Butler track and field coaches Mike Seybert, right, and John Williams show off a WPIAL team championship trophy. Seybert was recently named Pennsylvania Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year. Submitted Photo
BUTLER TWP — Mike Seybert’s track and field coaching career at Butler High School dates back decades.
“Seybs is the heartbeat of our track program, boys and girls,” fellow Golden Tornado track coach John Williams said. “He’s one of my best friends, just an amazing person.”
He is also Pa. Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year, as voted upon by a committee of 35 coaches throughout the state.
“It’s a big honor and it means a lot, coming from other coaches” Seybert said. “Of course, winning the state title has a lot to do with this. That carries a lot of weight.
“Winning Coach of the Year pretty much means winning Coaching Staff of the Year. The group of people we have working with these kids, so giving of their time because they care so much about these kids, is awesome.”
Along with Seybert being named Coach of the Year, Butler’s athletes earned recognition on the 2021-22 Pennsylvania All-State Indoor Team. The Tornado’s distance relay team of Drew Griffith, Lucas Slear, Ryder Kriley, Sage Vavro and CJ Singleton — Butler used combinations of those names for the relay — earned first-team honors.
Singleton made second team in the mile run, as did the 4x200 relay unit of Guinness Brown, Brayden Young, Presley Ornelas and Slear. Brown in the 400 meters and Singleton in the 800 made third team.
Having Butler’s best-ever sprinter and distance runner — Brown and Singleton — on the same team “created the perfect storm,” Seybert said.
Honorable mention honors went to Singleton in the 3,000 meters and the 4x800 relay of Griffith, Vavro, Kriley and Slear.
“Indoor track is the toughest state title to win because it’s all classifications,” Seybert said. “There is no Triple-A or Double-A ... You have to beat out everybody. Our team was pumped to do that and we pulled it off.”
Seybert became the second Butler coach to win a prestigious Coach of the Year honor in the last couple of weeks. Scott Stoner was recently named WPIAL Class AAA Wrestling Coach of the Year.
“Scott earned that,” Seybert said. “When he coaches wrestling, he’s all in. He coaches with all of his heart.”
The same can be said for Seybert.
“They are examples of the quality of coaches we have here,” Butler athletic director Bill Mylan said. “Mike Seybert is a true Butler guy. I’ve never known anybody as passionate about track and field as he is.
“He gets the most out of his athletes. The time and commitment he puts in ... nobody is more deserving of an award like this than Mike Seybert.”
Despite coaching for so long, Seybert has never waned in his commitment to the sport or the athletes.
“His love for this sport is second to none,” Williams said. “When it comes to showing up at practice and working with kids, he never mails it in. You’re getting all of Mike every day.”
While Butler’s track and field program has been one of the stellar ones ion the WPIAL for quite some time, Williams pointed out that the program “has elevated to another level over the past five or six years.”
That’s not lost on Seybert.
“This award is a reflection of what we’ve become,” Seybert said. “Winning the state indoor meet was a big step for us and a fun thing for Western Pennsylvania.”
