NORTH HUNTINGDON — OK, so Thursday's WPIALClass AAA Track and Field Team Championship meet at Norwin High School was considered the finals, but, technically, it wasn't.

Due to the steady rain, the pole vault event in both the boys and girls meets was not contested, but was rescheduled for 3:30 p.m. Monday for those teams that still have a chance at the WPIAL crown.

Count the Butler boys as one of those teams.

After Thursday, the Tornado trail Latrobe 74-67 for the championship. Should Butler place first and second and Latrobe finish third in Monday's pole vault, the score would be tied at 75-all.

The first tiebreaker is most first-place finishes, which Butler would win 10-8.

Butler also defeated North Allegheny 77-64 and Baldwin 120-21. No pole vault will be needed to conclude those matchups.

"It's very emotional," said Butler boys coach Rick Schontz describing the day. "It's turning out the way we thought. You're strong in some areas and not so strong in others.

"To come back on Monday, it's the only fair way,"Schontz added.

In the girls meet, Norwin leads North Allegheny 75-66, so the Knights need just a third-place finish against the Tigers in Monday's pole vault event to win the championship.

The Tornado girls defeated Latrobe 89-52 but lost to Norwin 84-57 and North Allegheny 88-53 to take third place for the second consecutive year.

"That's what we thought would happen," said Butler girls coach Rod Harris. "When we scored this before the meet, we knew Norwin and North Allegheny had too much depth.

"Overall, the girls did well. ... We need to do some recruiting and get more depth for next year," he added.

The Butler boys team's biggest boost came from the field events. Mike Martin (triple jump, 42 feet, 9½ inches), Brian McCandless (high jump 5-8), Marcus Hough (shot put, 48-0), Nolan Brink (discus, 145-7) and Harold Dunn (javelin, 160-11) were overall winners in their respective events.

The Tornado's only other overall winner was Brian Burka, who captured the 110 hurdles at 15.58 seconds.

"We did well in the javelin and did better in the discus than I thought," said Schontz. "Marcus threw one foot farther than his best. He was very consistent. He pulled it out."

Butler was able to turn the tables on North Allegheny, which had defeated the Tornado 79-71 April 4.

"It was a very close meet against NA," said Schontz. "It's always a dogfight whether it's a dual meet, an invitational or track playoffs. It's always going to be close."

Now, it's Latrobe that stands in the way of Butler becoming the WPIAL champion. Schontz, however, is seeing this as a unique challenge.

"Monday will be fun," said Schontz. "We're looking forward to it and we'll see how the kids respond."

For the Tornado girls, Kendall Butch was the team's only individual winner, claiming the triple jump (35-7) and the high jump (5-0).

The 400-meter relay team, which was clocked at 51.31, was the other winning Tornado event.

Notes: The girls pole vault is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m., while the boys event will follow. ... The WPIALClass AAA individual championships will be held Thursday at Baldwin High School.