Southwestern’s Trenton Shutters, left, and Michael Butterfield earned All-American honors at the USA Track & Field Youth Indoor Nationals over the weekend.
Submitted photo
STATEN ISLAND — Two Southwestern Central School runners earned All-American honors over the weekend at the USA Track & Field Youth Indoor Nationals.
Competing at the Ocean Breeze Track & Field Facility, junior Michael Butterfield placed sixth in the 200-meter final on Saturday with a personal-best 22.89, while senior Trenton Shutters posted a personal-best 1:59.51 on Friday, which was good for second place.
“Both boys are well beyond midseason shape and expecting to run much faster outdoors,” said indoor coach Ron Graham. “I’m sure Southwestern is very pleased with both of these kids. They are excellent examples of what dedication and hard work can accomplish.”
Butterfield started the weekend with his first-ever 55-meter indoor event, posting a 6.74.
“Unfortunately, his finals race produced a bad start and he finished eighth, and only top six received medals,” Graham said. “Indoor sprint races are all about block starts. This was a valuable learning experience for him. He’ll learn from this and get it right next indoor season, especially with a lot more major indoor competitions in his future.”
It was a different story on Saturday in the 200 meters where Butterfield claimed All-American status with his sixth-place finish. Sub-22 (seconds) outdoors is definitely within his reach,” Graham said.
Shutters, whose 800 time on Friday makes a sub-1:56 clocking outdoors “definitely within reach,” according to Graham, wasn’t as successful on Sunday as he had hoped, but he still ran 52.31 in his 400, which also landed him in eighth place, two places out of an All-American sixth-place finish.
“His 800-meter performance will definitely improve as he improves his 400-meter speed,” Graham said. “That’s why he ran the 400 meters. He needed to establish a baseline for his 800-meter training.”
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