Batty, whose time of 3:36.25 at the Mt. SAC Relays in April represented the top collegiate performance in the country in 2011, as well as a Mountain West record, was clocked at 3:45.07 on Saturday in a race won by Oregon junior Matthew Centrowitz (3:42.54).
By virtue of his top-eight finish, Batty became the fourth BYU men's team athlete to earn first-team All-American honors at the meet.
Also earning first-team All-American honors on Saturday was New Mexico senior Rory Fraser, who posted a sixth-place finish (13:39.40) in the men's 5,000-meter run. Fraser was one of three New Mexico athletes to qualify for the event. Junior Nicholas Kipruto garnered second-team All-American honors by finishing 11th in a time of 13:48.52. Lobo sophomore Ross Millington did not finish the race.
On the women's side, San Diego State junior Whitney Ashley, who earned first-team All-American honors on Wednesday by finishing seventh in the discus, fouled out of Saturday's shot put competition.
In the men's team standings, BYU finished eighth with 27.50 points in a competition won by defending champion Texas A&M (55.00).
Texas A&M (49.00) also captured the women's title. TCU's posted the top finish among MW women's teams, finishing 27th with 11.00 points.
Mick McGrane has covered the Mountain West since the league's inception in 1999. He spent 12 years at the San Diego Union-Tribune, where he served as the beat writer for San Diego State football and men's basketball. He currently represents the MW as a member of the Football Writers Association of America All-America Committee and is a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. McGrane serves as senior writer to the Mountain West, providing readers with exclusive, in-depth information about the Conference by highlighting its 10 member institutions and contributing feature stories on student-athletes that participate in the league's 18 sponsored sports.
Mark Knudson is a Colorado State journalism school graduate and a 12-year veteran of professional baseball. During his playing career, Mark pitched for three major league teams, including the Colorado Rockies, where he was the first Colorado native to play for the hometown team. He recorded wins over three of the four legendary pitchers who make up the 4,000 strikeout club: Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens. His win over Ryan came for the Milwaukee Brewers on Opening Day in 1991.
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