Brady Dumbaugh — hurt hammy and all — helps run Butler track past Seneca Valley to WPIAL section title
JACKSON TWP — Physically, Brady Dumbaugh was not 100%.
Mentally, he was right where he needed to be to help Butler’s boys track and field team win a section championship.
The Golden Tornado’s sophomore hurdler tweaked his left hamstring two weeks ago, and admits his time in the 110-meter hurdles Tuesday — a personal-best of 15.17 seconds — at Seneca Valley was a bit of a surprise.
“My goal was to find a way to win, score those (five) points for the team,” Dumbaugh said. “But getting a personal record was nice.”
From Butler’s perspective, it was also nice to knock off the rival and previously undefeated Raiders 88-62 to secure the WPIAL Section 3-3A title with a perfect 6-0 record.
Both teams will prepare for the WPIAL team playoffs, which begin Tuesday.
In the girls meet, Butler rallied to beat Seneca Valley 76-74 to earn second place in the section behind North Allegheny and the playoff berth that comes with it.
Dumbaugh said he was planning on running the 110 hurdles but was not sure about competing in the 300 event. But he felt well enough to show up for the latter, which he also won with a time of 41.20 seconds.
“Coming in, our chances of winning this meet would have gone way down without Brady,” Butler coach Mike Seybert said. “We needed him, especially since our other top hurdler, Thaddeus Mago, is out with an injury.”
Butler swept the 800 run with Landon Slear (2:03.60), Logan Rogers and Alex Motonis placing first, second and third, respectively.
SV (8-1, 5-1), which Seybert said is exceptionally strong in field events, swept the high jump (won by Dakari Payne, 6-4), discus (Conner Gartner, 140-8) and shot put (Jake Heinricher, 43-9).
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to get out of the semifinals and get another shot at these guys,” Raiders coach Ray Peaco said. “Teams like Butler, Norwin, they are measuring sticks. We belong on that list. We are one of the best teams in the WPIAL.”
Butler’s girls (5-1) trailed the Raiders 61-57 after 14 events, but Harper Schlobohm (26.67) and Rylie Blystone went 1-2 in the 200 dash and Zari Golojuh (12:06.21) and Annie Woller did likewise in the 3,200 run.
The Golden Tornado clinched the team victory by winning the 4x400 relay. The quartet of Blystone, Schlobohm, Bailee Ewell and Kendra Lacey came in at 4:08.24.
“Our best time in that relay this season was 4:14,” Butler coach John Williams said. “We lost 12 letterwinners from last year’s team. For these 70 girls to band together and get us back to the playoffs, it was great to see.”
Among SV’s top performances, Tennyson Voll won the pole vault at 12-1.
The Raiders finish the team season with a record of 7-2 overall and 4-2 in a very tough section.
“We thought we had a shot at Butler today, and we did,” Peaco said. “They always have really good athletes, and when you can go head-to-head with them, it tells you something about your program.”
The WPIAL team playoff brackets are scheduled to be released Thursday.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 21, 2026, with a correctly identified photo of Butler runner Brady Dumbaugh.
