BUTLER TWP — Run to glory?

Butler juniors Noah Beveridge and Maggie Welty hope to do exactly that Thursday afternoon at the WPIAL Cross Country Championships, slated for Cooper's Lake.

“If they run anywhere near what they're capable of, they'll both finish among the top 10,” Butler coach Rick Davanzati said. “If they run well, they will finish among the top five.”

Both are already among the best distance runners in Butler history and want to make their mark come Thursday.

They just have a different way of expressing it.

“I totally committed to this sport my sophomore year,” Beveridge said. “Records and past accomplishments keep me motivated.

“I want to be one of the guys at the front of the pack. Mark Provenzo of Franklin Regional, Casey Conboy of Baldwin ... Those are guys I have to beat.”

Welty said she just wants to make it back to the state meet.

“Finishing in the top 10 in the WPIAL would be nice,” she said.

Welty is considered one of the top runners in WPIAL Class AAA.

“The coach has more confidence in the kid's abilities more than the kid does a lot of times,” Davanzati said. “Maggie is just one of those kids.

“She might be nervous before a meet, but she has something you can't teach. She's a competitor.”

Mike Seybert, a longtime Butler track coach, agreed.

“You have to have the total package to get where these kids have gotten,” Seybert said. “The natural ability, work ethic and competitiveness ... and these two have all of those things.

“Noah dominated at the junior high level. Maggie has incredible leg speed for a distance runner. She can succeed in the 800 as well as the two-mile.”

Both got started in running through their sixth-grade cross country meet. Both won it.

“My (sixth-grade) gym teacher, Mr. Thomkins, helps out with the junior high team and got me to run that meet,” Welty recalled. “I never ran competitively before. I ran 5K's with my mom, but just for fun.”

After he ran that sixth-grade meet, Beveridge said “I started to get into it. Going through the workouts and seeing the results with each run ... I liked that.

“I run 13 days in a row now, about 50 miles a week.”

Welty said she runs six days a week, taking Sundays off.

Following cross country season, the two will go to work on ascending to the top of the Golden Tornado's all-time record book in the 1,600 and 3,200.

Welty already stands second in Butler history with a time of 5 minutes, 9.95 seconds in the 1,600 and 11 minutes, 33.26 seconds in the 3,200. Duquesne graduate Danica Snyder holds the school marks of 5:07 and 11:09.70.

“I think I'll get her in the 1,600. I don't know about the two-mile,” Welty said. “I like the shorter race better.”

Yet she's excelling in cross country, a 3.1-mile course through the woods.

“I like the quiet of running in the woods,” Welty admitted. “I like getting out there by myself. It's peaceful.”

Beveridge is not among Butler's all-time top 10 boys in the 1,600 or 3,200 — but he's on the brink.

His 4:22.9 in the 1,600 is just six seconds shy of Ed Hartman's school record that has stood since 1978. Beveridge needs to shave 36 seconds off his two-mile time to break Evan Gomez's school mark of 9:17.

“I feel like I can get them both. That's the goal,” Beveridge said.

Beveridge has qualified for the PIAA cross country meet as a freshman and sophomore. He finished 37th at the state meet last year.

“I'm hoping to attend Penn State or Arkansas,” he said of his college aspirations. “Both are great running schools. I may study to be a journalist.”

Welty is unsure of her college choice, or if she will continue to run competitively at that level. She wants to go into nursing.

Also involved in taekwondo, Welty is a second-degree blackbelt.

“It definitely helps my running,” she said. “It keeps me disciplined when I get tired.”

Davanzati is confident Beveridge and Welty will do what needs to be done Thursday.

“Noah did so well at the state meet last year and the course was tougher than the WPIAL's,” the coach said. “These two kids just rise to the occasion.”