Butler sprinter looking to continue versatile track career in college
BUTLER TWP — Staying busy suited Brayden Young just fine when it came to high school track.
He expects more of the same in college — on the track and in the classroom.
The 2022 Butler graduate is headed to Bucknell University to continue his academic and track and field career. He also considered Elon, Penn State and Duke before deciding on the Bison.
“I’m going to major in bio-chemical engineering and I got accepted into the program there,” Young said. “That clinched it for me. I’m going to get the quality education I want and I’m joining their track team in a rebuilding phase.
“I feel like I can make an impact right away there. This couldn’t have worked out any better.”
Young ran the 100 and 200 meters, 4x100 and 4x400 meter relays and competed in the long jump for the Golden Tornado. His immediate goals are to drop his personal-best times as a freshman in college.
Between cross country, men’s and women’s track over 21 years, Bucknell coach Kevin Donner is a 33-time Patriot League Coach of the Year. His teams have won 40 league championships, four of those coming in men’s track.
Bucknell men’s track finished fourth in the Patriot League this past spring.
“They’re in the process of building the men’s team back up and I’m excited about being a part of that,” Young said. “I want to be a big part of it.
“I want to run the 4x100 relay with their ‘A’ team, get my 100-meter time down to 10.5, my 200 time down to 22.0. I feel like I can get there fairly quickly.”
While his track skills are versatile, Young’s eventual career aspirations are more important.
“Brayden’’s college decision is academically-based and rightfully so,” Butler track coach Mike Seybert said. “Guys like Guinness Brown and CJ Singleton were our stars in track, but guys like Brayden helped enable the team to accomplish what it did.
“His long jump was 22 feet. We were so deep in that event ... He would have been No. 1 in the long jump at 95% of the other high school teams in this region.”
Butler sprint coach Fred Pinto worked closely with Young and admired his versatility.
“What he did here would have been such a big deal at most schools,” Pinto said. “We had a lot of talent on this team — especially the senior class — and Brayden was a big reason why we developed into a strong championship team.
“Injuries happen and he was willing to plug in just about anywhere. He was a big force for us all year.”
Young ran a leg of the Golden Tornado’s 4x400 meter relay team that broke the school record that stood for 50 years.
“We broke the 4x400n indoor and outdoor records, the 4x200 indoor record ... I loved being part of those,” Young said. “We pretty much won everything we could win. Doing that just gives you more confidence moving forward.”
Butler cross country coach Rick Davanzati said Young competed on that that team “to stay in shape and get ready for indoor season,” but he was a viable member of the cross country program nonetheless.
“He ran cross country for us all four years,.” Davanzati said. “I always appreciated his work ethic. Cross country wasn’t his main sport, but he still wanted to contribute and he did contribute.”
“Brayden is such a driven athlete who can do so many things on the track,” Seybert said. “He’ll make an impact at Bucknell. I’m sure of that.”
