May 27, 2006

Knoxville,Tenn. - Miles Smith placed third in the 400-meters and anchored the 4 X 400-meter relay team that estbalished a new Southeast Missouri State school record at the NCAA Mideast Regional at the University of Tennessee.

Smith timed 45.57 to place third behind Xavier Carter of LSU (44.84) and David Neville, Jr., of Indiana (45.23). The third place finish automatically qualified Smith for the NCAA finals, June 7-10, in Sacramento, Calif. He was fifth in the NCAA finals last season.

Smith also anchored the Redhawks relay team to a new school record with a time of 3:05.54. The team of Alonzo Nelson, Chris Poindexter, Walter Washington and Smith won the first timed heat to place fifth overall and earn an automatic berth at the NCAA finals.

Nelson also placed sixth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 50.77. He entered the competition ranked 10th nationally and will have a shot at an at-large berth in the NCAA finals because of his national ranking.

Redhawks senior Heather Jenkins placed sixth in the discus with a throw of 50.16 meters.

Sophomore Kevin McNab placed 16th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 9:10.45. Freshman Bilal Hameed fouled on all three of his jumps in the triple jump.