USA Track and Field Names Batty Athlete of the Week

INDIANAPOLIS - BYU's Miles Batty, a junior, has been named USA Track & Field’s Athlete of the Week after he narrowly won the men’s mile and the anchored BYU’s winning distance medley relay team last weekend Division I NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Texas A&M University.

“I was really excited to have one individual title and one relay title,” Batty said. “The mile shows what I did by myself, but to win the relay and see how happy my teammates were was awesome.”

During Friday night’s DMR, Batty was able to hold off a 3:53.29 split run by Indiana’s Andy Bayer to bring home the national crown for the Cougars. Less than 24 hours later, Batty found himself in second place coming out of the final turn of the mile, but managed to pass Chris O’Hare of Tulsa on the outside to win by two tenths of a second in 3:59.49.

Batty stepped into the national spotlight earlier this year when he broke the 4-minute barrier and finished only one second behind Chris Solinsky at the Husky Classic in Washington. Since then, Batty has received numerous conference and national honors.

“It is nice to see people recognizing what you are doing, but it makes me want to not stop and do even more,” Batty said.

Now in its tenth year, USATF's Athlete of the Week program is designed to recognize outstanding performers at all levels of the sport. USATF names a new honoree each week and features the athlete on the USATF website. Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous week.

Winners: January 5, Bill Tribou; January 12, Tyler Sorensen; January 20, Josh Cox; January 26, Ben Shorey; February 2, Ashton Eaton; February 9, Ashton Eaton; February 16, Bernard Lagat; February 23, Ryan Crouser; March 2, Jillian Camarena-Williams; March 10, Bill Collins; March 16, Miles Batty