Smith qualifies for 400 semis

The Southeast Missouri State runner will try to reach the national finals today.

CARSON, Calif. -- Southeast Missouri State University track athlete Miles Smith's whirlwind year was extended on Thursday as the Redhawks sophomore qualified for the semifinals in the 400-meters at the 2005 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

The semifinals will be run today with the finals set for Saturday.

Smith -- an NCAA All-American this year after finishing fifth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships -- finished second in a heat which featured 2004 Olympic bronze-medalist Derrick Brew. Smith ran a time of 45.52 seconds. Brew topped the heat in 45.48.

Olympic gold-medalist Jeremy Wariner had the top preliminary time with a 45.29. Smith's time was the third-fastest on Thursday, although none of the runners came close to matching NCAA champion Darold Williamson's 44.27, the fastest time in the world this year which he achieved in the NCAA semifinals.

"The point of today was to make it to tomorrow," Southeast coach Joey Haines said. "There's no awards till Saturday."

Said Smith of his preliminary run: "It felt good. It was nice and easy."

The top three finishers at the USA Championships will qualify for the United States team in the IAAF World Championships Aug. 6 to 14 in Helsinki, Finland.

Haines said he's heard the top 10 runners could make the team in order to fill out the relay pool.

"One more race like today and he's going to spend the summer in Europe," Haines said.

Added Smith: "It's going to be hard to make the finals, but I'm going to put it all out there."

Standing in Smith's way is a group of predominantly professional runners. Of the top 10 times from Thursday's preliminaries, only three were run by collegians. Willamson ran the fourth-fastest time in 45.58, and LSU's Kelly Willie had the 10th best time.

"Miles just doesn't care who's he's running against, what their pedigree is or what they've competed in," Haines said. "He just runs."

Added Smith: "I feel good having run in the same competition with these guys. It's a big boost in my confidence."

Whether Smith qualifies for the finals tonight or not, he will still have two more years left at Southeast to chase an NCAA championship and a spot on the 2008 Olympic team.

"His future is in front of him," Haines said. "What happens this year is just the beginning. This is not the end; that's what's exciting about this."