Drew Griffith was concentrated on making sure he was again the WPIAL Class 3A’s premier boys cross country runner.

He made sure any alternative, well, wasn’t really ever in play.

“I just kind of wanted to keep that tradition going and try to win it for Butler for four years in a row,” said Griffith, who on Thursday became the second Golden Tornado runner in that time span to defend his individual district crown.

Former teammate C.J. Singleton — the other Butler harrier to do so — messaged Griffith to congratulate him after he completed the White Oak Park course in 15 minutes, 5.2 seconds. That time was 26 seconds better than North Allegheny’s Jack Bertram, the second-place finisher.

The win follows Griffith’s state record-setting 5,000-meter effort at the MileStat Invitational on Oct. 14 and a tune-up in last Thursday’s Tri-State Track Coaches Association (TSTCA) Championship Meet.

“They’ve all been races that he hasn’t just sort of jogged through — starting back with the Virginia race on the 14th, where he ran that 14:21 and ran fantastic,” Golden Tornado coach Rick Davanzati said.

The route was the same as Griffith and Butler raced on last week.

“We wanted him to run the course so that he knew it and how to run — not just jog over it,” Davanzati said. “It has some tighter turns where you’re going up a slight hill and around, then it changes into a downhill around the turn. By doing that, he learned how to take the turns better to conserve more energy. ... Some of the course is a bit of a light side-hill type of deal, so you learn where to run on the course so it’s not uneven for you.”

Griffith had never been on the path before, but left having traversed it in a course record of 15 minutes, 6 seconds. That trial performance propelled him into the district run-through

“It definitely gave me some confidence, being able to see the course beforehand,” he said. “There was a hill about a mile in, and you go up that twice — through the first mile and then through a little past the two-mile marker. That hill definitely helped me kind of get an edge on my opponents.”

With that assistance, Griffith enjoyed a comfortable cushion for most of the competition.

“I kind of went out a little quick,” he said. “I decided to take a lead pretty early on — just to kind of establish myself out front — and then I just kind of led the race from there. It went pretty smoothly.”

Senior Owen Dressler crossed the finish line fourth (16:07.9), freshman Brendan Eicher 13th (16:32.2), junior Zachary Slear 22nd (16:51.6), sophomore Ethan Thomas 27th (16:57.2), sophomore Logan Rogers 34th (16:57.2), and senior Jacob Fallecker 60th (17:41.9).

Butler’s team was a runner-up to North Allegheny, bowing by a difference of eight points. The Golden Tornado qualified for the state meet, which will be held in Hershey on Nov. 4.

“It’s awesome to be able to take a team there,” Griffith said. “We did it my sophomore year, and it was just a blast. ... I’m just super happy that everyone gets to come out to Hershey and experience it and just give it their all one last time.”

Seneca Valley junior Max Smith finished 11th (16:26.3) and qualified for states. In Class 2A boys competition, Freeport junior Michael Braun was seventh in boys 2A in 16:19.1, while North junior Giacomo Lepore (16:29.4) was 10th. Trojans sophomore Tyler Carroll (17:12.8) was 27th.