Butler junior Drew Griffith will be competing in Saturday’s Champs National Championship cross countrry race in San Diego. Submitted Photo

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — A race like no other.

Butler junior cross country standout Drew Griffith is in San Diego this weekend, running the Champs National Championship cross country race at 10 a.m. Pacific time Saturday. He qualified by winning the Champs Northeast Region in New York City recently.

“At this point, all I’ve been doing is keeping my legs in shape,” Griffith said of his pereparation for the race. “This is a different event, going against the best in the country. It’s hard to come up with a strategy for this race.

“In terms of that, I’ll just adjust as I go.”

Griffith flew to San Diego Wednesday night. Event organizers have been treating the runners to organized meals and were to show them the course on Friday.

“I’ve seen it on film,” Griffith said. “There’s one big hill involved that you have to go over twice. Besides that, it’s fairly flat.”

Griffith won the Northeast Regional with a time of 15 minutes, 20 seconds. Saturday’s race will be comprised of the top 10 finishers in the Northeast, South, Midwest and West regions. The 40 runners come from 17 different states.

States being represented are Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Alabama, Florida, West Virginia, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, South Dakota, Utah, California and Idaho.

Griffith is the first Golden Tornado cross country runner to qualify for the national race.

“This is the best of the best,” Butler track coach Mike Seybert said. “This has been a long fall season for all of these runners. Drew’s been training and taking care of his body as well. He’s getting enough sleep and he’s eating right.

“There is no higher level for a high school kid to run than this.”

Rocky Hansen, from Hendersonville. N.C., has the fastest region time of all 40 runners at 14 minutes, 40.1 seconds. He won the South region. All 10 qualifying runners from the South and Midwest regionshad faster times than Griffith’s winning time in the Northeast.

“All four (regional) courses were different in terms of difficulty,” Griffith said. “I’m not concerned by the difference in times at all.”

Seybert said the Northeast region course “was the toughest of the four. Believe me, Drew is ready for this.

“Even if he finishes near the bottom of the field, he’s among the top 40 cross country runners in the country. Just qualifying for this race is amazing. It is so hard to get to this point.”

Griffith appreciates the accomplishment.

“They’re treating us great out here,” he said. “It feels special being here. I’m going to give it what I have and just see how it turns out.”