Butler star distance runner Drew Griffith named inaugural Butler Eagle Boys Athlete of the Year
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Butler’s Drew Griffith became a mainstay at the top of the podium in cross country and track and field during his senior year. Eagle file photo
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Butler’s Drew Griffith was all smiles this year. Eagle file photo
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It wasn’t all individual glory. Drew Griffith also raised the WPIAL Class 3A Boys Team Track and Field Championship trophy in May. Eagle file photo
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Drew Griffith, a sophomore in this photo at the PIAA Cross Country Championships, will run again with former teammate CJ Singleton, left, at Notre Dame this year. Submitted photo
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Butler’s Drew Griffith starts strong in the Ed Hartman Memorial Mile run at the Butler Track and Field Invitational in April. Eagle file photo
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Drew Griffith celebrates winning the 2023 Foot Locker Cross Country championship in December. Submitted photo
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Drew Griffith wins the Foot Locker National Championships. Submitted photo
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Drew Griffith. Submitted photo
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Butler’s Drew Griffith, middle, ran the second-fastest 2-mile time in U.S. history, 8:31.47, at the Brooks Invitational. Submitted Photo
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Butler’s Drew Griffith gets a hug after winning the Ed Hartman Memorial Mile run at the Butler Track and Field Invitational at Art Bernardi Stadium in April. Eagle file photo
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Butler’s Drew Griffith won multiple PIAA championships in his senior year, including the 3200-meter run in the spring. Eagle file photo
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Butler’s Drew Griffith has been unanimously selected by the Butler Eagle sports team as the Butler Eagle’s 2023-24 Boys Athlete of the Year. Eagle file photo
If it seemed Drew Griffith had been there before, it’s because he had.
“You could run as many miles as possible — and that’s only half the battle,” said Griffith, Butler’s standout runner, of his preparation before races. “Obviously, I do a lot of running and a lot of workouts, but, when it comes down to it, it’s a mental sport.”
He maps out each race in his mind as he goes to sleep the night before, conceiving how it will go.
“You can never predict how each race is going to play out, but I kind of just run the race through my head how I want it to look and how I want to run it,” Griffith said. “I feel like that’s helped me out a lot.”
Over the past year, the method has aided in propelling him to a second consecutive WPIAL Class 3A cross country title, his first crown in the same classification at the PIAA level, and a national championship at the Foot Locker Nationals.
Before attaining the latter, he visualized the course setup and chose where he wanted to make his burst.
“When I got to that point ... I felt kind of like fresh, like I was ready to do this thing,” Griffith said. “I had already done it because I ran myself through that race in my mind.”
Before winning the one-mile race at New Balance Nationals last month, Griffith won district and state titles in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs, too. Along with multiple other records and achievements, he has also been unanimously selected by the Butler Eagle sports staff as the Butler Eagle’s 2023-24 Boys Athlete of the Year.
This marks the first time such an honor has been awarded, and fellow Golden Tornadoes Braylon Littlejohn and Santino Sloboda were also considered. As were Mars’ Evan Wright and Ryan Ceh, Knoch’s Codi Mullen, Karns City’s Luke Cramer and Union’s Hayden Smith.
Griffith learned the aforementioned technique at Project Gold Running Camp, a week-long excursion held each July in Flagstaff, Ariz. He remembered watching a video about an Olympics runner who wasn’t favored to win his race.
Persistent positive thoughts, Griffith said, pushed that runner to an unlikely gold medal in his event. Ever since, he’s laid down and envisioned over how the next day would play out.
“I always knew that he set up exactly how he wanted to attack each of his races,” Butler track coach Mike Seybert said. “I think that’s what calmed him down. ... He set himself up do well the best that he could. He was confident in his skill level. He never had negative thoughts enter into his preparation or on race day.”
As for physical training, the workouts varied depending on the season.
“It’s different for each race, especially cross country and track,” Griffith said. “Cross country, I’m running a lot more miles. Even when it comes race week, I’m still running a decent amount. But when it comes to track — especially like a mile race — it’s a lot of quick stuff the two days leading up to it, and it’s not high volume at all.”
Griffith gets 9-10 hours worth of sleep in order to maintain his body. He keeps a routine, doing the same stretches after workouts and enjoying the same protein chocolate milk he’s drank for around two years.
“For however long you spend running and pounding your legs out there, the running doesn’t do anything if you can’t recover and adapt to the changes that you made in a workout,” Griffith said.
“(He knew) if he just did all the right things, his body was ready to hit all of these times,” Seybert said. “He took care of himself. The average teenager, I’m not sure how many of them get 9-10 hours of sleep a night. Drew knew that that would regenerate his body so he could heal up.”
Griffith is moving on to compete at Notre Dame, leaving behind an accomplished career in blue and gold.
“It’s been everything to me just to be able to represent Butler County and my entire school and school district,” Griffith said. “It’s been a blessing to be able to do what I have, but to be able to have the support of my community around me and just kind of doing it for them has been truly amazing.”
