FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Former Edwardsville track star Brandon Battle, who made IHSA history by sweeping the 100, 200 and 400-meter races at the 2021 state meet, got off to a tremendous start in his career at the University of Arkansas by running the second-fastest time in the world this season indoors in the 400 meters at the Arkansas Invitational Indoor Meet at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark.
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Battle ran the 400 in 46.59 seconds, trailing only Randolph Ross of North Carolina A&T, who ran 45.37 400 meters in a meet at Clemson. It's also a career-best time indoors for Battle, who beat his previous best of 47.88 seconds, just missing his outdoor best of 46.48 seconds. He was also on the winning 4x400 meters relay team with Connor Washington, T.J. Tomlyvanovich, and Boaz Madeus with a time of 3:10.59. Battle's split was 46.25 seconds.
Battle's coach for the Razorbacks, Chris Buckman, is predicting big things for Battle.
"Brandon is going to be a star and is an extremely hard worker," Buckman said in a press release issued by the team.
In the same press release, Battle thought it was a great start, but also knows there's much work ahead for himself and the team.
"I'm trusting the training and what coach has done for us, especially in coming back from the break," Battle said in the press release. "I trust Coach, and I trust the process. There are still some things I can fix in the race. It's an opener and it's January, so it was a good time, but I'm not satisfied at the end of the day."
Battle also enjoyed running with his teammates on the relay and was very happy with the win.
"It was a lot of fun," Battle said. "I love running on the 4x400. It's one of my favorite events in track and field. It's good to run with my teammates and we've been training hard since August."
Battle swept the three main sprint events at the IHSA Class 3A track meet at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston last June, winning the 100 meters with a time of 10.61 seconds, the 200 meters at 21.65 seconds, and the 400 meters at 46.48 seconds, with the times in the 100 and 400 both being personal records. Battle signed a letter of intent with the Razorbacks shortly after the state meet.
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