Chapter 2: The Blue Streak
Looking
back on it, I was quite spoiled during my high school years. I joined Upper
Dublin’s team right as we started to hit a historical peak. The guys broke
every distance related school record on the books and I had front row seats to
one of the greatest triples in state meet history. But it came at a cost: I
missed the four-year term of one of PA’s all-time greats. Craig Miller.
As a
freshman, Craig came streaking onto the scene at Manheim Township, finishing an
astounding 5th at the state championship meet[1]. But he didn’t stop there.
In May of 2003, Miller went to Shippensburg to compete in the 1600m at the
state championship and dropped a 4:14.26 bombshell: the fastest such mark by a freshman
in the history of the United States. He finished a hard fought third, after
leading up to the final straightaway. It marked an over 40 second drop from the
year before as his best 8th grade time had been just 4:57[2].
Craig’s
confidence only grew when he became a sophomore. During the next cross country
season, he went toe to toe with district rival Brian Fuller from Cumberland
Valley all season long. The duo finished within a second of each other on
multiple occasions, including some memorable duels at Carlisle and Gettysburg. Heading
into states, Brian seemed to have Craig’s number, edging him out at the
previous year’s state meet, Carlisle, and the District meet where Fuller edged
Miller 16:05.70 to 16:06.42.
But the
duo of Fuller and Miller would have their hands full at the 2003 Cross Country
State Championships. Ian Gottesfield, the defending state champion from West
Chester Henderson (also defending champs), and his teammate, Greg Williams, had
been dominate all season, including a 1-2 finish at the district championships[3]. They would also be
battling Ian Fitzgerald, the 8:30 3k man runner from North Hills, who had hopes
of individual and team gold at Hershey.
It was
a very hot day for a state championship, so things were reasonably conservative
on the course. Craig Miller sat 5th at the mile, Ian Fitzgerald in 3rd
and Greg Williams was in 15th. Brian Fuller was sitting in 29th
and Ian Gottesfield was all the way back in 43rd. In fact, the
defending team champions of Henderson were buried back at 10th in
the team standings a mile into the race.
Yet it
was quickly revealed that everything was going according to plan for the
Warriors, as Gottesfield and Williams surged to the front by the 2-mile mark
and looked to hammer things, hoping to put the competition away. Craig Miller
sat just off Williams in 3rd with Fitzgerald right behind him. As
Gottesfield and Williams continued to hammer, they opened up a bit of a gap on
the field: only Miller was hanging around. It looked like everything was set
for a 1-2 finish by the Henderson boys with 400m to go, when suddenly disaster
struck.
Greg
Williams, who had suffered from dehydration and sickness at the previous year’s
state championships, started to feel the oppressive heat again on the final, long
straight away. Gottesfield, confused and looking for his teammate, was struck
dumb by a burst of speed from the sophomore, Craig Miller, who sprinted away
for his first state title.
According
to a post-race interview by Gottesfield, the plan was for the Henderson boys to
pull away and for Williams to take the win. Gottesfield said he couldn’t
imagine racing his training partner and teammate and, seeing how he had won the
previous year, he would let Greg take the title this year. But it wasn’t meant
to be and Greg fell back to 15th place overall during the concluding
stretch of the race.
Although
Henderson captured a second straight team title and placed 3 men in the top 15
overall, this race will always be remembered as the first of many state titles
for Craig Miller. He is the last male sophomore to win a cross country state
championship in any class.
…
As just
a sophomore, Craig was now a PA legend. He had set a national record, defeated
the defending state champion in Cross Country and grabbed two top five finishes
at states before the half way point of his sophomore year. His resume was
already impressive enough to throw his name in a conversation with some of PA’s
best ever, but he was still just getting started. That spring, Craig won the
District 3 titles in the 800 and 1600 meters, running 4:14.59 and 1:53.95 to
set a pair of district records. Then at the state meet, focusing on just the
1600, he dropped his personal best down to 4 minutes and 9.33 seconds, breaking
the meet record and winning by over 5 seconds thanks to a 2:01 final 800
meters. Emboldened by this breakthrough, the sophomore extended his season
through to the National Championships in North Carolina. There, Craig ran
4:06.76, just seven tenths of a second away from the sophomore class record. He
finished 3rd in the nation in PA’s third fastest mile of all time.
Considering
that he had posted some of the best ever times for his age in his first two
seasons, the sky appeared to be the limit for Craig Miller. So when his junior
season began, he found himself racing with a little extra weight on his
shoulders: the weight of expectation. He rolled through his junior XC season,
picking up some big wins and another state title. He even qualified for his
first Footlocker Championships, placing 8th in the Northeast Region.
But Jeff Weiss was the top PA finisher at the Northeast Regional, beating out
the golden boy Miller[4].
During
the next spring, Craig again laid waste to the state landscape. At districts,
he one-upped his previous victories with a sweep of the distance events: the
800, 1600 and 3200. He set a meet record in the 32 and the 16, setting the
stage for what everyone expected to be another state meet record in a week’s
time.
On race
day, Craig shot out of the gate with history on his mind. His opening 400
meters was 59 seconds. On his second lap, he didn’t back away from the brisk
pace and hit the line at 2 minutes even. Sub four was on the tips of everyone’s
lips as he continued to press on, well ahead of the field. At 1200 he had
slipped, as was customary for the third lap, but he was still running strong at
3:02.1. Surely his record was gone, but would Paul Vandegrift’s state record of
4:03 also be under fire?
It
wasn’t meant to be as Miller faded incredibly hard on the last lap. In fact, he
barely managed to hold off the field that came charging after him on the
finishing straightaway. When he crossed the line, his time was 4:11.98, over
two seconds slower than his record time a year earlier. Miller knew soloing
such a fast time would be tricky and hoped his state meet run would prepare him
for a possible national championship. However, when he returned to North
Carolina, Miller came up short of the title and even his own PR, running
4:07.19 and finishing with the silver behind Jeff See[5].
All of
a sudden, there was just one year left for Miller to chase history. Maybe he
felt it too as Craig really ramped up his game entering his senior season. He
started things off with a 14:56 at the Gettysburg Invitational, putting the
rest of the country on notice. From there, he was dominant en route to a third
straight state title on the trails. He looked poised for something memorable as
training began for the 2005 Footlocker Northeast Regionals and, most likely,
the Footlocker Championships. But a few weeks before the qualifying meet,
Miller suffered a collapsed lung during a workout. The condition would force
him to shut down his fall season, keeping him out of his last Footlocker
Regional opportunity.
After
ending his cross country career on a sour note, Craig decided to run indoor
track for the first time in his high school career. Slowly, he built back up to
full training, working diligently and carefully to return to form. He ran and
swam throughout the winter before running at the PSU Invitational in the 3,000
meters with hopes of qualifying for the indoor state meet. With much
anticipation surrounding his return, Miller clocked an 8:38.65 to easily
qualify for states and set up a shot at the indoor state record.
A
little while later, Miller took to the start line at his first indoor state
championship. He was up against meet record holder and defending champion Jake
Walker of Ellwood City. But Miller was unconcerned. He took the pace out hard,
going through in 65, 2:11 and 4:26 for the first significant splits. He managed
to hold fairly close to that pace throughout, ultimately powering home with a
31 second final lap to stop the clock at an unthinkable 8:22.65.
The
time not only smashed the meet record, but also set fire to the old state
all-time record of 8:30.4, formerly held by Chris Dugan of Southmoreland. Jake
Walker dipped under that record as well, clocking an 8:30.35, but he was still
nearly 8 seconds behind Craig. So, one more time, everyone began to think about
the potential of Craig Miller.
And one
more time, the weight of the PA universe weighed him down. Craig suffered a
bone bruise in his left foot in April and he had to shut things down, ending
his prep career after an impressive early season 4:13. His final high school PR
in the mile would come from his sophomore season.
Craig
went on to run for the University of Wisconsin, where he had an incredibly
successful career that included 8 All-American Honors and a school record in
the familiar indoor 3,000. As a professional, he ran 3:35.48 for 1500m, 3:56.41
for the mile and 7:49.05 for 3,000 meters.
Ironically,
the last Miller twin to win a state title in Pennsylvania was Brad. The “other”
Miller had always been incredibly talented and had posted plenty of respectable
marks in his own right. But he couldn’t quite deliver on the big stage,
suffering from a variety of disappointments at the state meet. Maybe part of
the problem was that he was running in his brother’s shadow so often.
So when
Craig suffered his injury, it was exciting to see Brad rise to the occasion. He
ran 1:53.2 for 800m and 9:09 for 3200m at the Lebanon Lancaster Championship
Meet, bettering Craig’s personal best. Then won the 32 and the 16 at the district
championships before focusing on just the 16 for states[6]. With a time of 4:16.65,
he was the favorite for the victory, but Max Brown of North Allegheny was right
there with him on paper. Could Brad keep the state title in the family?
[1] Unfathomably impressive, no frosh
has been higher than 24th since 2004 and only recently did sophomores start popping up in the top 5
[2] What’s amazing is that Brad Miller,
Craig’s twin, was right there for most of the ride as a freshman. He finished
an impressive 11th at the state championships in the fall and had
beaten Craig earlier in the spring, edging him 4:29 to 4:30. Brad ended up
suffering an injury that held him out of the spring stretch run and Craig took
over. You wonder what history could have been like ….
[3] 1-2 at District One has only
happened once during my time (2006-2016): Brad Miles and Sam Bernitt did it in
2009. Close calls include Ben Furcht and Neal Berman (1-3) and Tony Russell and
Reiny Barchet (1-3). Spoiler alert: Nobody has pulled off the 1-2 at states
this millennium.
[4] To be fair, I’m leaving out that
Miller got revenge at Nationals, beating Weiss, and was one of the top 3
underclassmen in the Nation out in California. He was 15th overall,
which is still one of PA’s best finishes and the best we’ve seen by a junior in
recent years. But that doesn’t fit the narrative I was trying to portray very
well. So I left it in a bullet point most people will probably ignore.
[5] Remember that sophomore class
record Miller was chasing? At the time, that belonged to Jeff See. The See-Miller
rivalry continued post high school as both runners went to Big 10 schools and,
ultimately, became professional milers.
[6] Brad strongly considered racing
the 3200 meters at states instead of the 16, but Paul Springer’s blazing fast
time at districts scared him off. Springer went on to run 9:01 and scare the
long standing meet record while Brad, well, you’ll see in a couple sentences.
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