MIGUEL PATE
Event: Long Jump
Height: 6-2
Weight: 190
PR: LJ - 8.59m/28-2.25i (2002); TJ - 16.62m/54-6.5i (2002)
Born: June 13, 1979, in St. Francisville, La.
Current Residence: St. Francisville, La.
High School: West Feliciana HS (La) ‘97
Colleges: Meridian CC ’99, Alabama ‘02
Coach: Rod Tiffin
Agent: Tony Campbell
Club: Nike 

Career Highlights: 2005 USA Outdoor champion; Two-time USA Indoor champion (’02, ’03); 2002 NCAA Indoor champion; 2001 World University Games champion; 4th at 2001 World Outdoor Championships; Three-time USA Outdoor runner-up (’01, ’02, ’07) 

On his second jump at the 2008 Olympic Trials, Pate soared to 8.22m26-11.75, which secured a third place finish for him and a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team for the first time in his career. He edged out reigning Olympic champion Dwight Phillips for the final Olympic roster spot by .75 of an inch. Pate ended the 2008 season ranked #1 in the U.S. by Track & Field News for the first time in his career. He had been top-ten U.S. ranked on seven previous occasions, and ranked #2 on four occasions. With his runner-up finish at the 2007 AT&T USA Outdoor Championships and 10^th place finish at the World Outdoor Championships in Osaka, Japan, Pate demonstrated in 2007 that he remains one of the world’s premier long jumpers. Pate enjoyed a satisfying long jump victory at the 2005 USA Outdoor Championships, made even sweeter when recalling an incident two years previous that nearly ended his track and field career. At the 2003 Nike Prefontaine Classic, Pate suffered what could have been a career ending injury during his final jump of the competition. After already winning the event with a mark of 8.27m/27-01.75, he landed awkwardly, tearing his lateral cruciate ligament (LCL), anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), and posterior cruciate ligament (PCL). Unable to compete for the remainder of the 2003 and most of the 2004 seasons, Pate spent his first six weeks after surgery on crutches and then 15 months doing intense rehab to comeback for the 2005 season. Pate stormed back from his injuries in 2005 to win the USA Outdoor title and finish the year ranked #2 in the world behind countryman Dwight Phillips. Pate won the 2002 USA Indoor Championships with an enormous personal best leap 8.59m/28-2.25. It was the farthest long jump indoors by an American since Carl Lewis set the world record in 1984. Only Lewis, Ivan Pedroso of Cuba and Pate have ever bettered 28 feet indoors. Pate was all-state in both basketball and track and field as a prep senior at West Feliciana high school. He enrolled as a two-sport athlete at Meridian Community College, but decided to concentrate on track and field after his freshman season...has high jumped 2.18/7-1.75…received his degree in Criminal Justice in the Spring of 2002…surprised many with his fourth place finish at 2001 World Outdoors.

6/24/09