After running mediocre times in high school, senior Miles Hall was not expected to shock anyone when he began running in college. Clearly, no one could have predicted what Hall has accomplished so far in his running career at Duke.
"Miles definitely was not heavily recruited," assistant coach Norm Ogilvie said. "We weren't aware we were getting one of the better milers in the [Atlantic Coast Conference]."
Hall did not start out as a Blue Devil, however. A Durham native who attended Durham Academy, Hall first went to Oxford at Emory in Atlanta, a Division III school where he began running cross country. After a frustrating fall season, Hall decided not to run track in the spring.
"I wasn't really a part of the team at Emory," Hall said. "I didn't hang out with the guys and wasn't that into [running]."
After this first year, Hall returned home to Durham to run at Duke. His transition was made easier by the fact that his father is a professor of neurobiology and his older brother Conrad, who graduated last year, also ran for Duke.
In his first track season as a Blue Devil, Hall unleashed his potential, dropping over 10 seconds from his 800-meter time. In February of that year, Hall could do no better than a 2:03, but only two months later in the outdoor season, he had brought his time down to a 1:52.27, an almost unheard of drop for such a short race.
"The first time he broke two minutes was a major psychological barrier," Ogilvie said. "He was like `Hey, I can do this,' and after that, his times came down very quickly."
This improvement was in part due to the more intense training Hall encountered at Duke and the higher level of competition he faced.
"When you're at a Division III school, your sights are much lower," Hall said. "When you come to a Division I program, you go to meets like the ACCs and they're running much faster, so it helps you set your goals a lot higher. You have to set them higher to be competitive."
Hall's times were definitely competitive, and he was able to reach the finals of the 800 meters in the ACC meet that year. But despite his successes up to that point, he ran a disappointing race in the event.
"I got to [the finals] but I didn't do anything with it," Hall said. "It taught me that it's not enough just to be there--you have to do something with it too or else it's worthless."
After his somewhat surprising freshman season, Hall has only continued to improve, taking the lesson from the 800- meter finals to heart. In last year's ACC championships, he clocked a personal best 3:51.1 in the 1,500 meters to capture fifth place in the conference. At the prestigious Penn Relays, he anchored the distance medley relay team with his 4:08.3 mile.
Hall is at his best when anchoring races. Already this year he ran a 1:52.00 on his anchor leg of the 4x800-meter relay at the Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association of America (IC4A) indoor meet, leading the team to a time of 7:35.77, the fifth fastest indoor time in the nation. In the first outdoor meet of the season at Florida State, Hall beat out a top Wisconsin team to claim the distance medley relay title for the Blue Devils. Only two weeks ago at the Raleigh Relays, he overpowered Seton Hall runner Brian Spoonire and ran a personal best 1:51.8 in the final leg of the 4x800-meter relay to help his team finish in the second fastest 4x800 time in school history at 7:34.5, missing the school record by only four-tenths of a second.
"I like to get the baton a little behind or even with the other runner," Hall said. "Coming from behind and winning is a great feeling."
"This year, outdoors, Miles has been on fire," Ogilvie said.
These times, however, have not come through talent alone.
"He trains hard and is committed," teammate Doug Morrin said. "After every run he stays on the track to do extra strides. He does what he has to do to be a better runner."
This dedication and his competitive nature on the track is what has made Hall one of the best runners in the conference.
"Coach Norm and [head] coach [Al] Buehler take running very seriously and put a lot of time into it," Hall said. "They know what to expect from me and hold me up to what I should be doing.
"Even if I run a fast time, if I'm not competitive or close to winning, I'm not going to be happy. I set competition goals and if I'm competitive, the times will come with it."
Hall's goals for this season include winning the 1,500 meters at the ACC meet. Although Hall has not run an open 1,500 meters yet this season--his last race at this distance was 11 months ago at the IC4A outdoor meet--he will finally get his chance to run the event this weekend at the Duke Invitational.
Also, since Hall is technically a junior because he red-shirted his track season at Emory, he still has another track season remaining. He will take a leave of absence next semester in order to concentrate on his running and train for his final season in the spring of 1996.
This training could also be the key to Hall's ultimate goal--reaching the Olympic Trials. Although it has not been announced yet, the qualifying time will likely be around a 3:42 for the 1,500 meters. This time is nine seconds off his best time in the event to date, but with over a year left to train, the goal is realistic.
Besides, what's nine seconds to someone who dropped 10 seconds in a race nearly half the distance?
"We've expected a lot of Miles and he's delivered wonderfully," Ogilvie said. "He could be one of the very best."
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