BUTLER TWP — There was no PIAA team track and field tournament in 1998.

It's just as well.

It would have been no contest.

The Butler High School. girls track and field team posted its second in a run of four consecutive perfect seasons. The Golden Tornado cruised to wins of 94-47 over North Allegheny, 106.5-34.5 over Kiski Area and 95.5-45.5 over Indiana in the WPIAL Team Finals.

“There's not a team in the state that would have come within 40 points of us,” Butler girls track coach Mike Seybert said. “The way the state meet is set up as an individual meet, two or three standout athletes on one team can carry that team to a state championship.

“We were three deep in every single event that year. Our third girl would beat the first or second girl on most other teams. We asked coaches of other teams at the state meet that year if they felt their team, could beat ours in a dual meet.

“They looked at our lineup and pretty much said, 'we can't match that,'” Seybert added.

Such dominance is landing the 1998 Butler girls track team in the Butler Area School District Athletic Hall of Fame Friday night. The squad becomes the first team to gain entry into the Hall.

Consider the following:

The team had 10 athletes score at least 65 team points, led by Annessa Schnur's 257. Another 15 athletes scored at least 40 team points.

The team won every invitational meet it took part in.

Twenty-six members of the team's 57-0 four-year streak went on to compete in college, including Schnur at Michigan, Katie Butler at Liberty, Krystal Epps at Pitt and Rachel Farabee at South Carolina.

Seven individual school records were set by the 1998 team: Schnur in the 100 meters, 400 meters and long jump, Butler in the 800 meters and 300-meter hurdles, Liz Eury in the discus and Farabee in the pole vault.

The team also broke all three school relay records, with 11 different girls filling the 12 spots. Tori Watt, Marci Sabo, Martha Lansinger and Schnur ran the 4x100, Meg Sedwick, Tanya Aubrey, Butler and Schnur the 4x400, Megan Steighner, Amy Dietz, Brianne Stellfox and Jamie Benson the 4x800.

“By having different girls on those relays, everyone was able to stay fresh,” Seybert said. “This team was incredibly unselfish. The overall team always came first.

“Anyone would give up her spot in an open event if she was needed on a relay. That's how these girls were.”

Eury was WPIAL and PIAA champion in the discus that season. Schnur, Butler, Epps and Amanda White won WPIAL titles in various events.

“All four of those years (1997-2000), we had excellent teams,” Seybert said. “But that 1998 team was our deepest in talent.

“That was a memorable run of success that will probably never happen again. Many consider our 1998 team to be the best girls track squad in the history of the WPIAL.”

Seybert cited the 2014 Hempfield team as “the only one that might have challenged us, but I think they would have come up short.”

Schnur and Butler shared the Butler Track MVP award in 1998. Eury was the Field MVP. Mary Peters was Most Improved in track, White was Most Improved in Field. White was also a four-time state medalist.

Lindsey Hurley won the team's Academic Award, Watt the Coaches Award, Lansinger the Golden Baton Award.

The coaching staff included John Williams (jumps), Rick Schontz (throws), Curt Phillips (pole vault), Larry Young and Seybert (hurdles, middle and long distance), and Steve Gressly (sprints).

John Link, Andy Gillan and Lisa Brady prepped the kids at the junior high level.

Getting the athletes to buy into the team concept “wasn't a very hard sell,” Seybert said. “Most of the kids on that team were straight-A students.

“They were good in the classroom and they knew that if they worked hard together and supported each other, they could put together something special. And that's what they did.”