BUTLER TWP — Running was something Doug Kostelansky was more than familiar with.

Through basketball.

“Coach (Matt) Clement put us through some pretty rigorous drills,” the Butler senior said. “That's a big reason I was able to do so well.”

At cross country and track.

Sound confusing?

Not to Kostelansky. He rarely got on the court in varsity basketball games and did not come out for the Golden Tornado track team until his junior year. He ran cross country his senior year, but not before.

Now he's headed to Point Park University to run cross country and track for a collegiate program that is up and coming.

Kostelansky plans to major in communications.

“I'm not surprised at this,” Clement said. “Doug has always pushed himself. The running we had the kids do was to get in basketball shape, a lot of sprints and short bursts.

“When a kid is a senior and he's been with a program all the way through and sees he's not going to play much ... You see the true character of a kid. Doug was always ready to contribute. He worked so hard on scout team because he felt like 'if my job was to make our starters better, then that was my job.'”

Kostelansky has been with the Butler basketball program since seventh grade. He finally got involved in track through the urging of best friend Noah Beveridge.

Beveridge is one of the top high school cross country and distance runners in the state.

“Noah has been wanting me to try track for a while,” Kostelansky said. “He's also the one who got me to run the 800 meters. He thought that'd be my best event.

“I ran a 2:07 in my first race. All of a sudden, I thought I could be pretty good at this.”

He turned out to be better than that.

Kostelansky's best time in the 800 this year was 1:57.21. He had also been running the first leg of Butler's 4x800 meter relay while Beveridge ran the anchor leg.

At the PIAA meet, due to the heat in Shippensburg, the Tornado coaches pulled a busy Beveridge out of the 4x800. They moved Kostelansky to anchor, following Brett Brady, Aden Dressler and Rob Hays on the relay.

“He had been running so well. We thought Doug was the guy,” Butler cross country and distance coach Rick Davanzati said. “But it is a different role. The first leg, you're running to get the lead. The last leg, you're running to get a medal.”

Kostelansky did exactly that. When he got the baton for the final leg of the relay, Butler was in ninth place. He passed three runners and put the Tornado relay on the awards stand with a sixth-place finish.

“Doug would do anything the team asked of him. He's that type of kid,” Butler assistant track coach Mike Seybert said. “What he did that day was amazing.

“When he first joined our program, he was already in shape from basketball. We just had to increase his cardio shape for the longer run and he was willing to put in the work.”

It paid off with a moment in Shippensburg Kostelansky will never forget.

“That whole thing was just crazy,” he said. “There were so many people there ... huge adrenalin rush. I just knew I had to run by people.”

After the race, Kostelansky did not forget his basketball training.

“He texted me right after the race,” Clement said. “He was so excited. To do what he did out there ... That's all desire and guts. And that's Doug.

“I'm so proud of him.”

Kostelansky is headed to a Point Park men's track program that ranked 19th in all of NAIA last year in just its fourth year of existence. The Pioneers' cross country team — started in 2000 — finished a school-record 32nd nationally last fall.

“Because he started in track and cross country late, and with his work ethic, Doug's best years are still ahead of him,” Davanzati said. “That kid sets goals and doesn't stop until he meets them.”

Kostelansky agrees — and he's not going to change.

“I'm going to do all I can to get to the NAIA national meet in the 800 as a freshman,” he said. “The qualifying standard last year was 1:53. I fully expect to get there.”