June 10, 2008

Des Moines, Ia. - The wait is over on Wednesday for both Miles Smith and John Berry of the Southeast Missouri State track team. They begin competition in the NCAA championships.

"My dream has always been to make the NCAA finals and earn All-America honors," Berry said before leaving for Des Moines. "I am excited to be at this point."

Berry will be one of 25 entries in the long jump with the top 12 after Wednesday's jumps advancing to the Thursday night finals.

Smith, a four-time All-American, begins his quest for a national title in the preliminary round on Wednesday. There will be five heats of the 400-meters with the top two from each heat plus the next best six times advancing the semi-final round on Friday.

Smith will be in the second heat next to Lionel Larry of USC who has the nation's fastest 400-meter time at 44.77. Smith has the nation's 11th best time at 45.67. Arman Dixon of Sacred Heart has also timed 45.67 and will also run in the second heat along with ||Manteo |Mitchell of Western Carolina and Stann Waithe of Michigan.

Competition on Friday and Saturday will be nationally televised. CBS College Sports Network (formerly CSTV) will be airing live coverage of the NCAA Track and Field Championships on Friday, June 13th from 7-10 p.m. CST. CBS will also broadcast live coverage of the final day of competition from 3-5 p.m. CST.

The men's 400-meter semi-finals will be televised at 8:25 p.m. on Friday with the finals at 3:12 p.m. on Saturday.

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