Batt Tops RMAC List of Track Performers

Scott Kretzmann
ASC Sports Information Director

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Not only did Adams State redshirt-freshman Kevin Batt (Sydney, Australia) top the field in the mile at the University of New Mexico Invitatonal on Saturday in Albuquerque, but he also ran the fastest Division II time of the season to date, and for that he has been named as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Men’s Track Athlete of the Week.
This week marks the second straight week that Adams State runners have swept the league runners of the week awards. The RMAC’s women’s honoree this week is junior Kristen McGlynn (Bailey, Colo.) who ran an automatic qualifier in the mile on Saturday to win the event.
Batt led a Grizzly-heavy finish in the mile on the track that six in the Green & White finish in the top seven, each of whom posted automatic or provisional qualifying times. His winning time of four minutes, 9.20 seconds (4:04.57 adjusted) is good for an auto qualifier, and was good to edge out sophomore teammate Tabor Stevens (Canon City, Colo.), who clocked a 4:09.49 (4:04.85 adjusted), ranked No. 2 in DII this season. Their times are the only automatic performances in the mile this season.
The rest of the Adams State contingent in the mile included junior Keegan Calmes (Wind Lake, Wis.), freshman Matt Daniels (Arlington, Texas), junior Antoine Malarte (Aix-les-Bains, France) and redshirt-freshman David Sanchez (Farmersville, Calif.). Each hit provisional marks and placed fourth through seventh in the event.
Calmes’ time of 4:11.95 (4:07.26 adjusted) and Daniels’ mark of 4:12.64 (4:07.94 adjusted) rank directly behind Stevens on the national list, giving ASC runners the four fastest times in the mile to date. Malarte’s 4:14.44 (4:09.70 adjusted) and Sanchez’s 4:14.96 (4:10.21 adjusted) rank No. 7 and 8 in Division II.
Dropping down in distance, freshman Malik McKinney (Denver, Colo.) and senior Rushane Scott (Allentown, Pa.) each ran provisional marks in the 60 meter dash. McKinney clocked a time of 6.86 seconds (6.88 adjusted) in the final, his best of the season, to place fourth. Scott was unable to improve upon his earlier best mark in the event, and finished fifth with a time of 7.05 seconds (7.07 adjusted).
The Grizzlies will be spending one more weekend in Albquerque this Friday and Saturday at the Univ. of New Mexico Classic, bringing to an end a streak of three weeks in action at UNM hosted events. Following the UNM Classic, the Grizzlies will split up for the weekend of Feb. 10-11 between the University of Washington Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash., and the Air Force Invitational.