Hagerstown's David Butts wins 2 national titles in just over 4 minutes
On Monday morning, David Butts wasn’t in Kansas anymore.
The Hagerstown Community College runner finally had freed his mind of his recent, unpleasant trip there for the NJCAA Division I Track & Field Championships.
At the 35th annual Loudoun Street Mile in Winchester, Va., on Memorial Day, Butts topped a deep, talented field for the victory in 4:03.8 — the most impressive performance of his career.
The race also served as the national road mile championship for both the Collegiate Running Association and the Road Runners Club of America, so he brought two national titles back to Hagerstown.
“It was just a perfect situation,” HCC coach Mike Spinnler said. “The field was outstanding and the incentive was there — national titles on the line.
“I know he got his heart broke last week, but he just walked away with two national titles.”
“After this, (the NJCAA meet) is just nothing now,” said Butts, a 2020 North Hagerstown graduate. “It’s a just a blur.”
Disappointment in Kansas
At the NJCAA championships on May 20 in Hutchinson, Kan., Butts was aiming to earn All-American honors with a top-eight finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
He was seeded fifth with his school-record time of 9:13.91 ... and, almost inexplicably, he finished 21st in 10:26.93.
“There were a lot of factors that went into it,” Butt said. “For some reason, I put way too much pressure on myself and got super anxious the night before and was tossing around all night. I got like three hours of sleep the night before, which is not good. And that, paired with 25 mph winds and getting shoved around on the track the first few laps, I was done. It just didn’t go the way I wanted it to. I mean, it happens sometimes.”
“We never got a blood test or anything, but he just didn’t look good out there,” Spinnler said. “You could say it was mental this or mental that, but I’m not so sure that he didn’t get one of those 24-hour or 48-hour bugs that just knock the crap out of you.”
Butts bounces back
Regardless of what was ailing Butts in Kansas, he quickly bounced back Monday in downtown Winchester.
He ran the first half of the race, which is slightly uphill, in 2:06.0, and the second half, which is slightly downhill, in 1:57.8.
“I sat in a pack of seven or eight guys for the first 1,200 meters,” Butts said. “The VMI kid (Gavin Jenkins) had started to separate himself from the pack a little bit when we hit 800 meters. But he wasn’t getting too far away, so with about 400 to go, I started moving up on him a little bit. And I was like, ‘Now is my chance to make my move.’
“With 400 to go, I passed him and I never looked back. With 200 to go, I was hurting and I figured that if somebody passed me now, it’s over. There’s no way I have anything left to kick them back down. But luckily I held on and got the win.”
Elias Graca placed second in 4:04.4, and Jenkins was third in 4:05.0. The top 15 men all finished under 4:20.
“I lost all my confidence after the (NJCAA meet). It was very disappointing, and I was definitely down,” Butts said. “It was good to come out and get a bounce-back race like that. That definitely helps my confidence out a lot.”
“Finally, David was in a race that allowed him to show what he’s capable of doing,” Spinnler said. “I was so happy for him. His last race in a Hagerstown singlet was a very memorable one.”
Sub-4:00 dreams
Butts recently signed to run at Division I La Salle University and is set to join the Explorers for preseason cross country training in Philadelphia on Aug. 2.
“I’m super pumped and ready to go,” he said.
His No. 1 goal remains on the track — a sub-4:00 mile.
“Hopefully, in 2023 indoors or 2023 outdoors, he can do a sub-4-minute mile and join the rarest of our species,” Spinnler said. “He’s really just scratching the surface.”
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Hagerstown's David Butts wins two national titles in road mile
