Butler’s Griffith breaks Pa. high school cross country record
MECHANICSVILLE, Va. — Drew Griffith competed outside of Pennsylvania and wound up leaving his mark in the Commonwealth regardless.
The Butler senior competed in the Boys Elite division of the MileStat Invitational on Saturday in Mechanicsville, Va., and won the event, completing the 5,000-meter course in 14 minutes, 21 seconds. That snapped the previous Pennsylvania high school 5,000-meter mark of 14:24, set by Gary Martin of Archbishop Wood two years ago.
“I knew what the record was and that I would have loved to break it at some point, but I didn’t go down (to Virginia) for that reason,” Griffith said. “It was a big event with a lot of top runners and I was excited to see how I’d do.”
He wound up doing better than everybody.
Griffith is ranked third among high school cross country runners nationally, according to dyeStat.com (RunnerSpace). The runner-up in the MileStat Invitational was Berkley Nance of Mills Godwin High School in Virginia.
Nance is ranked 17th nationally — and Griffith crossed the finish line 22 seconds in front of him.
“Drew ran as planned — go out with other leaders — get a feel for the field and begin to move during the second mile,” Butler cross country coach Rick Davanzati said. “He gapped Nance by five seconds by the two-mile point and further pulled away over the last 1.1 miles of the course.”
Griffith said he can often tell what his time is going to be in a raced by checking the splits while he’s running. That option was not available in this race.
He also had no one pushing him toward the end of the trace.
“I didn’t know what kind pf pace I was running, but it had to be good because of the lead I had toward the end,” he said. “When there’s no runner next to you, pushing you, you have to motivate yourself to kick into another gear.
“There were a lot of people there. That made it fun. So many people watching ... That helped me finish strong.”
Griffith also said the course was “the flattest I’ve ever run.” There was light rain falling and the temperature was around 60 degrees.
“The curse being so flat and the near-perfect running conditions definitely played a factor,” Griffith said of breaking t the state record.
There were approximately 5,000 runners competing overall.
“I usually like to pick and choose big races for our runners to compete in so we can judge where they’re at in their training at various points in the season,” Davenzati said. “When Drew ran a 15:40 in September on a hot day at California (Pa.) University, I could see he was primed to have a great senior year.”
Butler’s next big meet will be the Tri-State Track Coaches Association (TSTCA) race on Thursday.
“I still want to win the state (cross country) meet, get back to nationals again,” Griffith said. “There”s always something to run for.“
Griffith will join former Butler teammate CJ Singleton on Notre Dame’s cross country team next year.
