Jocie Slesinski, Butler boys relay teams make state indoor track and field meet after strong seasons

February 25, 2025 Last Updated: February 25, 2025 10:41 PM Sports

Butler indoor track and field's boys 4x200 relay team of Kevin Shriver, Grayden Brown, Chris Rubcic and Aaron Stebick, won gold at the TSTCA Championships at Edinboro University on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. They also broke the meet record with a 1:31.11. Submitted photo

In most years, Mike Seybert believes Butler’s indoor track and field team would have a solid contingent heading to Penn State University on Sunday for the PTFCA State Indoor Track and Field Championships.

But the 2024-25 campaign was not most years.

After a season in which the four boys relay teams consistently brought home medals, broke records and approached or set new program benchmarks, the 4x200 relay and 4x800 relay will make the two-and-a-half-hour trip east. Joining them will be girls 400-meter runner Jocie Slesinski.

The boys 4,000-meter distance medley relay and 4x400 boys relay missed the cut. The 4x800 was originally the 21st team in state qualifying, one spot out, but Butler was informed Monday another team had dropped out and Butler’s quartet was in.

It is not entirely unexpected, according to the program’s head coach, Seybert. He said the times across the state, but particularly east and in the Philadelphia region, were abnormally fast this year.

“I think on this side of the state, Norwin, Butler and North Allegheny, they’re strong, but the other side of the state, they’re having their best indoor seasons since we’ve been knocking on the door the last 15 years,” he said Saturday after the TSTCA Championships at Edinboro University.

Seybert said Sunday after the state championship qualifiers were announced, the girls 4x400 missed by .01 seconds and the boys 4x800 fell .08 short before its later addition, the 21st teams in the state. (Each event took approximately 20 qualifiers, depending on tiebreakers).

Seybert compared this year’s boys team, especially in the relays, to the 2022 squad that won the indoor state championship and outdoor state title.

Times were similar or in some cases faster this season, but the chance to compete at Penn State will not come to pass for the DMR and 4x400.

Those relays again put up big times Saturday. The 4x200 stole the show, with Kevin Shriver, Grayden Brown, Chris Rubcic and Aaron Stebick winning in a meet- and facility-record 1:31.11. That team is the second seed in next week’s state meet.

Butler’s Jocie Slesinski will compete in next week’s PTFCA State Indoor Track and Field Championships in the 400-meter dash. Butler Eagle file photo

“You need to have the quality kids that are improving and are strong sprinters,” Seybert said. “You have to hit all of your handoffs perfect. If you have a bobble or a fault in your step during handoffs (it can cost you). ... All three of our handoffs were perfect today.”

The 4x400 relay won in 3:28.55, the 4,000 DMR came in second (11:02.28) and the 4x800 finished third (8:44.33). The 4x4 team typically includes Zach Slear, Ethan Thomas, Alex Motonis and Logan Rogers.

Butler’s boys had a few other top-five finishes at Edinboro, including Rogers’ 4:31.78 for fifth in the mile, Stebick’s 51.67 for fifth in the 400 and Rubcic’s fourth in the 200 (22.97).

Seneca Valley’s Dakari Payne won the high jump with a 6-2.5.

Slesinski’s qualification, meanwhile, is almost a surprise.

The senior had never run an open 400-meter race until this season, assistant coach John Williams said Sunday. She was a high jumper as a sophomore and junior before she was added halfway into the 2024 outdoor season to the 4x400 relay team, where she helped them make the PIAA championships.

Saturday’s TSTCA race was just her fifth competitive 400, and she finished third in 59.13. She qualified 16th for the indoor state meet. Her first ever indoor 400 this season was at Penn State, creating a full-circle moment for her.

“I will say she will run the fastest time she has in her career (next week),” Williams said. “She doesn’t have a gear where she gives up ... she fights ’til the end.”

A few other notable performances Saturday at Edinboro included the girls DMR’s fourth-place finish (13:54.26) and the 4x400’s fourth-place finish (4:14.04).

Williams believes the progress the 35 girls on the indoor team made will pay dividends during the outdoor season. Multiple athletes and relays cracked the program’s all-time top-10 rankings. Slesinski will be back on the 4x400, as will Madi McGarrah.

“The season went well,” Williams said. “The kids we get for indoor, they had a great season.”