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.

PROVO -- Coming off strong performances at the New Balance Invitational, the BYU track and field teams will hit the road again this weekend, sending athletes to the Air Force Invitational in Colorado and the Husky Classic in Washington.

Men

With just weeks before the Mountain West Conference Championships the men’s team is getting its last chance to impress and set high marks to qualify for the NCAA Championships.

I’m anticipating good performances this weekend,” men’s head coach Mark Robison said. “Hopefully we will get some better marks to qualify and send more kids to nationals.”

The distance team will be in Washington to compete at sea-level again at the Flotrack Husky Classic, hoping to pick up faster times and quality marks. Four Cougars will be running in the 5000-meter race for the first time this season, including senior Brandon Hebbert, senior Nathan Ogden, sophomore Rex Shields and freshman Jared Ward.

Hebbert recently finished fourth in the 3,000-meter at the New Balance Invitational while Ogden won the college division mile in a time of 4:08.59.

“This is a huge weekend, especially for our distance guys,” Robison said. “They don’t get to run much against this great of competition, at sea-level and on a fast track.”

The rest of BYU’s team will be at the Air Force Invitational in search for good performances as well. Senior Leif Arrhenius will be a highlight as he throws the weight in competition for the first time this season. He finished fourth nationally at last year’s NCAA Championships.

Women

Neither meet this weekend will be scored, so the BYU women’s team will send the sprinters and jumpers to Air Force while the distance runners and throwers will travel to Washington.

“Our goal this weekend is to improve our individual performances to move up the descending order list before the MWC Championships,” BYU women’s head coach Patrick Shane said. “Several athletes will also try to qualify for Nationals this weekend.”

Neither meet this weekend will be scored, so the BYU women’s team will send the sprinters and jumpers to Air Force while the distance runners and throwers will travel to Washington.

Athletes looking to qualify for the National Championships include high jumper Ada Robinson, sprinter Porshe Giddings, and several distance runners, including 5000m runner Morgan Haws. Haws won the MWC Athlete of the Week for her 16:20.24 time in New York and needs to run 16:15.00 Saturday to solidify her spot at Nationals.

“We are really looking to prepare for conference this weekend,” Shane said. “We will determine who we will take to conference based on the performances this weekend. TCU has a great team and we need to prepare very well to win a MWC championship.”

Action is slated to begin at Air Force at 10:00 am on Friday and will conclude at 3:50 pm on Saturday. Results will be available at goairforcefalcons.com.

In Washington, the Cougars will face off against 16 of the USTFCCCA top 25 ranked teams. Friday races will begin at 5:00 pm on Friday and the meet is scheduled to finish at 5:00 pm on Saturday. Live video can be found at flotrack.com and results will be posted at gohuskies.com.