Wartburg’s Buttry wins national honor

The honors keep rolling in for Missy Buttry. The Shenandoah native, who just completed a standout cross country and track-and-field career at Wartburg has been named Honda’s division-three Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. The award honors the top woman athlete from colleges and universities competing at the N-C-double-A Division-three level. Buttry concluded her distinguished collegiate career in front of a home crowd Memorial Day weekend when Wartburg hosted the division-three outdoor track and field championships. She won the 15-hundred meter and five-thousand meter runs, while leading the Knights to the national championship, Wartburg’s first in any women’s team sport. One of the most decorated student athletes in Division-three, Buttry ended her career with 12 individual national titles in cross country and track and field, tying her for third in all divisions among all-time women’s individual national titleholders. Buttry will receive her athlete-of-the-year award during a press conference at Columbia University in New York City on june 29th. In recognition of the award, American Honda Motor Company will donate five-thousand dollars to the Wartburg women’s athletic program. She is the fourth Iowa conference student-athlete to win the award since its establishment in 1987.