Two Former Horizon League Student-Athletes Competing in London Olympics
INDIANAPOLIS – Two former Horizon League student-athletes are scheduled to compete in the 30th Olympiad in London, as Butler track and field standouts Scott Overall and Ava Hutchinson will each take part in the marathon.
Overall, who hails from London, will represent Great Britain in the men’s marathon on Sunday, August 12. He topped the Olympic qualifying standard with a time of 2:10.55 at the BMW Berlin Marathon last September to earn a spot on the Olympic Team. It was his first attempt at running a marathon.
Hutchinson, a native of Dublin, Ireland, will compete in the women’s marathon on Sunday, August 5, for the Irish Olympic Team. She earned her spot in this summer’s Olympic Games with a qualifying time of 2:35.33 at the Houston Marathon in January in just her second marathon.
Overall was a top track and cross country performer at Butler from 2004-07. He was named Horizon League Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year in 2005 and again in 2006, and he was selected as the League’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Year in 2006 and 2007. He also was chosen as Horizon League Cross Country Athlete of the Year in 2006 after winning the league’s individual cross country title.
During his time at Butler, Overall represented the Bulldogs in NCAA national meets in both track and cross country. He placed 11th in the 5,000 meter run at the 2006 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championship and 12th in the 3,000 meter run at the 2006 NCAA Indoor Championship. He also came in 35th at the 2006 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championship, after placing runner-up at the 2006 NCAA Great Lakes Regional Meet.
The former Butler distance ace owns school records in the indoor 3,000 meter run (7:55.36) and the outdoor 5,000 meter run (13:38.19). He also holds Horizon League record for the indoor 1,000 meter run (2:24.79) and the outdoor 5,000 meter run (14:30.57).
Hutchinson, who ran on Butler’s cross country squads from 2004 to 2006, was a first team All-Horizon League performer for three consecutive years and was named Horizon League Cross Country Athlete of the Year in 2006. That same year she captured the Horizon League Cross Country individual championship and placed 11th at the NCAA Great Lakes Cross Country Regionals.
The talented Hutchinson also was a top performer on Butler’s track and field squads, 2005-07. She won a league individual championship in the 1500 meter run at the 2006 Horizon League Outdoor Track and Field Championship, and she was part of Butler’s winning distance medley relay team at the 2005 Horizon League Indoor Track and Field Championship. Hutchinson broke Butler’s 1500 meter record twice in 2005, including a record 4:20 (since broken) run at the 2005 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championship.
