Smith will rest sore leg one more week rather than compete at Drake

~ The Redhawks will compete this weekend at Drake and SIU-Edwardsville.

Southeast Missouri State track star Miles Smith won't participate in the prestigious Drake Relays after all.

After resting last week because of a sore leg, Smith was scheduled to return to action this weekend for the invitational 400 meters Saturday and also anchor the Redhawks' 1,600-meter relay.

But Southeast coach Joey Haines said Wednesday that Smith will be scratched from the Drake Relays because the leg is still sore.

The hope is that Smith, a gold medalist as part of the U.S. 1,600 relay team at last summer's world championships in Finland, will be ready to go when Southeast hosts the Ohio Valley Conference championships May 5 and 6.

Smith is ranked third in NCAA Division I this season with a best 400-meter time of 45.74 seconds.

"Miles has responded to treatments on his leg but he had some soreness during workouts Tuesday, so we have elected to rest him one more week," Haines said. "We need him healthy for the OVC championships, and hopefully another week of rest will do the trick."

Southeast still will have a few entries in the 97th edition of the Drake Relays. Colleges and universities representing 25 states will compete, and there will be athletes from 78 countries.

Officials expect more than 8,000 athletes, representing 720 teams, to participate in the event today, Friday and Saturday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.

Southeast will run the distance medley relay Saturday, with Danny Stults, Chris Williams, Mark McNamara and Kevin McNab.

Jason Theodorakos will compete in Saturday's men's javelin, while Heather Jenkins is entered in Saturday's women's discus.

The remainder of the Southeast men's and women's teams will compete Saturday in a meet at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

"We need for everyone to have good competition in our final tuneup for the OVC championships," Haines said. "The meet at SIU-Edwardsville will be very competitive, and of course the Drake Relays is one of the nation's top meets."

Athletes of the week

Southeast won the OVC male field and track athlete of the week awards.

Kevin McNab earned track honors after placing second in the steeplechase at the Vanderbilt Invitational. His time of 9:03.05 is the fastest in the OVC this season and qualifies him for the NCAA regional.

Jordan Willi claimed field honors after winning the pole vault at Vanderbilt with a height of 15 feet, 11 inches.