BUTLER TWP — Paige Allen took a painful path to all-conference honors in track and field this season.

But the Butler graduate and incoming Penn State-Behrend sophomore is building herself a promising future.

Allen finished her freshman year at Behrend with eight school records. She ran the indoor 60 meters in 7.94 seconds, the indoor 200 in 26.1, the outdoor 100 meters in 12.3 seconds, the outdoor 200 in 25.5. She also ran on four relay teams — the indoor 4x200 and 4x400, the outdoor 4x100 and 4x400 — that set school marks.

“I was surprised, definitely,” Allen said of her record haul. “I went to a Division III school for education reasons.

“Now I feel like I have the best of both worlds.”

While running the 4x100 relay at the ECAC meet in Troy, N.Y., Allen collided with a teammate and tumbled hard to the ground. She suffered a broken clavicle and a concussion.

She didn’t know it at the time.

“The trainer thought it was a dislocated collarbone and kept trying to pop it back into place,” Allen said. “It was sore, but they taped it up real tight so I could run the 100 later in the meet.

“All I had to do was run that race to make all-conference and I wanted to score points for my team.”

All Allen could do was jog the 100 meters, completing the race in 32 seconds. She was unable to run the 200 meter finals later.

“That was our final meet, so I guess it (the injury) was well-timed,” Allen said.

Behrend track coach Greg Cooper recalled the day Allen was injured.

“That was a windy day, with gusts up to 30 or 40 miles per hour,” he said. “Paige got hurt in a strange way. The wind was pushing our relay runners around a little bit and their legs just got tangled up.

“Paige deserved to make all-conference, so we let her run (the 100). We didn’t know how badly she was hurt at the time.”

Cooper did know the quality of athlete he was getting prior to the season.

Now he knows the drive in that athlete as well.

“Looking at her high school times, we knew she was good,” the coach said. “With Paige as a sprinter, we knew what we were getting.

“Her time in the 100 was 12.6 or so at the start of the year. She slashed that to 12.3. When I first talked to her, Paige made it clear she didn’t want to run anything beyond the 200 — and she didn’t particularly like that event.”

Allen wound up running a leg of the Lions’ 4x400 relay — and did quite well. She plans to run cross country this fall and compete in the 400 and 800 meters next track season.

“Now I’d like to go after the school record in the 400 and improve my record times in the other events,” Allen said. “Leave school with as many records as I can get? I would love that.”

Cooper recalled one 4x400 race that opened his eyes to Allen’s ability.

“We put Paige on the anchor leg and we were trailing by 15 meters when she got the baton,” he said. “She trailed the other girl by 12 meters with 100 to go and she caught her.

“I never saw anything like that. Paige has the desire to pass people, to beat people. She’s one of the hardest workers on our team.”

Allen competes in the pole vault for Behrend as well. Her goal is to become a high-caliber athlete at the national level.

Recruited by Slippery Rock, Duquesne, Robert Morris and Bucknell out of high school, she opted for Behrend and is majoring in health care administration.

Carrying a 3.5 grade point average, Allen plans to pursue her masters as well.

“I felt like people looked down on me because I went Division III,” she said. “I’m glad I went that way.

“I’ve got six years of school in front of me and I’m getting the education I want. Ninety-nine percent of athletes don’t do sports past college anyway.”

Cooper is certain of one thing.

“Paige Allen will make the most of her time here,” he said. “That’s a guarantee.”