MONACO – Bulldog junior sprinter Aaliyah Butler finished second in record-setting fashion in the first Diamond League race of her career in Monaco on Friday.
 
The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native flew to a personal best and school record 49.09 in the 400-meter dash to finish just behind the Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino (49.06).  Butler’s time makes her the No. 2 all-dates collegiate performer in history with the No. 3 all-dates collegiate performance in history.
 
Butler won the Honda Sport Award for track and field and was a semifinalist for The Bowerman following an extraordinary third year in Athens.  The gold medalist from Team USA’s 4x400m relay team at the 2024 Olympic Games swept the 400m at the Southeastern Conference Championships indoors and outdoors. Butler bettered her runner-up finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships into a gold medal finish at outdoor Nationals. 
 
Butler was also the leader on the Bulldogs’ relay team that won the NCAA outdoor title during a run to Georgia’s first national team championship outdoors.  In addition, she ran on the Bulldogs’ second-place relay at NCAA Indoors and SEC Outdoors and on the winning relay at SEC Indoors.
 
The 2025 SEC Indoor Women’s Runner of the Year finished the year at No. 3 on the all-time collegiate 400m indoor list (49.78) and No. 5 on the all-time collegiate 400m outdoor list (49.26).