This week’s notebook features the story of Wissahickon freshman Logan Weber and also SOL coaches Ryan and Stacey Buterbaugh.
By DENNY DYROFF
In a few weeks, Wissahickon’s Logan Weber will run in her first championship cross country race at the high school level when she competes for the Trojans’ varsity at the Suburban One League American Conference Championships at Lehigh University.
Even though she is just a freshman, Weber has been one of Wissahickon’s top varsity runners this season -- most often holding down the spot as the Trojans’ fifth runner.
Nerves, tough competition and a rugged course at Lehigh will provide a challenge for the talented rookie. But, the past shows that Weber is a determined competitor who can rise to challenges when needed.
A few years ago, Weber faced one of the most serious challenges any of us as human beings face. She had to deal with the unenviable situation of being diagnosed with cancer.
“I was six when it happened,” said Weber. “It was between kindergarten and first grade when I was at a day camp. I had a seizure and ended up in the hospital. I was diagnosed with anaplastic meningioma.”
There are three main types of meningiomas: Grade I benign meningioma, a non-cancerous type of brain tumor that grows slowly and has distinct borders. Around 80 per cent of all meningiomas are benign (non-cancerous); Grade II atypical meningioma which are neither malignant (cancerous) nor benign, but may become malignant; Grade III malignant or anaplastic meningioma, an aggressive type of brain tumor that tends to invade the parts of the brain nearest to the tumor.
Between one and four per cent of meningiomas are Grade III. Focal seizures may be caused by meningiomas that overlie the cerebrum.
“This type of cancer was kind of rare,” said Weber. “Most of the time it’s benign, but mine was active (malignant). I had surgery right away. It was on the surface of my brain so it was very easy for the doctors to remove it.”
Surgery for brain cancer can be a very scary thing. But, at a young age, patients might not differentiate much between having surgery for a meningioma and having surgery for a broken arm.
“I think I was too young to process what was happening,” said Weber. “I didn’t really understand what was going on. It wasn’t a big deal. The only thing I can remember that scared me was the needles. Little kids never like needles. I had a lot of support from my family and friends.
“When I was in first grade, I had radiation treatments and a lot of MRIs. And, I had some hair loss. I was cancer-free after the surgery and I’m still cancer-free. I do still have to have MRIs done regularly to make sure it hasn’t come back.
“After first grade, I was cleared to do everything. The first sport I really got into was soccer. I’ve been playing it for years. I’m a midfielder for Whitpain Travel Soccer.”
Weber’s soccer days led to her running days.
“I was in seventh grade when I started running,” she said. “A lot of my friends in middle school were in soccer with me. We wanted to try something new instead of playing soccer all year.
“About five or six of us decided to do cross country instead of soccer at Wissahickon Middle School. We had a really great middle school coach -- Jason Bialka. He did a really good job of introducing us to the sport.”
Heidi Butt, head coach of Wissahickon High’s girls’ cross country team is reaping the benefits.
“Logan is consistently our number five runner,” said Butt. “You often hear about talented freshmen coming up the pike. Logan has emerged with no fanfare. This is a quiet group -- she and two other freshmen Tara Jog and Sara Brooks. I’m lucky to have them and they’re lucky to have each other.
“Logan is a really neat person who is accomplishing things other people never even try. She is a very hard worker -- never questions the number of repeats or anything we ask her to do. She never looks for accolades and never complains.”
While Weber is one of the Trojans’ leaders on varsity, she has been running in the novice races at invitational meets.
“I let the freshmen run in the novice races,” said Butt. “It gives them a different type of competition.”
Weber said, “I ran in three invitational meet novice races and did pretty well. It was good experience. I medaled in all three.”
The Trojan ninth-grader placed third at the 11th Annual John Sharp Viking Invitational, fourth at the 26th Bulldog Cross Country Invitational and fifth at the 30th Annual Council Rock Invitational.
“I’m looking forward to running at leagues (Suburban One League American Conference Championships),” said Weber. “I’m kind of scared. I don’t know what to expect.”
Weber has already proven that she can deal with the unexpected -- even cancer.
“When I was in middle school, it started to settle in -- the whole thing of having cancer and surgery,” said Weber. “I thought to myself -- Wow! That happened? I was O.K. with it.
“I still look back. It’s incredible. I’m definitely a worrier so I got scared that it might come back. But, I’ve gotten this far so I’m hopeful.”
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In recent years, when Stacey and Ryan Buterbaugh would head off to an all-day cross country meet, the question of the day was what to do with Riley. They could bring their kids Matthew and Abby along with them, but Riley was another thing altogether.
Now, the kids are old enough that Stacey, the girls’ cross country coach at William Tennent, and Ryan, the girls’ cross country coach at Plymouth Whitemarsh, share the child-watching duties as they coach their teams at Saturday meets. And, Riley is old enough to take care of himself.
“We leave Riley at home,” said Ryan, referring to the couple’s purebred Golden Retriever. “Years ago, Riley was P-W’s team mascot.”
Coaching a high school sport is very time-consuming and can put a lot of pressure on a relationship -- especially for the non-coaching spouse. The Buterbaughs have a two-coach household and they’re managing just fine.
“We try to schedule it so we go to the same invitational meets or to meets that don’t conflict,” said Ryan. “We usually take our kids to the meets -- or Stacey’s brother watches them.”
If genetics have anything to do with the future course for the kids -- Matthew, who will be five in December, and Abby, who will be four in November -- both of them will be stellar athletes.
Running under her maiden name, Stacey Suda (Buterbaugh) was a standout scholastic runner at Dallas High. She was District 2 Class AA cross country champion in 1994 and the silver medalist in the 800-meter run at the PIAA Class AA track and field meet in 1995.
Suda was one of triplets and was joined on the track team at Penn State University by her sister Robin. Their brother played collegiate soccer at Penn College of Technology. An 800 runner at Penn State, Stacey medaled in the event at the Big Ten Championships.
Ryan competed in cross country, wrestling and track at Holidaysburg High from District 6. He wrestled in college for the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, a team that won the NCAA Division II national title. Buterbaugh earned All American honors when he placed sixth at the national championships in South Dakota.
“My father wrestled and ran track and cross country,” said Ryan. “Wresting was always my main sport. I coached wrestling at Maury High in Norfolk, Virginia and then came back to Pennsylvania.”
Stacey, meanwhile, graduated from Penn State and then went to graduate school at Widener University.
“I did undergrad and grad internships at P-W,” said Stacey, who is now a counselor of education at Souderton Area High School. “I started coaching track as Ron Lopresti’s assistant at P-W in 2000. Later, I got the counseling job at Souderton. I’ve been there 10 years and I’ve been coaching at William Tennent for four.
“When I wasn’t coaching, I was always anxious to get back coaching. I’ve always had a passion and a desire to coach at the high school level. To follow my dreams and build a program from scratch is a great experience.”
Ryan said, “I started coaching at P-W in 2003. Initially, I volunteered as an assistant track coach. Stacey was in her final internship there. That’s how we met in the building one day.
“In addition to cross country, I was assistant wrestling coach from 2003-2006. In 2009, Ron Lopresti retired as girls’ track coach and I took over. I’ve been involved with it ever since. Ron is like my mentor. I’ve become a PIAA official and I’m a member of the steering committee.”
Fortunately for the Buterbaughs, their teams are in different conferences so they never have to compete against each other in dual meets.
“Ryan and I work as a team,” said Stacey. “Sometimes, we coach against each other, but we’re always each other’s Number One fan.”
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