Butler's Maggie Welty, left, and Liz Simms compete in the mile run at Baldwin on Monday.

WHITEHALL — Determination.

Pride.

Grit.

“These guys came out today and used all three,” said Butler girls track and field coach John Williams.

The Golden Tornado ended Hempfield's five-year reign as WPIAL Class AAA team champions with an 84-66 win over North Allegheny, a 94-56 triumph over Norwin and an 87-63 win over Hempfield on a chilly Monday evening at Baldwin High School.

“These are great teams when you get to this level,” Williams said. “And everyone is going to improve as the season goes on. People work hard. This thing doesn't happen over night. You have to plan for this. We started during indoor season.

“We're an unusual program. We have 12 coaches and we have a coach for every throwing event and a coach for every jumping event. There's just so many people who put their hearts and souls into this.”

Butler finished runner-up last season to Hempfield and has spent the past year itching to get back.

The Tornado wasn't about to let the 10th team title in school history slip away.

Alexis Leech won the 400-meter run and also ran legs on the winning 3,200- and 1,600-meter relay. Liz Simms won the 800-meter run.

The win by Leech, Shana Hoy, Simms and Maddie Tonini in the 1,600 with a season-best time of 3 minutes, 59.72 seconds put an exclamation point on the win and sent the team into a full celebratory frenzy.

To read more on this story, pick up Tuesday's edition of the Butler Eagle or subscribe to ButlerEagle.com.