Feb. 15, 2008

Cape Girardeau, Mo. - All-American Miles Smith and the Redhawks 4 X 400-meter relay will compete along with 90 collegiate teams at the Iowa State Classic on Friday and Saturday while the remainder of the men's and women's indoor track teams will compete at the Hoosier Hills Invitational at Indiana University.

Smith and the relay team will be attempting to qutomatically qualify for the NCAA Indoor championships after winning last week at the prestigious New Balance Collegiate Invitational in New York City. Smith, who has the second fastest 400-meter time in the nation this year at 46.61, needs to time 46.15 to be an automatic qualifier for the NCAA championships.

The relay team of Chris Gill, Chris Poindexter, Robert Delaria, and Smith timed 3:10.99 in winning at the Big Apple last Saturday. They need to time 3:06.50 to get an automatic berth in the NCAA meet or 3:10.40 to provisionally qualify.

"I feel like we are ready to run really fast on the big track at Iowa State," Smith said. "The relay team has really been running well and I look for us to be in the 3:06 range. Personally, I hope to run under 46.0 in the 400."

The remainder of the Southeast teams will also face tough competition at the Hoosier Hills Invitational at Indiana.