South Dakota’s Derek Miles was named Midwest Region Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year Monday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Miles, who is in his ninth season at USD, leads a duo of pole vaulters to the NCAA Indoor Championship Meet to be held Friday and Saturday in Albuquerque, N.M. Junior Emily Grove enters with the nation’s top vault this season, a program-record mark of 14 feet, 9 ½ inches. Senior Bethany Firsick, the defending national outdoor champion, enters with the 11th-best mark of 14-1.75. Together, the duo has combined to earn six All-America honors under Miles.
A native of Four Oaks, Calif., Miles was a five-time All-American in the pole vault at USD. He also qualified for the Division II national championships in the long jump, triple jump and decathlon during his collegiate career.
Post-collegiately, Miles was one of the best professional pole vaulters in the world for more than a decade. Miles is a three-time Olympian who finished fourth in Beijing in 2008 and seventh in Athens in 2004. He represented the United States on six world championship teams and was a three-time U.S. National Champion.
