Miles Batty named NCAA Today's Top 10 Award winner

PROVO, Utah (Nov. 1, 2012) — The NCAA announced Thursday the 10 student-athletes who will be honored in January 2013 as Today’s Top 10 Award winners. Included in the list of recipients is BYU track and cross country All-American Miles Batty of Sandy, Utah.

The NCAA Today’s Top 10 Award recognizes student-athletes who completed their athletics eligibility during the 2011-12 academic year. The award is based on success in competition, in the classroom and in the community. 

Batty, who graduated magna cum laude in June 2012 with degrees in neuroscience and exercise science, is one of the most decorated student-athletes in BYU history. As a senior he won the prestigious NCAA Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship and the West Coast Conference Postgraduate Scholarship.

Batty is an eight-time United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-American. In 2011, he was the NCAA National Champion in the indoor mile and a member of the national champion distance medley relay team, on his way to being named the National Indoor Track Athlete of the Year. As a senior in 2012, Batty set an NCAA record in the mile, with a time of 3:54.54.

His success was equally impressive in the classroom where Batty was twice named CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-America of the Year for men’s track and cross country (2011 and 2012). In 2012, he was named the USTFCCCA Scholar Athlete of the Year and the WCC Mike Gilleran Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. 

Very much involved in community service, Batty tutored fellow BYU students, was a member of the Cougar Student-Athlete Council and served a church missionary in Brazil. He also participated in blood drives, clothing drives and Special Olympics.

Batty and the other Today’s Top 10 Award recipients will be recognized at the Honors Celebration on Jan. 18, 2013, during the NCAA Convention in Grapevine, Texas. He joins Gifford Nielsen, Marc Wilson, Steve Young, Ed Eyestone, Dylann Duncan Ceriani and Ty Detmer as the seventh Cougar to receive the prestigious award.