PHILADELPHIA — If Butler’s boys track and field team was looking for a fitting finish, it found one.

The Golden Tornado ended a spectacular 2022 season by winning the distance medley relay Friday night and making All-American in the sprint medley relay Saturday and 4x400 meter relay Sunday afternoon at the New Balance Nationals held at Franklin Field.

Butler’s DMR quartet of Drew Griffith, Guinness Brown, Ryder Kriley and CJ Singleton won the event with a time of 9 minutes, 56.84 seconds, shattering the previous Pennsylvania record by eight seconds. Its time ranked seventh all-time in the United States among high schools.

“I’ve been wanting to get on our DMR team for more than a year,” Brown said. “With the runners we had, I knew we could run a great time. I believed we could come here and win it and we did.

“Getting the state record like that ... I guess that’s the cherry on top.”

“It’s a great feeling,” Kriley said. “This (national title) was something we’ve wanted to do for a long time.”

The Tornado beat out runner-up Ridgefield (Conn.) by 12 seconds in the DMR. Griffith ran the 1,200-meter portion of the event, Brown the 400, Kriley the 800 and Singleton the 1,600.

“It was pretty cool winning this the way we did,” Singleton said. “Great way to go out. We only run this event three or four times a year, but Guinness and Ryder are used to doing relays together, so their hand-offs are good. The distance I run, the hand-off isn’t as critical.”

Singleton competed in the 1,600 meter individual race as well. His chances of winning there ended when he fell to the track about 600 meters in.

“I got caught up in a bunch of runners, got pushed and I went down,” Singleton said. “It was unfortunate, but that kind of stuff can happen with the talent that’s on the track. It was still a good weekend.”

Landon Lacey, Brayden Young, Lucas Slear and Brown comprised the Tornado’s sprint medley relay team that placed third on Saturday. The top six in each event of the New Balance Nationals earned All-American honors.

“We’ve just never had a season like this,” Butler boys track coach Mike Seybert said. “We went for years without having a track All-American. Now we’ve had nine over the last two years. It’s been an amazing run.”

Young, Slear, Kriley and Brown ran the 4x400 Sunday that placed fifth with a time of 3:18.80. Brown ran the anchor leg of that event.

“I wasn’t even thinking of All-American, getting on the podium, nothing like that,” Brown said as he grabbed the baton for the anchor leg. “This was the last time I’d be running with these guys and I didn’t want to disappoint them. I just wanted to finish strong.”

Stowe-Munroe Falls (Ohio) won the 4x400 with a time of 3:15.78.

The 4x400 boys relay closed the weekend meet.

“We beat six of the eight teams in the fast heat,” Seybert said. “Those last 16 (4x400) teams on the track were the prima donnas, the top studs in the country. When our kids realized what they had done, they leaped over the fence to get to their parents, they were knocking each other down on the football field in jubilation.

“It was a wild scene, yet it was so surreal. This is the final meet, yet no one wants this season to end. They want to keep going somehow.”

Butler pole vaulter Tristan McGarrah placed eighth in the pole vault with a vault of 14 feet, 9 inches. Justin Rogers of Hummelstown won with a 16-8. In the girls freshman meet, the Tornado’s Aubrey Rock placed fourth in the long jump.

Butler's boys conclude a track season that included the state indoor and outdoor state titles, the WPIAL championship and the success at New Balance Nationals.

“We expected to have a great year, but honestly, we didn’t expect all of this,” Griffith said. “I mean, to win a national title ... it’s crazy.”

“This was definitely a good way to close out our high school career,” Brown said. “We’ve been running together for years. It’s hard to believe it’s finally over.

“I’ll take a week and a half off now, let my body heal up, then resume practice again and get ready for the next level.”

Brown is headed to Duke this fall. Singleton is going to Notre Dame. Slear is going to Liberty University, Young to Bucknell, Kriley still “keeping my options open,” but will land at a Division I school as well.

“The talent level of all of these guys ... just a real privilege to be able to coach and work with them,” Seybert said.

Griffith will be a junior next season.

“It’s going to be strange not having these seniors around next year,” he admitted. “I learned so much from those guys. I’ll miss them. But we’ll have to find a way to keep this going.”