Three sports, two NCAA titles and seven All-American awards.
It all adds up to the 2014-15 Great Northwest conference female athlete of the year award for Simon Fraser middle distance runner Lindsey Butterworth.
The award is the highest honor granted by the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
Butterworth is the second Clan woman to win the award and the ninth track and field athlete selected in the annual vote of the conference’s athletic directors.
But, according to Simon Fraser coach Brit Townsend, there is much more to come for the 2015 NCAA Division II national champion in both the indoor and outdoor 800 metres.
“I am so excited to see Lindsey’s development as an athlete and competitor,” Townsend said in a SFU press release. “She has emerged as one of the top 800 meter runners in Canada and I believe there is a great deal more come.”
From her sophomore to senior season, Butterworth, who has a qualifying time in the 800m for Canada at the World University Games, has shown amazing improvement.
In 2013, she finished eighth at the NCAA national meet in the indoor 800 in a time of 2:20.18.
Fast forward after a redshirt season to the 2015 season and she is the NCAA Div. II national champion in a time of 2:08.44, a whopping 11.74 second improvement.
She has had similar results in the outdoor 800m, chopping 7.15 seconds off her 2013 fourth-place All-American time of 2:10.03 to win the NCAA title in a near-record time of 2:02.88 earlier this season.
Butterworth missed the 25-year-old NCAA championship meet record by just four-tenths of a second and the Great Northwest record by 78/100ths of a second.
“Apart from her amazing improvements in her performances, she has also gained a strength of character and confidence that will help her achieve (in the future) the highest level in the sport,” said Townsend, a former Canadian Olympian.
In addition to her four All-American performances in the indoor and outdoor 800m, Butterworth also twice earned All-American recognition in the distance medley relay.
In 2013, she ran on SFU’s third-place DMR team at the indoor meet. The Clan moved up to second place in the DMR at last February’s national meet with Butterworth running the anchor leg as SFU set a conference record in a time of 11:28.28.
Butterworth completed her collegiate eligibility in cross-country in the fall of 2013, leading SFU to a seventh-place team finish at the NCAA national meet.
Her 12th-place individual finish earned her All-American honors and was the best by a GNAC athlete in the national meet.
At the conference level, Butterworth, who is a health science major, won five titles this year to increase her career total to 10, including four in relay events.
In the indoor meet at Nampa, Idaho, she swept the 800m (2:10.04) and mile (4:55.34) and also anchored a win in the distance medley relay in a time of 11:59.08.
In the outdoor meet at Monmouth, Oregon, Butterworth (North Vancouver, BC) won the 800m in a time of 2:06.67 and ran the second leg on the Clan’s championship 4x400 relay team.
“Lindsey is humble and hard working,” Townsend said. “After five years of university competitions and the success she has enjoyed, she now believes anything is possible for her.
“She has battled through injuries and sickness and has had her share of disappointments like any athlete, but this had made her incredibly resilient.”
“I know she is ready for the next phase of her career and I am excited to be alongside.”
GNAC Female Athletes of the Year
2010-11 - Sarah Porter, Western Washington (track and cross-country)
2011-12 - Hanna Johansson, Alaska Anchorage (basketball)
2012-13 - Helen Crofts, Simon Fraser (track and field); Ali Worthen, Seattle Pacific (track & field)
2013-14 - Bobbi Knudsen, Montana State Billings (basketball)
