Vicksburg High graduating senior Leon Miles has his eyes set on spending part of the summer 1,925 miles away in California. However, he needs some help getting to the Golden State.

Miles plans to compete in the USA Track & Field Junior Outdoor Championship June 24-26 in Clovis, Calif. He started a GoFundMe account with a goal of $3,000 to cover hotel, travel and other expenses.

So far he’s raised $201 and donations can be made at gofundme.com/6nyfbp84 and he’s shared the account through social media with family and friends.

“It’s just a testament to his self awareness, his abilities and his confidence. He’s always trying to get better and I think that’s a great quality to have as an athlete,” Mississippi Heat track coach Clarence Maxey said of Miles.

If Miles places first or second in the 400-meter dash and 400-meter hurdles, he’ll advance and represent Team USA at the International Association of Athletics Federations World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, July 19-24.

Miles has to run the 400-meter dash in 47.7 seconds to meet the standard time. He met it last season but has to run it again to be eligible for the junior trials.

Miles was the anchorman on Vicksburg’s 4×400 meter relay team that won the Class 5A championship, but he only ran that distance solo twice during the high school season.

He clocked a time of 48 seconds at a meet at Southern Miss, and did it in 49 seconds at the Mississippi College Invitational.

“That was a bad time,” Miles said of his 49 seconds at Mississippi College. “I had to run the hurdles right before the 400. I know I can run a 47 because running the 4×4 split time I ran a 47 at state so I’m hoping to run a 47 before it’s too late to send in my qualifying state times.”

June 13 is the deadline for Miles to submit qualifying times.

Training for Miles has been a mixture of speed and endurance by running short and long sprints. The combination of training styles bodes well for Miles as he said running hurdles requires a mixture of speed, endurance and flexibility.

This isn’t the first time Miles has run on a big stage outside of Mississippi.

He competed in the Junior Olympics in Jacksonville, Fla. last July. He recorded a time of 53.6 seconds in the preliminaries for the 400-meter hurdles to clinch the No. 1 overall qualifying time. He set a then-personal best in the 110-meter hurdles at 14.68 seconds and advanced to the semifinals before finishing 16th.

Miles’ luck ended in the 400-meter hurdles when he fumbled over a hurdle early in the race and finished 16th at 54.65 seconds.

Through social media, Miles has kept an eye on the competition he’ll face in California, most notably Isaiah Lucas from Texas in the 110-meter hurdles and Norman Grimes, who won gold in the 400 hurdles.

“(Isaiah) helps me out a lot, gives me words of encouragement,” Miles said. “(Norman) went to the World Youth Championships last year in Cali, Columbia. He’s real good in the 400 hurdles and ran a 50, which is far from me running a 52. So he’ll be good competition to race against.”

Miles began running track as a way to be active during the summer, as he didn’t want to just lay around the house. Once he realized the potential he had within the sport, it was something that became a must-do for him.

In the high school ranks, Miles became one of Mississippi’s all-time greats in the hurdles. He won the Class 5A championship three consecutive years in the 300-meter hurdles, and won the 110-meter hurdles in 2015 and 2016. He also led the 4×400 relay to back-to-back state championships.

Miles will continue his track career next season at Hinds Community College.

“He’s a very hard worker, pays attention to detail and is pretty much a tactician,” Maxey said. “He wants to perfect what he’s doing and is constantly aware of his flaws and what he’s not doing right. He’s constantly trying to self-adjust and get things right. He helps me coach him by being so aware of his particular event.”