As a lifelong competitive backstroke swimmer, Brittany Butcher understands what it takes to set the tone in the pool.
Leading off the New England Masters Swim Club’s 160-199 400 SCM Medley Relay team at the 2024 Colonies Zone & New England Championship on December 15 at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Butcher (née Sasser) swam a strong 100 short course meter (SCM) leg and helped her team of four set a world record for their age group of 4:28.97.
“It’s just something to get really excited about,” said Butcher, 39. “We all have daily lives, kids and jobs… things you have to do, but it’s nice to be able to take time and get excited for something for yourself and for each other.”
A Lexington resident since 2018, Butcher lives in town with her husband, Jimmy, son Quinton, 7, and daughter, Mia, 5. A competitive swimmer since age 5, Butcher swam competitively in high school and college. That’s where it seemed to stop for good, until fellow Lexington resident Sara G. Bothwell Allen approached her at the Lexington Town Pool one day in 2019.
Watching her children splash around, Bothwell Allen approached Butcher poolside after noticing her Speedo workout suit and invited her to an informal swim group at the pool. Another Lexington resident from the group told her about the more formal master’s swimming program at the Beede Swim and Fitness Center in Concord where Butcher now trains three days per week.
Masters Swimming offers competitive swimming across the world for adults of all abilities. In the United States, more than 60,000 swimmers ages 25 and up participate through U.S. Masters Swimming, a nonprofit organization founded in 1970. For masters relay events like the one Butcher competed in, age groups are determined by the collective age of the full participating team, hence the 160-199 designation. The meet at WPI featured swimmers from ages 18 to roughly 90 years old.
“The community, because it is so inclusive, it really means that at any point in your life you can pick it back up,” Butcher said.
Representing the New England Masters, Butcher teamed up with three former Division I swimmers, Liz Mancuso (a Dartmouth College athletics Hall of Famer swimmer), Idli Szekely (Michigan State University), and Jennifer Brooks Crozier (All-American at Indiana) to top the previous record — set in 2019 by North Carolina Masters — by three seconds. The group, all working moms, set a goal to do so as a “way to stay motivated.” Though Butcher’s return to competition is still fairly new, the Belmont native and 2008 graduate of Amherst College channeled the competitive drive that earned her 13 NCAA championships, two NCAA Swimmer of the Year nods and three All-American designations.
“You always want to be able to set your team up for success because every single person going behind you can see what you either did or didn’t do,” said Butcher, who finished more than a full second faster than last year’s time in the same distance. “You never know how age is going to impact you, but all these women knew I was going at that speed, so it set us off on good footing.”
A handful of Lexington residents surprised Butcher and attended the record-setting meet in person.
By day, Butcher works in learning and development for The Feld Group Institute, a leadership development and organization focused on the information and technology industry and technology-enabled business transformation, under her personal consultancy name, Flip Turn Consulting.
For Butcher, participating in Masters Swimming filled a void for the athletic community she had as an amateur swimmer. The low impact nature of swimming helps athletes avoid injury, and the sport elevates heart health, physical health and mental health.
“I’d encourage people to go out and try something new and to give yourself the time to do something cool,” Butcher said. “Making time for yourself is the most important thing that I’ve learned over the past couple of years and then the way the community will lift you up and support you along the way is great.”
So proud of you, Brittany!