ADAMS TWP — Luke Simpson went to the medal stand to be recognized as the winner of the boys 800-meter run at Friday’s Mars Track and Field Invitational.

But he was in for a big surprise.

It was announced that his time of one minute, 55.29 seconds in the event had broken the meet record of 1:56.46, set by Michael Robinson of DuBois Area in 2009.

“I didn’t know anything about the record until then, but it’s great to get it,” said Simpson, a senior. “My previous best was 1:56.3 and my goal today was to go below 1:55. To come within a quarter of a second of that, I’m happy with it.”

Ray Peaco has been a track coach at Seneca Valley for over 30 years. He knows not to take student-athletes like Simpson for granted.

“I was just joking with him, asking if he could come back for an extra year,” Peaco said. “To run the 800 in 1:55, obviously Luke has a lot of talent, but even more than that, he’s one of the nicest, genuine and most positive kids I’ve ever known.

“You hate to see kids like that (graduate) because he’s such a positive influence on the rest of the team.”

Simpson’s effort helped the Raiders claim the boys team title with 76 points, beating runner-up North Catholic by 24 points.

Also earning wins for the Raiders were Willem Craver in the discus (134-4) and Jonathon Price in the triple jump (44-3).

North Catholic’s Trevor Paschall successfully defended his 200- and 400-meter dash titles earned here last year, winning Boys Track MVP in the process.

His 200 time was 22.13 and he ran the 400 in 50.79.

“Overall, I’m pleased with my times,” said Paschall. “I competed in indoor track this year for the first time and that’s been a game-changer and my coaches have worked wonders for me.”

Paschall was also on North’s winning 4x100 team along with Chase Arrington, Jack Fennell and Luke Mager. The quartet won with a time of 43.47.

“We’ve been as fast as 43.4 this year and we still have room for improvement with handoffs and exchanges,” said Trojans’ coach Terry Fisher.

Earning Boys Field MVP was Knoch’s Alex Cotton, who placed first in the shot put and second in the discus.

The victory in the shot put came with a personal-best throw of 49-4¾.

“I’ve been getting in the low- to mid-50s in practice, but I sometimes get nervous in meets,” Cotton said. “I was able to put everything together today.”

Isaac Wetzel admits track is not his main sport, but he proved that he is capable of being in the mix come the postseason.

Freeport’s junior won the 110 hurdles with a time of 15.38, dropping nearly half a second off his previous-best effort.

“I also play football and soccer and trained to play basketball, even though I didn’t play,” he said. “All of that work helped with my agility and strength.

“I came in here just focused on my time, but after the prelims, I started thinking about winning.”

Also taking home a first-place medal for Freeport was Reese Skiba in the girls discus (109-0).

Karns City’s Ashley Fox placed fifth in the javelin at last week’s Butler Invitational and she took notice of who finished ahead of her.

Several of those girls competed Friday and Fox was second to none in the event with a heave of 121 feet.

KC made it a clean sweep in the javelin as sophomore Luke Cramer took the boys event at 154-10.

Cramer began his freshman season competing in the javelin and shot put.

“I was ranked pretty high in the javelin and won a lot of dual meets last year, so I dropped the shot put,” said Cramer. “I put a lot of work in the weight room and I want to make states by finishing first or second in the (District 9) meet or by hitting the state qualifying standard of 176 feet.”

Mars closed its own invite in style, winning both 4x400 relays.

The girls ran first and the foursome of Kalin Wilson, Riley Mayer, Kayleigh Clark and Morgan Duker turned in a time of 4:11.87.

Duker, the anchor, was handed a lead from Clark.

“Everybody started gathering around the track as we were running and I was thinking, ‘You gotta do this,’” exclaimed Duker.

Mars’ boys team featured Hayden Mayer, Nico D’Angelo, Jeremy Stevenson and Jacob Thompson and finished in 3:27.74.

Following are the Butler County athletes who earned a medal by placing in the top six at Friday’s Mars Track and Field Invitational.

Girls

3,200 relay: 2-Mars (Wu, Mayer, Wilson, Clark) 9:56; 100 hurdles: 2-Lauren Campion (M) 15.60; 3-Maddy Berger (SV) 15.68; 100 dash: 2-Tehya Dave (NC) 12.58; 5-Nina Shaw (K) 13.01; 1,600 run: 6-Grace Wu (M) 5:33.43; 400 run: 2-Tehya Dave (NC) 59.83; 3-Morgan Duker (M) 1:01.41; 400 relay: 4-North Catholic 51.65; 5-Mars 51.79; 6-Seneca Valley 51.90; 300 hurdles: 5-Chloe Fritch (KC) 50.59; 800 run: 2-Zoe Simpson (SV) 2:22.53; 5-Grace Lazzara (NC) 2:29.45; 200 dash: 5-Cecelia Hackenburg (SV) 27.62; 1,600 relay: 1-Mars (Wilson, Mayer, Clark, Duker) 4:11.87; 3-Seneca Valley 4:13.69

Shot put: 2-Madison Hunt (K) 35-7; 3-Reese Skiba (F) 33-3½; Discus: 1-Reese Skiba (F) 109-0; Javelin: 1-Ashley Fox (KC) 121-0; 3-Natalie Kohler (SV) 102-9; 5-Nicole Taylor (KC) 96-11; 6-Karlee Buterbaugh (K) 96-6; Long jump: 5-Kirsten Maybach (M) 15-11½; Triple jump: 6-Kirsten Maybach (M) 34-1½; Pole vault: 2-Madison Monahan (SV) 10-8; 4-Sarah Brown (SV) 8-8

Boys

3,200 relay: 3-Mars (D’Angelo, Campagna, Kaul, Schupp) 8:32.03; 110 hurdles: 1-Isaac Wetzel (F) 15.38; 2-Jonathon Price (SV) 15:47; 6-Greg Pologruto (SV) 16.92; 100 dash: 4-Luke Mager (NC) 11.30; 6-Jack Fennell (NC) 11.46; 1,600 run: 4-Eli DeWitt (SV) 4:33.79; 400 run: 1-Trevor Paschall (NC) 50.79; 2-Jason Rich (SV) 52.22; 6-Zac Campagna (M) 53.73; 400 relay: 1-North Catholic (Chase Arrington, Jack Fennell, Luke Mager, Trevor Paschall) 43.47; 5-Mars 44.80; 300 hurdles: 2-Isaac Wetzel (F) 40.88; 800 run: 1-Luke Simpson (SV) 1:55.29; 6-Ben Perka (F) 2:04.71; 200 dash: 1-Trevor Paschall (NC) 22.13; 2-Luke Mager (NC) 22.74; 5-Jacob Thompson (M) 23.14; 3,200 run: 3-Max Smith (SV) 10:03.99; 5-Giacomo Lepore (NC) 10:28.48; 1,600 relay: 1-Mars (Mayer, D’Angelo, Stevenson, Thompson) 3:27.74; 4-Seneca Valley 3:37.08; 6- North Catholic 3:39.06

Shot put: 1-Alex Cotton (K) 49-4¾; Discus: 1-Willem Craver (SV) 134-4; 2-Alex Cotton (K) 132-4; Javelin: 1-Luke Cramer (KC) 154-10; 3-Shamus Straub (NC) 140-8; 4-Eric Ristey (SV) 138-9; High jump: 4-Evan Kurpakus (M) 5-9; 5-Sam Skeen (SV) 5-9; Long jump: 4-Cooper Coyle (KC) 19-7; 5-Danny Fountain (SV) 19-2; 6-Brandon Kendrew (SV) 19-2; Triple jump: 1-Jonathon Price (SV) 44-3; 3-Jeremiah Laslavic (SV) 41-1; 4-Cooper Coyle (KC) 40-5½