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02/26/2007
Road To Recovery



Former USD standout Derek Miles has made a career out of raising the bar.

But since his 7th place finish, in the pole vault, at the 2004 Sydney Olympics, he's had a hard time getting off the ground.

Miles underwent surgery to repair a stress fracture in his right leg last December. And while he now faces a grueling rehab program, this former Olympian, continues to aim high...

"You really have to train explosiveness, speed, strength, technical," says Miles. "It encompasses total body fitness."

With his sights set on a return to the Olympics, Derek Miles now spends much of his time at Family Wellness in Sioux Falls, taking baby steps toward recovery.

"The pounding is the major issue," says Miles. "Trying to keep a majority of the pounding off the bones, and letting it heal...Right now I'm doing a lot of base foundational types of stuff. Allowing the knee to get flexible again, and allowing the strength to come back."

It's a process that involves countless hours in the weight room. With each plate bringing him one step closer to the vault.

"Hopefully, within a month and a half or so, I should be able to get back to more serious training," explains Miles. "A little bit harder running...something that will prepare you to run down the runway and jump off it as hard as you can."

And if all goes according to plan, this former Coyote will go out with a bang in Beijing.

Miles concludes, "My ultimate goals are to get healthy this year. Have a good foundation for the '08 years, try to make the team...And then try to get in there and compete for the top three...If I can walk away with an Olympic Medal, I think I can retire happy."

Video: http://www.keloland.com/videoarchive/in ... 22607miles

best wishes to Derek. A super nice guy

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... COLUMNISTS

Aiming for a comeback
By Stu Whitney
swhitney@argusleader.com
Published: March 27, 2007
VERMILLION - For Olympic pole vaulter Derek Miles, 2006 was the year that a whirlwind of high-flying success came tumbling back to Earth.

"We call it 'the year we do not speak of,'" says Miles, drawing a knowing chuckle from his wife, Tori.

A stress fracture of the tibia was a painful setback for the 34-year-old University of South Dakota graduate, who finished seventh at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Miles had a rod surgically inserted in his right shin last December, and he hopes to return to vaulting action at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, on April 26-28.

"I won't be in my prime, by any means," says the Sacramento, Calif., native, whose goal is to qualify for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.

"For Drake, I'm hoping to be at a level where I can be somewhat competitive and test the waters. It will be an important day. If I can get through that and feel good about it, I'll be on the right track."

On Monday, Miles took a break from training to accept the 2007 Dan Lennon Award at the USD-hosted Dan Lennon Invitational.

Though the weather was perfect outside, the early-season high school meet within the DakotaDome in Vermillion seemed to renew his competitive spirit.

It was in this very building that Miles nailed his best-ever vault of 19 feet, 21/4 inches in 2005. And he willingly shared Monday's stage with the young hopefuls who make this meet shine.

"This sort of atmosphere reminds you what it's like to be a high school athlete," said Miles, who lives in Tea and has been working out in Sioux Falls and Vermillion. "There's a lot of excitement for the sport of track and field. You can really feel the energy."

A four-time All-American at USD, Miles needs all the energy he can find after the nagging injury saw him sink from No. 5 in the world in early 2006 to nowhere among the current top 25.

The stress fracture reared its head in February of '06, after Miles returned from the European indoor season. Suddenly, building on his best-ever vault of 19-21/4 inches seemed a daunting proposition.

"It was so painful, I could barely walk," says Miles of the slight crack in his shin. "I gave it almost three months where I didn't do hardly any running or training. I tried to have some sort of an outdoor season, but it was a struggle."

The low point came at the U.S. Outdoor Championships in Indianapolis that June, where he jumped just 17-81/4 and took 10th place despite ranking No. 2 in the nation earlier that year.

"It was hard to watch," says Tori (Devericks), a former West Central and USD trackster who now teaches elementary school in Tea.

"Never before have I seen him try so hard just to reach 17-8. After that, we knew that getting this thing taken care of (surgically) was probably our only option. That was a long drive home."

Miles does most of his in-season pole vault training in Arkansas under the guidance of coach Earl Bell. Armed with a master's degree from USD, he has also worked as an academic advisor at Arkansas State University.

But with so much down time during his injury, he and Tori bought a house in Tea and explored a more normal domestic existence - complete with a big yard and four dogs.

"As a rule, pole vaulters are pretty obsessed with their sport," says Miles, who married Tori, a Sioux Falls native, in 2004. "We sort of let it run our lives for a few years, and she got on board with that. To ask a girl to move away from her family to go live in some town in the middle of nowhere in Arkansas, that's asking a lot."

Of course, world-class athletes - and their families - are known to make major sacrifices to chase the dream of a lifetime.

At 34 years old, Miles knows Beijing represents his last good chance at Olympic glory. Unlike 2004, when he jumped 18-103/8 to take seventh in the Summer Games in Athens, he won't approach his next trip as someone just happy to be there.

"Getting a medal in Beijing is the goal," says USD women's track coach and vault guru Lucky Huber, who has supervised Miles' training in South Dakota.

"Having been to the Olympics before, it's easier for Derek to put that down as a goal and have it be realistic. My job is to balance him trying to get ready, but not getting ready too fast. We want to make sure the goal of competing at Drake doesn't get in the way of reaching Beijing."

To that end, Miles intends to use a conservative 10-step approach at the Drake Relays, rather than his customary 14 or 16 steps.

But as he puts the disastrous 2006 season behind him, he feels he will rally his spirits for one last triumph before leaping into the next chapter of his life.

"In this sport, on your last attempt, you always seem to dig down and hit the best of all the jumps you've had that day," says Miles.

"That's the way I look at this next Olympics. It's my final attempt, and I'm going to leave it all out there on the runway."