Image courtesy of Malissa Lindsey.
Years before the length of a 400-meter track became her second home, Malissa Lindsey ‘23 was told she had a “running spirit.” I sat opposite the proud Chicago girl as she remembered a Saturday in Millennium Park. “It’s a funny story. I was actually running from my mom, like any child would.” Her light humor and amiability gave our formal interview the appearance of two best friends grabbing coffee before class. “I remember the guy who found me. He brought me back to my mother and told her I had a running spirit.”
To a child who had just strayed far from parental supervision, a “running spirit” sounded like two big adult words for “you’re in a lot of trouble;” But, to a much older Lindsey, who has now broken three track and field records in her Connecticut College career, those words sound more like a prophecy.
Two falls ago, having just matriculated into Connecticut College, a first-year Lindsey was assigned a freshman-esque writing prompt: “In a paragraph or less, describe one goal you’d like to accomplish.”
“I remember I was thinking about track…I wrote down that I wanted to break a school record by my junior year.”
I gave her a proud nod, acknowledging that she’d just broken a record in February. “You broke a record two months ago…that’s amazing. And it happened during your junior year, just like you wrote.” The all-star sprinter shifted humbly in her chair, my congrats were premature. “Actually, I broke my first record a few months after writing that goal…as a freshman.”
At the Wesleyan Tri-Meet, Dec. 6 of 2019, Lindsey ran the 60-meter dash in 8.22 seconds. It was more than a personal best, it was a collegiate-best. The peaking freshman toasted to an achievement she deemed “likely to never happen again,” becoming a testament to how being wrong is, sometimes, better than being right. “I broke the 200-meter school record at The BU Invitational a few months later,” she said, “I couldn’t believe it.”
Lindsey would cap her maiden track season, having surpassed every expectation she set, with two collegiate records and a rejuvenated sense of abilities. “I remember telling myself that this was just the beginning.” It was the opening number to what would be a promising curtain call for the runner four years down the line, only, in just a few months her beginning would collide with the beginning of a record-breaking streak far worse, one which recorded illness and ricocheted through the world like plague: the beginning of a global pandemic.
On March 11 of 2020, in a campus-wide email sent from President Katherine Bergeron, students were asked to vacate their dorms and return home.
“Track season ended, for what we thought would be a couple of months. Next thing you know, we hadn’t competed in over a year. ”
2022 marked the team’s first full season since the onset of COVID-19. For the decorated short sprinter, it has been a year of great physical and mental grit. Breaking records is the fun part, the bigger challenges meet Lindsey off the field where she balances a major/double minor with her obligations as a student-athlete. “7am trainings, 10 hours a week. It’s been intense. Saturdays are gone, those are track meet days. I can’t remember the last Saturday I wasn’t too exhausted or sore to go out.”
But soreness is a symptom of success for Lindsey, who in February, broke another 60-meter dash record at the 2022 NCAA Division III New England Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Colby Feb. 25-26. The previous record, held since 2015, was 7.93 seconds.
Lindsey ran a time of 7.77.
“I really admire her,” fellow teammate Jazmyn Gillespie ‘24 shared. “When she’s not competing or training, she likes to watch track videos. I think that’s what separates the best from the mediocre, the way you spend your time off the field.”
In a few reflective words Lindsey confessed, “I’m proud of what I’ve been able to do. These past two years have been a lot, for everyone…but I think things are looking up.” The track star wore a thoughtful smile, the subtle kind one does when reminiscing. For a few minutes she sat in silence, but I could tell her mind was running.
Since writing this article Malissa Lindsey has broken three more school records: Silfen Invitational 2022 April 15-16 200 meter, 24.39. Silfen Invitational 2022 April 15-16: 100 meter, 11.79. Trinity College Invitational April 23, 2022: 4×100 meter relay, 49.13.
