On May 24, 2025, Jones College Prep Girls Track and Field sprinter Samaya Butler placed 9th at the IHSA 3A Girl State Track & Field Championships at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, IL.
Butler qualified for the State Championships the week before at Sectionals and had to qualify at preliminaries the day before in order to make it to the finals.
“Prelims was on Friday, and the heat winners of the six heats plus the three other fastest times made it to finals,” said Butler. “I was in the first heat and I had the third fastest PR in my heat. So before I ran the race I was kind of nervous because I have a shin injury, but I knew I really wanted to make it to finals. So when we started the race, I just ran the best I could considering my circumstances, and I ended up winning my heat which is why I made it to finals.”
Butler is the first Jones girls sprinter to be All-State at the Track and Field State Championships.
“For the finals, I placed ninth, and it was a lot of competition but it was really fun,” said Butler. “I got to see a lot of the other alumni from different teams and it overall was a really fun experience.”
This is Butler’s second time qualifying for the state championship during her three years at Jones.
“Samaya is someone that we’ve known has had talent for a long time,” said track and field coach Max Crowninshield. “She qualified her freshman year but last year didn’t go how we wanted it to. Honestly throughout this year her progression was kind of aggressive. She really committed to her off season training and listened to what us coaches were saying, and she really grew in a way that we knew she could.”
Butler worked tirelessly throughout the off season to accomplish her goals.
“Last season I didn’t do as well as I wanted to,” said Butler. “So since then I have been training basically all year long. I did private training from August all the way up until January with my club coach. And then when I got into the season, I worked really hard to get better at my starts and stuff like that to become a stronger runner because I knew that this year I wanted to run sub 12 and at least make it to state, which I ended up doing.”
Butler has served as a leader and mentor to other members of the track and field team throughout her time at Jones.
“She’s always been the most knowledgeable and thoughtful member of the team that I can kind of look to for help and advice oftentimes when I’m just trying to get everyone ready,” said sprints leader Khalil Hendell ‘27. “She understands the method to the madness in a very apt way that very few people do.”
Butler hopes to keep progressing even further as she looks forward to her senior year.
“This has been a progression for her,” said Crowninshield. “Freshman year she made it down but didn’t qualify for Saturday. This year she made it down and did qualify. Before this she was outside looking in, knowing she could be at the party. This year she got invited to the party. And now that she has been invited in, she can elevate to that next level where I don’t even know where the limits gonna be.”
Crowninshield and the rest of the team believe Butler has what it takes to go all the way next year.
“The beauty of it is that a lot of her competitors are girls from the city that she gets to race with over the summer and during the season and she’ll race them all spring,” said Crowninshield. “And because of that, iron sharpens iron. I think that she will have a chance to race with anyone in the state next year. And the sky’s the limit once we get there.”
Butler is determined to improve upon her impressive feat this season alongside being a leader and helping the rest of the team improve, setting the team up for a bright future.
“Hopefully we can get some relays down or we can bring more people down next year,” said Butler. “I think next year I really want to work on helping other people make it down to state because I want the younger people to be able to experience the same things that I do.”
