Judd Covert’s family was in for a big surprise when he returned home from Saturday’s Butler Road Race 5-mile event.

The Butler Township resident was competing here for the first time since the late 1990s.

“My wife and kids didn’t come. I didn’t want them to get out of bed because I did not think I’d win,” said Covert, 41. “My wife’s gonna be mad.”

Covert made that prediction shortly after he placed first overall with a time of 32 minutes, 5.38 seconds.

Covert ran the 2K race here 26 years ago and the 5-mile race the following year. He said he began training for Saturday this time last year.

“I wanted to stay healthy and work out to get back in shape for my kids,” he said. “I’ve been running four miles every day. Here and there I would take a day off, but this race is an extra mile, so I wasn’t sure how I’d do. But I do plan on coming back next year.”

Covert led for the first mile and a half.

“Then two guys passed me and I started drafting off them. At about the 2¼-mile mark, I took control.”

In late July, Covert ran in the All Saints Parish Twilight 5K in Meridian.

“It was a little faster pace,” he said. “I did ok, placed first in my age group (at 19:39) and 11th overall.”

Morgan Kiebler started running in the seventh grade because, as she put it: “I thought I’d be decent at it. I played soccer when I was younger, but gave that up.”

One thing she did not give up was the lead on Saturday. The Seven Fields resident bolted to the front just after the women’s race began and paced the field before claiming first place with a time of 32:18.12. Among 77 other runners — men and women — the only one to finish ahead of Kiebler was men’s champion Covert.

She had competed here once before, in 2010, and remembered that the last leg is uphill toward the finish line on Main Street.

“I tried to do some uphill running to get ready for that,” said Kiebler. “I like this course. It’s out and back and wide open. The people were really supportive, cheering us on and that was nice.

“I run in marathons, too. I did the one in Pittsburgh in May, but this was my first competition since then.”

Kiebler said the weather was not optimal, even though her effort was.

“I like it to be cooler,” she said. “There was definitely a bit of humidity today, but that’s Pennsylvania.”

Running proved very beneficial to Kiebler, now 26. After graduating from Kiski Area High School, she excelled in indoor and outdoor track and in cross country at St. Francis University in Loretto.

This was the 47th year for the Butler Road Race, which is now organized by Butler Family YMCA.

Butler Road Race

5-mile Results

Men’s Top 3

1-Judd Covert 32:05.38; 2-Owen Medved 33:03.64; 3-Brendan Eicher 33:17.58

Women’s Top 3

1-Morgan Kiebler 32:18.12; 2-Kim Platt 37:19.89; 3-London Murphy 41:19.55

Age Group Winners

Men

1-12: James Christian 39:26.00; 13-18: Jason Rich 33:42.61; 19-29: Ryan Hughes 36:39.30; 30-39: Ryan Hoehn 35:25.89; 40-49: Joel Bowser 36:48.64; 50-59: Vernon Morrow 34:14.77; 60-69: Brian Phipps 39:52.13; 70-over: John Ciafre 43:03.71

Women

13-18: Ashlynn LeRoy 1:04:04.42; 19-29: Kaitlyn Snedden 54:28.97; 30-39: Sarah Hokanson 41:20.77; 40-49: Tonya Theuret 46:39.89; 50-59: Dana Nicklas 41:58.85