At Saturday's Butler Road Race, Zach Vavro finally broke through.

After finishing runner-up in the 2K portion in 2001 and 2002, Vavro held off 2000 champion Gary Garman to pull out the victory.

Vavro, 19, finished with a time of 6 minutes 12 seconds and Garman crossed the line at 6:34.

He had placed runner-up to Erinn Otterson in both those years, while Ryan Edmiston, who won last year, finished third.

Jeremy Peterson, 20, of Franklin was fourth (6:50) and Chris Henry, 17, of Butler was fifth (7:05).

"I was just trying to run my race," said Vavro. "Gary's a great runner. He has his name in all the record books at Butler.

"I've been looking forward to this race in my training," he added.

Garman, 23, of Butler, hadn't much training to point to lately - unless you count his track and field season in 2003 at Eastern Kentucky.

"I haven't run since then," said Garman, who graduated with a degree in criminal justice. "I've been trying to gain weight for law enforcement and you can't gain weight with mileage.

"I've been weightlifting five times a week. Being 133 pounds isn't too intimidating when you have to make a traffic stop," he added.

Vavro had a small lead at the turnaround on West Penn Street and it stayed that way until they jumped back on Main Street."I was thinking (Garman) would put a surge, but I wanted to put on a surge of my own," said Vavro."Coming back on Main Street, I felt him fade a little. I thought I could still go," he added."I knew (Vavro) was an 800-meter runner and I figured he'd go 800-meter fast," said Garman. "Where (Route) 68 comes onto Main is where I wanted to go."He did a good job. He held the pace. I was pretty impressed by him. He's an 800 runner and as long as I run like an 800, I could break him. In the end, it was me that was broken."Vavro has been training to prepare for the fall, when he will be a freshman on the University of Connecticut cross country team."They're pounding me," said Vavro. "There's been a big increase in my training. They require all 800 guys to do cross country. If you're good enough, you can run. If not, then you just train with them."Although Garman didn't have the training he would have liked, this year's race may have gotten his juices flowing again."After (Saturday), there's a good chance I'll train so I can come back next year."I can't let these young pups beat me," he joked.In the women's race, Leisl Soergel, who just graduated from Butler High School, picked up her first victory with a time of 7:32, nine seconds faster than last year.

She finished six seconds ahead of Janet Carson, 16, of Portersville.Janelle Hartzell, 16, of Slippery Rock was third (7:50), Kelsey Sullivan, 15, of Harmony was fourth (7:54) and Karen Geibel, 16, of Butler was fifth (8:08)."I thought I had a chance and I hoped to do well," said Soergel, who will attend Penn State-Behrend in the fall and will run cross country and track at the Erie school."Last year, I was second, so I knew it was achievable," Soergel added.Carson was very close to Soergel during the first half of the race, a little too close for Soergel."I wanted a quick start, but perhaps it was too quick," said Soergel."I saw Janet and I wasn't feeling as well as I wanted at the turnaround. I wasn't sure I would hang on, but I did it."