Miles Smith Qualifies For NCAA Indoor Track Finals
3/10/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
March 10, 2005
Cape Girardeau, Mo. - Sophomore sprinter Miles Smith of Southeast Missouri State University has qualified for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, March 11-12, at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
Smith's 400-meter qualifying time of 46.42 is the 13th fastest time in the nation this season and moves him into Friday night's preliminaries in the NCAA final field of 15. Smith, the Ohio Valley Conference indoor champion in the 400, recorded his fastest time in winning the Notre Dame Invitational last weekend.
"Miles is having an outstanding season," said Southeast coach Joey Haines. "Our goal is for him to advance to the finals insuring him of a spot in the final eight. It is an outstanidng field, including two athletes who won gold medals at the Olympics in the 4 X 400-meter relay."
Smith is the only Southeast athlete to advance to the NCAA championships. Brooke Woodruff in the women's 800 and Kathy Coleman in the women's long jump were both provisionally qualified but did not make the final cut. Woodruff ranks 32nd nationally in the 8000 while Coleman is 29th nationally in the long jump.
The Southeast men's 4 X 400 relay just missed making the cut. The team of Alonzo Nelson, Chaz Brown, Walter Washington and Smith ranked 20th in the nation with a time of 3:09.92.
