Batty Breaks BYU Mile Record

SEATTLE -- Junior Miles Batty broke a 31-year old BYU record in the mile with a time of 3:55.79 while several distance runners competed in the Husky Classic in Washington and the BYU men’s track team won the Air Force Invitational in Colorado with 106 points on Friday and Saturday.

“We had an amazing day, there isn’t much more to it than that,” distance coach Ed Eyestone said. “Batty ran one of the best races in BYU history.”

In Washington, BYU’s distance team put on a solid display, highlighted by Batty’s record setting performance. The new BYU record is an NCAA automatic-qualifying time and is good for the second-best time in the country.

Batty finished just over one second behind professional runner Chris Solinsky, who holds the current American record in the 10,000-meter. Sophomore Travis Fuller also ran well, setting a personal-best 4:02.79 time also.

For the first time this year several runners ran the 5000-meter. Senior Nathan Ogden was the Cougar’s top finisher with a time of 13:55.70 to finish in 16th place overall. Freshman Jared Ward took 29th in a time of 14:04.28.

The 3000-meter featured sophomore Jared Rohatinsky picking up a sixth-place finish with a time of 8:09.92 and sophomore Taylor Farnsworth finished with a time of 8:12.47 to take the 14th spot.

“We had some very good performances,” head coach Mark Robison said. “I was very pleased and on a national level it’s great to see some improvement.”

At the Air Force Invitational, BYU’s field event athletes had good marks with senior Chris Little clearing 5.42m (17-09.25) in the pole vault for a second place finish and sophomore Victor Weirich finishing in fourth with a 5.20m (17-0.75) mark.

Senior Trevor Heiner cleared 2.08m (6-09.75) in the high jump for a season best to take second place while freshman Dakoda John came in 10th with a mark of 1.95m (6-04.75).

The jumpers for the Cougars also contributed to the scoring with junior Anse Myller DeAraujo taking second in the triple jump with a jump of 15.13m (49-02.50) and senior Aaron Powell jumping 7.12m (23-04.50) in the long jump for another second place finish.

Senior Leif Arrhenius competed for the first time this season in the weight throw and didn’t disappoint, winning the event with a mark of 21.06m (69-01.25). Senior Oliver Whaley helped out in the weight throw as well with a toss of 17.25m (56-07.25).

Arrhenius also competed in the shot put and took third place with a throw of 18.71m (61-04.75). Freshman Zachary Stetler finished 11th in the shot put, going for 15.84m (51-11.75).

Complete results can be found at www.gohuskies.com and www.goairforcefalcons.com.

Up next, the Cougars will be competing in the Mountain West Conference Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Feb. 24-26.