Miles Batty

Miles Batty (born 4 June 1987) is a track runner who specializes in middle-distance disciplines. As a high schooler he was one of the most prolific cross country and distance track runners in the state of Utah. Running for BYU, Batty set the American indoor collegiate mile record and contributed to BYU's track successes. He finished 10th at the 2012 US Olympic Trials for the 1500-meter race.^[2]

Running career

High school

Batty attended and ran for Jordan High School until he graduated in 2005. In addition to being state champion of Utah in cross country, his personal best in the mile as a high schooler was 4:22 (min:sec).^[3]

Collegiate

Right after high school, Batty went on a two-year mission to Brazil, during which he did not participate in any competitive running. Upon his return to BYU, he struggled to get into shape and even questioned the chances of himself succeeding as a college runner.^[4]

In February 2012 at the 2012 Millrose Games, Batty broke the indoor collegiate mile record by almost half a second with a time of 3:54.54.^[5] His record time was beaten in February 2013 at the 2013 Millrose Games by Chris O'Hare with a time of 3:52.98.^[6] Batty dropped to number three on the NCAA all-time mile list in 2014 when Lawi Lalang clocked a 3:52.88, also at the Millrose Games.

After qualifying and winning at NCAA's track championship, Batty was named National Men's Track Athlete of the Year by USATF in 2011,^[7] and also helped BYU's distance relay team win the national championship. As of August 2011, he was ranked number 9 in the United States in the 1500 meters discipline.

References