Dress rehearsal
BUTLERTWP — Although the weather seemed more suited for cold and flu than for track and field, the Butler boys and girls track teams suited up Friday for a scrimmage against Erie McDowell.
Not that the Tornado coaches seemed to mind.
"It's fantastic. The big thing is to let the kids get a meet under their belt and get ready for the first meet of the season," said Butler boys coach Rick Schontz.
That meet will be Thursday at home against Knoch. Butler's first scrimmage was scheduled for last Tuesday against host Mt. Lebanon and Penn Hills, but was canceled because of the weather.
"I talked to (McDowell coach Joe Sanford) this past week and it was great to get it in," said Butler girls coach Rod Harris. "It's nice to see our new kids and see what they're throwing, what they're running, what they're doing."
That's always the objective in a track and field scrimmage. Without a final score, the No. 1 thing is to knock some of the rust off, even if the weather is poor.
"If there's any discomfort, then back off," said Schontz. "We didn't even run our 4x400 relay. Everyone ran at least one event already.
"The kids have been practicing for about three weeks and we had 60 boys for indoor track, so they've been practicing a long time. We're run inside and outside and inside.
"The younger kids get to see how the meet is run, where the events are,"Schontz added.
And as the weather warms up, the results should get better.
"As the weather gets warmer, you jump higher, run faster and throw further," said Schontz. "(Friday) is a good starting point."
"(This week) it should be warmer," said Harris. "Now that we've got some times and distances, we can shuffle kids in and move them around."
Even Sanford was appreciative of the meet, thanking both Butler coaches for returning to the annual scrimmage before he headed back to Erie.
"McDowell is the Butler up there. We get to run against each other and get to see where we're at. We didn't keep score, but the coaches know where we're at, "Harris added.
