Hamstring injury jeopardizes Smith's indoor season

~ The All-American suffered the injury at Saturday's Indiana University Invitational.

Balky hamstrings are about the only things that have been able to slow down Miles Smith so far during his brilliant track career at Southeast Missouri State.

That problem cropped up again Saturday while Smith competed in the 200-meter dash at the Indiana University Invitational.

The senior All-American suffered an injury to his left hamstring during the race and did not finish.

Southeast coach Joey Haines said Monday that Smith could be sidelined for up to a month, which puts his status for the remainder of the indoor season in jeopardy.

The Ohio Valley Conference meet will be Feb. 23 and 24 in Charleston, Ill., while the NCAA Championships are set for March 9 and 10 in Fayetteville, Ark.

"We don't think Miles pulled it really badly, but it's hard to say how long he might be out," Haines said. "Hopefully in a couple of weeks he'll be back to running, but it's hard to tell when he'll actually be ready to race in a meet."

Smith has had problems with both hamstrings.

He originally injured his left hamstring last year and recovered well, but then injured his right hamstring during the semifinals of the 400-meters at the NCAA outdoor meet.

Smith again appeared to recover well from that injury and at Southeast's first meet of the indoor season -- Dec. 2 at the Arkansas State Kickoff Classic -- set a school record in the 200 with a time of 21.14 seconds that currently ranks second nationally.

Before running Saturday, Smith had not competed since the Arkansas State meet.

"We purposely eased into this season to make sure Miles was ready to go," Haines said. "He was really running well. He is so fast right now, you wonder if he's faster than his body can handle."

While Haines is still hopeful that Smith can at least return in time for the NCAA indoor meet -- he still has to qualify in the 400 because he has not yet competed in that event this season -- and perhaps even the OVC indoor, the coach doesn't believe this latest setback will affect Smith's outdoor season.

"I don't think this is something that will put him out all year," Haines said. "I'm worried about the indoor season.

"But Miles felt better Sunday than he did Saturday, so that's a good sign. About all we can do is rehab him and hope for the best."

Southeast fares well

Haines was pleased with the performance of his athletes during the Indiana meet, which featured a host of nationally prominent programs, including Ohio State, Michigan, Mississippi, Indiana, Iowa and Louisville. No team scores were kept.

Southeast had six top-10 finishes and 11 top-20 finishes.

Reigning OVC male field athlete of the week John Berry led the Redhawks by placing second in the long jump, which followed his winning performance at last week's meet at Southern Illinois.

"John is really jumping well," Haines said.

The distance medley relay team of Paul Stemmerman, Mark McNamara, Danny Stults and David Reid finished eighth.

Lance Altenthal, a freshman from Cape Girardeau Central High School, tied for 10th in the pole vault.

On the women's side for Southeast, freshman Brenda Whitworth was sixth in the 600; freshman Audrey Harwood placed eighth in the pole vault; and the 1,600 relay team of Whitworth, Stymill Conley, Jerica Hamm and Whitney Thomas finished fifth.

"We had some really good performances against some of the best programs in the country," Haines said.