Jake Walker defended his Butler Road Race title. Tammy Slusser grabbed hers back.

Walker, last year's 5-Mile men's champion, broke the record for the second consecutive year, outdistancing the field with a time of 24 minutes, 32 seconds on Saturday.

He bettered his previous record last year by two seconds.

Meanwhile, Slusser, 43, of Monroeville, who had won the women's 5-mile event five consecutive years before losing to 18-year-old Halsey Sinclair last year, won by more than 40 seconds at 31:26.

"I went in thinking I could get the record," said Walker 20, of Ellwood City. "I didn't know until the last minute that I would do it. It was getting close."

Walker, who will be a junior at Notre Dame, won in impressive fashion, picking up the title by almost two minutes.

Clint Orloski, 21, of Butler was second at 26:28 and Bucknell University teammate Andrew Huebner, 20, of Hampton Falls was third (26:30).

Matt Gaudet, 22, of Zelienople (26:41) and Ben Hutterer, 19, of Saxonburg (27:22) rounded out the top five places.

Walker's approach to this year's race was a simple one: "'Stay relaxed when you're heading out.' I ran negative splits (12:23 at the turnaround, 12:09 the way back) which is what I wanted to do."

The weather was warm and humid, but cloudy with a strong breeze, the latter which proved to be a bit of a headwind coming up Main Street to the finish line.

"It wasn't a bad breeze," said Walker. "I'd rather go without it. The weather wasn't bad. I've run in a lot worse."

When Walker broke the record last year — shaving 14 seconds off Steve Parker's record from 1993 — he had some stiff competition.

This time around, not so much.

"Right from the gun, there was no one with me," said Walker, who will be a junior at Notre Dame this fall. "Last year, there were a few guys. People running with you makes it mentally easier. Running by yourself makes it mentally tough."

Walker overcame a stress fracture he suffered after the indoor track season and, after a successful stint during the Fighting Irish outdoor season, has made the transition into summer road racing.

He's already beginning to eye next year's race.

"Last year 24:48 was the record and I like to be challenged," said Walker. "I like to see improvement. I'll try and see if I can chop some time off next year."

Slusser pulled away from the field, defeating runner-up Jeannie Bujdos, 15 of Indiana, who was clocked at 32:07.

Katie Jarzab, 24, of Oil City was third at 32:21, Elaina Balouris, 16, of Butler was fourth (32:24) and Jolene Kunkel, 15, of Saxonburg was fifth (32:33) and sister Alyssa Kunkel, 17, was sixth (32:55).

Other than finishing second last year, nothing appeared to be different, according to Slusser.

"I thought I was in the same shape," said Slusser, who also won the BRR when it was a 10K (1984-86). "The racing is the same. I'm just getting older."

With age comes experience. Slusser waited until 2Z\v miles into the race, just before the turnaround, to make a move.

"I didn't take the lead until then," said Slusser. "I let the younger ones go out fast. I didn't know who they were, but by two miles, you've got to figure who's ever there is a decent runner.

"I just pretended who passed that she was on my tail the whole way back. It made me push harder,"Slusser added.

Last year, Slusser was passed by Sinclair around the four-mile mark, so Slusser wasn't sure how far she was ahead.

Slusser, with her eye-popping ninth BRRtitle in its 33-year history, admits with each win the feeling is better than the one before.

"Especially since it's been 25 years ago, the first time I won a race here, most of these runners weren't even born," said Slusser. "Twenty-five years ago. Wow."

"One of these years, if the races keep going, my 5-mile time will be slower than what my 10K time was (her best was 34:11 in 1985). That'll be a big shock."