Miles Smith returns as the Southeast Missouri sprints coach for a second season. Smith, who was a star for the Redhawks’ track team, returned to Southeast a season ago to take over the sprint coach duties.
Smith, who competed at Southeast from 2004-08, brings his expertise to the Redhawks’ sprints team. He spent the 2012-13 season as a volunteer assistant coach at Tennessee State.
In 2014, Smith mentored Blake Smith to school records in the 55m and 60m dash events during the indoor season. During the outdoor season, Smith coached newcomer Prenecia Ponds to Southeast top-ten performances in the 100m and 200m events. On the men’s side, Blake Smith had a top-ten 100m performance while Chris Navarro and Mike Peters notched top-ten times in the 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles, respectively.
Smith also mentored Chris Navarro en route to Ohio Valley Conference individual championships in the indoor heptathlon and outdoor decathlon.
Last year, Smith was inducted into the Southeast Missouri Athletics Hall of Fame. Smith became the 23rd Southeast Missouri track & field athlete to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Smith was inducted with fellow track athlete Kathleen Hudson (1979-1981, 1983).
An argument can be made for Smith being the greatest Division I athlete Southeast has produced in any sport. A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Smith was a three-time All-American in the 400m, earning the honors in 2005, 2006 and 2008. He was named the Ohio Valley Conference’s Male Track Athlete of the Year four times (2005 indoors, 2006 indoors and outdoors and 2008 indoors) and still owns Southeast school records in the 200m (indoors), 400m (indoor and outdoors) and 4x400m relay (indoors and outdoors). Southeast enjoyed tremendous team success with Smith, winning OVC outdoor championships in 2005, 2006 and 2008. He won seven individual OVC championships in his collegiate career and was named the 2006 OVC Athlete of the Championship at the OVC Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Smith was also an elite competitor on the international stage. He ran for the US National Team in the 2005 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland, where he won a gold medal with the 4x400m relay team. He also qualified for the USA Olympic Trials in both 2008 and 2012.
Smith graduated from Southeast in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communications.
