Adversity met its match with Lindsey Butler at the 2022 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Before stepping on the starting line for the 800-meter finals, the mid-distance superstar knew that something was wrong. She'd felt a nagging pain in her right foot for most of the season but was running well despite it.
In fact, Butler was later voted as Division I's "Most Valuable Runner" for the 2022 indoor track season by The Stride Report's contributing staff. She'd come a long way from the high school recruit who was new to the sport and considered Tech's program to be a reach.
Even prior to 2022, Butler had made big strides. Freshman year brought many challenges during the transition from high school to college, but when surrounded by coaches who believed in her and older teammates that pushed her, Butler's progress proved substantial.
"When I first joined the team, my goals seemed like a reach," Butler said. "I really wanted to qualify for nationals; I really wanted to win an ACC title and I was a little nervous to share any of that with other people. But my coaches saw the potential in me and made me feel like my dreams could become a reality."
In 2021, Butler's sophomore season, she garnered two All-America honors and earned a gold medal at the ACC Indoor Championships.
However, it was during Butler's junior year that she truly elevated her game.
Butler opened her indoor campaign with a blistering 2:43 in the 1000 meters at the Virginia Tech Invitational. She helped break the ACC Indoor Championships record in the distance medley relay with a mile split of 4:29, securing the title. To cap it off, Butler repeated as ACC champion in the 800 meters with a lifetime best and school record time of 2:01.23, the second-fastest indoor 800 meters in ACC history.
"The Indoor ACC Championships was definitely one of my favorite memories of college," Butler said. "Nobody thought that we would win. They thought we'd maybe get third. But we outperformed the whole weekend. The men won, the women won and we both won at home. That's rare, and pretty incredible."
Her season was going so well that she didn't want to acknowledge the pain creeping into her right foot. It wasn't until she was cooling down after the NCAA semifinals that the pain reached its breaking point, leaving Butler limping around in significant discomfort.
But she refused to let that stop her.
"It was a very stressful 24 hours," Butler said. "But 90% of track is mental, and 10% is all the training. I knew that if I could control my thoughts, I could do it and win."
In an impressive showcase of determination and willpower, Butler endured the pain for 2 minutes, 1.37 seconds to capture a national title. Her facial expression shifted from a look of intense focus to pure joy during the final 25 meters of her race, the moment when she realized she'd clinched the win.
Two weeks later, an MRI revealed that a stress reaction had advanced to a stress fracture in the second metatarsal in her right foot, meaning that she was out for the season.
Due to its severity, heavy emphasis was placed on a slow recovery and coming back healthy during her senior year.
"I think the most important part of last season was that I ran healthy," Butler said. "Yes, accomplishment-wise it was a little underwhelming, but that is the nature of coming back from an injury and overcoming the mental barrier."
Entering her fifth year, Butler hasn't let the injury discourage her. She is enjoying every moment and making the most of each opportunity as the end of her collegiate career approaches.
"This year, my eyes are setting on improving times from my performances two years ago," Butler said. "If I can do that well, the national titles and the ACC titles will come along with it. And I'm just really trying to enjoy it because that's why we're in college sports – to have fun."
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Gallery: (10-26-2023) T&F: Lindsey Butler career photos