http://www.fresnobee.com/24hour/sports/story/1557699p-9130796c.html
DON WADE: Miles hopes to vault onto Olympic medal stand
Scripps Howard News Service
(Updated Tuesday, August 10, 2004, 9:55 AM)
JONESBORO, Ark. (SH) - He didn't want to run extra sprints. That's how Derek Miles came to find himself attached to a pole and now, all these years later, literally vaulting into the Olympic Games.
As a high school freshman in Sacramento, Calif., Miles was a high jumper. One day after he had finished his high-jumping, his coach told him to either go do an extra running workout or learn the pole vault.
"Being a lazy freshman," Miles said, "I learned the pole vault."
Turns out, he was raising the bar for the rest of his life.
The other day at Arkansas State University, where Miles is associate director of Advisement Services, the school had a reception for Miles and former ASU athlete Kellie Suttle, who made the women's U.S. Olympic Pole Vault team. Suttle was out of the country at a competition, so that left Miles, who captured the third and last spot on the men's team with a jump of 19 feet and one-quarter inch at the U.S. Trials, to tell his story. And to receive one of those instant proclamations from the mayor's office where every fourth word is "whereas."
"She missed a great party," Miles said as onlookers sipped citrus punch and used toothpicks flying tiny American flags to stab little pieces of cheese.
Of course, the real party is in Athens and having the thrill of living the Olympic experience. One might suppose that Miles began dreaming the Olympic dream the first time he grabbed a pole and sailed over the bar, feeling like a bird that had just learned to fly.
But that would be wrong. Oh, sure, he took to the sport, and grew to love it so much in high school that the team practices weren't enough. In fact, in his backyard, he made his own pole vault arena, using a sweeper stick for cleaning the swimming pool as his pole, and vaulting over a piece of tape suspended between two other poles stuck into the ground.
"The practices just weren't enough to appease me," he said. "I had to go home and play with it."
Miles received the smallest of partial scholarships - $200 per semester - to go to school and pole vault at the University of South Dakota. When he graduated high school, he hardly looked like a budding Olympian; he was 5-8 and 135 pounds.
But at South Dakota, he was a four-time All-American. And from there, he grew in skill and stature. Today, Miles is 6-3 and 195 pounds. He hooked up with former ASU pole vaulter and 1988 Olympic bronze medalist Earl Bell in the late 1990s, and he and Suttle continue to train under Bell in Jonesboro.
Miles jumped his personal best - 19 feet, 1 inch - three years ago. He was an alternate for the 2000 Olympic team when he lost a "jump-off" to training partner and ASU alum Chad Harting.
"This year, I came in with some expectations," Miles said. "I knew I was capable of making the team."
Suttle did make the women's team last time, but finished 11th in Sydney.
"She's probably a little more hungry this year after having played the American tourist," Miles said. "She's technically one of the better pole vaulters, and I think she knows it."
Judging their chances of placing in Athens is difficult because pole vaulting is infamous for breaking the hearts of the so-called favorites while unknowns jump up out of nowhere to get a place on the medal stand.
"About 73 things have to happen all at the same time to have a good jump," said Miles. "If only 33 of them happen, you'll have a bad day."
The men's pole vault preliminaries are on Aug. 25. Among the gifts presented to Miles at ASU was a box of Lucky Charms, courtesy of his boss, Jill Simons. As one well-wisher noted, maybe it'll be the new breakfast of champions.
But Miles isn't thinking gold. Or even silver or bronze. He just wants to have those "73 things that have to happen" go right for him on his big day. He just wants to do his best for Team USA, which when spelled backward reads Team ASU.
"I'm not interested so much in 1-2-3," Miles said, referring to the medal positions. "This is maybe a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
"I just want to jump better than I've ever jumped. If I can go in and jump 19-6, and I get sixth," he said smiling, "I'll be happy."
Miles Atricle
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