Northport’s Butorac pulled off swift one at Pasco

Training in sweats to prepare for heat is a tactic, but running uphill to make the finish seem easier isn’t.

That’s just the way life is in Northport, no big deal to sprint star Chad Butorac, one of just three members of the Mustangs’ boys track team.

Fresh off of practicing in his sweats to simulate the expected heat in Pasco last Saturday, Butorac was the only sprinter to place in the 100 (fifth), 200 (sixth) and 400 meters (fourth) at the nation’s largest one-day track meet.

“It was quite an experience,” said Butorac after outscoring all but two of the 13 Great Spokane League teams that went to Pasco. “It was a lot of fun. There is no end to the competition.”

Though a five-race day is tiring, it might have been worse if he didn’t train uphill, on a dirt track. The track, plowed out of an old airfield in Northport, goes a little uphill at the end of the 100 and he figures it has to help.

What helps even more is his desire.

“He’s the most coachable kid I’ve ever had,” coach Jim Goodwin said. “That has sure helped. Sometimes (sprinters) are born that way and then you help them from there.”

Butorac won the 100 and 200 at the State B meet in Cheney last year and was second to Wilbur-Creston’s Braidy Haden in the 400.

“He wants all three of them this year,” said Goodwin, who has taken to calling Butorac “DH” because he was listed as a dark horse among the sprinters at Pasco by the Tri-Cities newspaper. “He has a burning desire to be fast. That’s the way those sprinters are.”

Considering the general lack of competition Butorac faces, his times are outstanding. His best in the 100 is 10.92 seconds (electronic), 22.3 (hand) for the 200 and 50.47 in the 400.

“I got chased around by my big brother,” Butorac said of his speed. “It’s an opportunity that God gave me to excel at something.”

His times might be lower had he gone to a larger school, but …

“I think about that,” he said. “Yes, I would like to be on a relay team. No, up here you get a lot of one-on-one with the coaches and build relationships with your teammates. It’s cool coming from a small school and competing with those big-school guys when they don’t know you.”