Smith wins tune-up for World Championships

Southeast Missouri State's Miles Smith tuned up for next month's World Track and Field Championships by winning the 400-meters Sunday night at the USATF Mid-Summer Classic in Azusa, Calif.

Smith, a member of the USA 1,600-meter relay team for the World Championships Aug. 6 through 14 in Helsinki, Finland, turned in a time of 45.60 seconds. James Davis, a former world champion relay team member, was second in 46.17 seconds.

"We were pretty happy with his performance," said Southeast coach Joey Haines, who attended the meet with Smith. "We've started a new training cycle, still working hard but doing strength work and not a whole lot of speed work.

"It's been a long year, so we've kind of backed off. He ran well and won easily, but the idea is to be running really fast in three weeks."

Smith's personal best of 45.16 seconds was the fastest time of the entries for the Mid-Summer Classic.