runners from across the country with a time of 6:14.34.

“I just wanted to give it a shot,” said Vavro, who will run cross country and track at Robert Morris University. “I just wanted to see what I could do.”

Vavro placed 19th in the 1-mile at nationals with a time of 4:16.20.

Like Singleton, Vavro turned in a big year for Butler on both the cross country course and the track.

Vavro edged Singleton at the WPIAL track and field championships in the 1,600 for the title this spring.

During that race, Vavro and Knoch's Mike Formica were running side by side at the 600-meter mark. Vavro, who rarely talks to another runner while on the track, felt something compel him to do so.

“I looked at Mike and said, 'Alright. Let's go,'” Vavro said. “I was just feeling some type of way. I tried to fist bump him, but he didn't see me.”

The WPIAL win was a vindication of sorts for Vavro, who was disappointed in his cross country season

During the cross country season, Vavro was fifth overall at the WPIAL meet.

“I honestly didn't think I was going to be where I was,” Vavro said. “A big part of it was because I had a teammate like CJ pushing me every day.”

Butler's Guinness Brown also made the trip to Oregon for the Nike Nationals and placed 16th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.67 seconds.

For the Butler trio, it was a chance to get together and run one last time.

And to do it when Olympians had just run a week before.

“Nothing compares to that facility,” Singleton said. “It was just so surreal and so crazy running there. It was a lot of fun.”