The Mars and Slippery Rock boys track and field teams were both pleased with the result of the 4x400-meter relay late Friday night at the Butler Invitational.

The Planets won the event with a time of three minutes, 27.23 seconds. Jacob Thompson was the squad's anchor. Earlier in the day, he placed first in the 400 run and 200 dash and was named the event's Boys Track MVP.

Slippery Rock came in just .29 seconds behind the Planets in the relay, earning for the Rockets eight points in the event, pushing their total for the meet to 49 points, tying them with North Allegheny for the boys team title.

Joining Thompson for the winning effort in the 1,600 relay were Planets Jeremy Stevenson, Nico D'Angelo and Hayden Mayer.

"We're all seniors," said D'Angelo. "Our bond goes beyond just being teammates. We want to break the school record (3:23). Right now, we're just three seconds off."

Slippery Rock's runner-up performance in the relay included Sam Schwartz, Eli Anderson, Levi Prementine and Tyler Arblaster. The Rockets immediately knew the significance of earning a share of the team championship at an invite with athletes from 78 schools.

"This puts our school on the map," said Arblaster. "We come to invites like this, compete against schools that have 1,000 in a graduating class and we don't even have 1,000 kids in our whole school."

Butler's boys were three-time defending team champions. Their chances of a fourth straight title were dramatically affected by the absence of stars Drew Griffith (distance) and Landon Lacey (sprints), who are both dealing with nagging injuries.

The Golden Tornado placed eighth with 26½ points.

North Allegheny won the 4x400 relay on the girls side, running the event in 4:01.87. Butler placed sixth and Mars seventh.

Boys Volleyball

Grant Hoover had 13 kills as Seneca Valley defeated Hempfield, 3-0. Scores were 25-15, 25-20, 28-26.

Matt Cinker contributed 14 digs, Steven Mazur 20 assists and Peter Breski 15 assists.

Boys Tennis

Butler won every singles match in straight sets while scoring a 5-0 victory over Knoch.

Singles: A.Bocci (B) def. Q.Howison 6-1, 76-1; B.Buser (B) def. J.Santora 6-3, 6-2; J.Morgus (B) def. I.Brace 6-4, 6-3

Doubles: T.Sheptak-R.Conway (B) def. M.Hoffman-H.Hughes 6-1, 6-2; W.Morgus-P.Lyon (B) def. D.Frye-T.Reynolds 5-7, 6-3, 11-9

Girls Lacrosse

Mars scored a 16-13 victory over Peters Township. No details were provided.