BUTLER TWP — Liz Simms tries her hardest to not relive that late-May day in sweltering Shippensburg.

But it's always there.

She remembers how she began to feel light-headed on the home stretch during the final leg of the 1,600-meter relay, ahead of the pack and meters away from a PIAA track and field gold medal.

She remembers how her legs balked.

She remembers how she had to peel herself off the scorching track just to finish eighth.

It creeps into her mind when she least expects it.

Instead of shrinking from it, the senior on the Butler girls track and field team has embraced it.

Used it to reboot herself.

Call her Liz Simms, 2.0.

In a strange way, Simms is even thankful for it because it gave her a new perspective on things.

“When something like that happens to you as an athlete, it takes awhile. You can take a day or two to cry about it and be sad about it and think, 'That's it. I just messed up,'” Simms said. “But coming out from it, in the end, I'm kind of glad about what happened to me.”

She joked that the other three members of the relay wouldn't necessarily share that view, but Simms said the fall mere meters away from the finish line — caused by exhaustion and the stifling heat — gave her an unusual clarity heading into her senior season for the Golden Tornado.

“What I learned from it is so much greater,” Simms said. 'What I learned from it is you can prepare, you can work hard, you can go hard in March, you can go hard in April, and even hard in May, and reach your peak performance — and then something can happen to you.”

Forgive Simms, though, if she feels a bit snakebitten these days at state meets.

During the indoor track and field championships this winter at Penn State University, Simms was cruising along, 100 meters into her leg of the 1,600 relay, when another runner clipped her shoe.

And it flew off.

Simms finished the race with only one shoe and Butler finished ninth.

“What happened to me in the last two state meets — it's kind of taught me to be more disciplined and that it's not a formula,” Simms said. “You just don't know what's going to happen. We're people. We're not algorithms. You can do everything right and something can happen.”

Simms has a new outlook, forged from the fires of those trying times, this season.

Always positive, Simms strolls the infield at Art Bernardi Stadium with an extra spring in her step and a wide smile on her face.

She said she has come to realize that there's more to track than the bottom line.

“At this time in my career, it's like, 'Remember why you do it,'” Simms said. “It's about being around your teammates. It's about cheering other people on, kind of being selfless when you're running. Even encouraging other runners — during your race even. That's where I am now.”

Don't get Simms wrong, however. She still has big goals for herself and the team.

She wants to close her career — before she runs off to Davidson College to begin her next chapter — by improving on the three school records she already holds in the 800-meter run and as a member of the Butler 1,600 and 3,200 relay teams.

Simms also wants to get back to Shippensburg and put that gold medal she was so close to earning last year around her neck.

But there's something even bigger driving her than gold and glory.

“Right now it's about leaving a whole mentality behind,” she said.

It's already rubbing off on the young runners.

Sophomore Gabby Boden said Simms' presence has already helped her become a better runner and competitor.

“She's a really good role model to look up to,” Boden said. “She's always so positive. Really, she's just been so amazing and she always gives 110 percent. It's such a big thing. She gets us all together and gets us so excited before a meet.”

Simms' knack for relating to the younger runners has come from her ability to channel what she felt as a freshman at Butler.

She often repeats the story of her first state meet, standing at the starting line, petrified.

“I was shaking in my spikes, having no idea what was happening,” Simms said, chuckling. “The freshmen come up to me and say, 'I'm so nervous. I'm so nervous,' and I tell them the story of my freshman year in the state final in the 800-meter and I'm crying on the line on live TV. If you want to talk about the epitome of naive running freshman girl who has no clue what she's capable of, that is it.

“I think back to that freshman Liz,” Simms added, smiling, “and I see how far I've come and how much I've learned.”