Former Redhawk Miles Smith still can fly

Former Southeast Missouri State track and field standout Miles Smith reached his greatest athletic accomplishment at the 2005 World Championships.

Smith will have an opportunity to duplicate that later this summer.

Smith has been selected to represent Team USA as a member of the 1,600-meter relay pool at the World Championships from Aug. 27 through Sept. 4 in Daegu, South Korea.

Smith's selection came after he placed sixth in the 400 meters Saturday at the USA Championships in Eugene, Ore.

The top three finishers earned berths in the 400 meters on the USA squad for the World Championships. Smith was picked to help fill out the 1,600 relay.

Miles Smith leads a 400-meter race for Southeast Missouri State during the 2008 outdoor track season.

"I'm extremely fired up," Smith said. "I'm excited to keep the momentum I have going."

Smith, who completed his Southeast eligibility in 2008, was a five-time All-American for the Redhawks who excelled at numerous national competitions.

Smith also finished sixth in the 2005 USA Championships and was picked for the Team USA 1,600 relay at the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. He ran the lead leg in the qualifying and received a gold medal following Team USA's victory in the final.

"That was a great experience for me," Smith said. "I'm happy to get back to that level."

Smith, a St. Louis native, has continued to make a career out of track since leaving Southeast. He originally moved to Virginia to train. He has since moved to Arlington, Texas, and trains with a coach he credits with helping get his running back on track.

"I'm happy to be back in the kind of shape I need to be," said the 26-year-old Smith, who was eighth in the 400 at the 2009 USA Championships. "A lot of what was going on had to do with coaching, not having the right coach.

"That's probably the most important determining factor. If you don't have the right coach that works for you, your career won't be successful."

Smith's time Saturday was 45.34 seconds, after he ran 45.32 seconds in Friday's semifinals.

Those times are approaching what he ran at the 2005 USA Championships -- 45.25 -- and considerably better than his 2009 mark of 46.09.

The improvements under his new coach have Smith hopeful of earning a berth in the 2012 London Olympics.

"I've already got the international experience. My times have started falling back to what they were," Smith said. "Sometimes it takes a couple of years for someone's program to work for you.

"I've only been with this coach for a year. Who knows, after next year I might be 12 times better than I am right now."

If hard work has anything to do with it, Smith's coach at Southeast believes he'll get there.

"It took Miles a couple of years to get things squared away but he's back on track now," said former Southeast coach Joey Haines. "It's been tough but this is well deserved for Miles. He's worked very hard.

"I'm really proud of Miles. It's a great accomplishment. And I think he'll continue to get better and better."

While Smith's track career has been revived, his personal life also is going well. Smith is married to a fellow Southeast graduate, Bridget, who works as a registered nurse. They have a son Kyle, 3.

"I've got a great family and everything is going real well," Smith said. "I'm going to keep working to be the best I can be."