VERMILLION, S.D. - Two of the world's best pole vaulters, Derek Miles and Jeff Hartwig will be featured during a special pole vault exhibition at The University of South Dakota on Saturday, Jan. 17. Miles and Hartwig will compete at 1:00 p.m. at the John Dalton/Hyvee Open at the DakotaDome.
Miles, a former South Dakota track and field star who is ranked No. 1 in the U.S. and No. 5 in the world by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), and Hartwig, who owns both the American indoor and outdoor pole vault records, will start the competition at 18'6. An autograph session will follow their performance in the DakotaDome. The John Dalton/Hyvee Open will begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday and then at 1:00 p.m., the meet will be stopped as the attention turns to the exhibition between Miles and Hartwig.
"This is an exciting announcement, bringing the two best vaulters in the U.S. to the USD campus," said head women's track and field coach Lucky Huber, noting that both vaulters train at the Earl Bell Training Center in Jonesboro, Ark., under the tutelage of former American record holder Earl Bell. "Derek is again coming home to vault and bringing with him one of the best vaulters in the world over the past decade."
Head men's South Dakota track and field coach Dave Gottsleben noted that both have similar backgrounds, in a way. Neither vaulted 15 feet in high school, but worked hard to become among the world's best in the event. Hartwig has approached the 20 foot mark, going as high as 19'9. Meanwhile, Miles has gone past 19 feet three times in his career.
"This is a high profile exhibition with men that have achieved at the top of their profession. We are clearly excited to have both Derek and Jeff on our campus. We invite the public to come enjoy this performance, as well as the meet, which will feature outstanding athletes on our teams as well as other squads throughout the region," Gottsleben said.
A member of Nike/Bell Athletics Club, Miles, 31, won the Reno Pole Vault Summit last weekend for the third straight season, going 19'0.50. He had a personal best with a vault of 19'1.25 (5.82 meters) on Feb. 16, 2002, at the DakotaDome. The vault, which established a DakotaDome record, was the second-best indoor mark in the world at that point in the season. It broke Miles' own Dome mark of 18-4 1/2 set in 1999.
Miles is coming off an outstanding summer in 2003 in which he placed fifth in the Grand Prix series, earning a top-five ranking by the IAAF.
Miles was the 2003 USA Indoor championships and runner-up in June at the USA Outdoor Championships. He placed fifth at the 2003 World Indoor Track and Field Championships in Paris, France.
A native of Sacramento, Calif., Miles (6-3, 190) won the pole vault competition at the Millrose Games in New York on Feb. 7, 2003, going 18'8.5.
Miles won the North Central Conference pole vault title in 1996 and finished fifth at the 1996 NCAA Division II indoor meet. He was third at the 1994 NCAA Division II outdoor nationals. Miles was an alternate on the U.S Olympic Team in 2000.
Employed as an academic adviser at Arkansas State, he earned an undergraduate degree in history and a master's degree in athletic administration at USD in 1996.
Hartwig, 36, is the American record holder for both the indoor and outdoor pole vault.
Originally of St. Louis, Mo., Hartwig (6-3, 185), a member of the Nike Club, set an American outdoor mark of 19'9.25 at Jonesboro, Ark., on June 14, 2000. He also established an American indoor mark of 19'9 at Eugene, Ore., in 1999.
In 2003, he was the U.S. Outdoor champ while also winning the Oracle U.S. Open Outdoor and a meet at Jonesboro. He had a best of 19'0.25 in 2003.
A graduate of Florissant Valley CC in 1987 and Arkansas State in 1990, Hartwig is the 1999 World Indoor silver medalist, a 1996 Olympian, 1998 Goodwill Games champion and a four-time USA Outdoor champion (1998, 1999, 2002, 2003).
Hartwig had a blazing start in 2002, setting three American records in the final weeks of the indoor season, finishing at 6.02m/19'9. Only world record holder Sergey Bubka of Ukraine has vaulted higher indoors. Hartwig won the IAAF Grand Prix final and achieved his first no. 1 world ranking.
Hartwig, who never cleared 18 feet in college while at Florissant Valley (coached by Norris Stevenson), has worked with Bell, a former world record holder (18-7.25 in 1976), since graduating from college.
Called the 'modern-day Tarzan,' by Bell, Hartwig takes no more than 10 jumps a week and trains like a sprinter to get faster, stronger and avoid injury. He set an American Indoor record of 19'8.25 on Feb. 25, 2002, and then on March 9 broke the American record by going 19'8.75 at Bad Oinhausen, Germany. A day later he jumped 19'9 in Sindelfingen, Germany. He was second at the 2002 World Cup, won competitions at the Grand Prix Final, Lausanne, Monica and Thessaloniki. He was ranked first in the world by Track and Field News in 2002.
In 2001, he was ranked No. 1 in the U.S. and No. 2 in the world. In 2000, he had six of the seven top marks in the U.S. and ranked third in the world and second in the U.S by Track and Field News. He had a best of 19'9.25 in Jonesboro, Ark., in June of that year.
In 1999, Hartwig was second at the World Indoor while winning both the USA Indoor and Outdoor competition. Again, he was ranked No. 2 in the world and top-ranked in the U.S.
He won the 1998 U.S. Outdoors and became the first American to clear six meters (19'8.25), clearing that mark at St. Denis, France. Hartwig won the Goodwill Games, seven Grand Prix meets and topped 19 feet in 22 of 31 meets. He was ranked second in the world and top-ranked in the U.S. in 1998.
