Butler graduate Melanie Buczko Lincoln, the school's record-holder in the pole vault, is being inducted into the Butler Area School District Athletic Hall of Fame.

This is the third in a series of four articles profiling the 2016 inductees into the Butler Area School District Athletic Hall of FameTEMPE, Ariz. — Gymnastics or track and field? It was time to make a choice.Melanie Buczko Lincoln made the right one.After competing in both sports for four years, Buczko opted for solely track and field during her senior year at Butler High School. She wound up setting a Golden Tornado pole vault record in 2003 that still stands and she’s posted the fourth-fastest 300-meter hurdle time in program history.Buczko followed that up with a stellar academic and track and field career at Bucknell University.Now married and working in construction management in Arizona, Buczko Lincoln will be inducted into the Butler Area School District Athletic Hall of Fame at 5 p.m. Dec. 23 in the high school cafeteria.“I did gymnastics through the Butler Gymnastics Club from third grade all the way through high school,” Buczko Lincoln recalled. “Steve Heasley coached me all that time. He and my track coaches were very understanding in letting me pursue both sports.“I’d leave track practice early, get to gymnastics practice late. After four years of that, my body wasn’t handling it very well. I had to make a choice.”She got as far as Level 9 in gymnastics and qualified for regionals. Her best events were floor exercise and beam.“Mental issues steered me away from gymnastics more than anything else,” Buczko Lincoln said. “I didn’t love it as much anymore.“My dad and Coach (Mike) Seybert pushed and convinced me to try the pole vault. I decided to give it a go in 10th grade and it took off from there.“My gymnastics training came in handy there. The upper body strength and flexibility I developed through that sport translated well to the pole vault,” she added.Buczko Lincoln set the Butler girls pole vault record of 12 feet, six inches in 2003. She set the WPIAL record while winning the district title with that height as well.She placed seventh at the Adidas Outdoor Track and Field Championship (high school nationals) with a vault of 12 feet and a half inch.“Qualifying for nationals, indoor and outdoor, is probably what I’m most proud of,” Buczko Lincoln said. “I hit my personal records in the big meets, too. That meant a lot.”Her 300 hurdles time of 45.3 seconds still ranks third on Butler’s all-time list.Graduating from high school with a 4.35 grade point average, Buczko Lincoln went on to Bucknell and graduated with a degree in civil engineering. She was a three-time Patriot League champion in the pole vault.She also holds the Bucknell pole vault record of 13-5.25 and the Patriot League meet record of 12-10. She ranks third on Bucknell’s all-time list with a time of 8.89 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles and was a four-time Patriot League finalist in that event.Buczko Lincoln’s husband is cross country and middle distance coach at Chandler High School in Arizona. She served as the pole vault coach there for a couple of years.“Their track schedule didn’t mesh well with my work schedule and I had to give that up,” Buczko Lincoln said. “But it felt good getting back into that sport again and teaching others.“Going into the (Butler)Hall of Fame is a huge honor for me. All of those great athletes who have achieved so much in different sports there ... Joining them is a big achievement. I’m excited about it.”