Published: Dec. 12, 2013
When the reigning Daily News All-Area Boys Cross-Country
Runner of the Year was sidelined with mononucleosis, not many thought it’d be a
blessing for West Bend West.
Not even the one who benefitted from it the most: Aric
Miller.
Early this season, Alec Miller, who was also the Daily News
All-Area Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year in the spring, went down with
the sickness. It could’ve been a devastating blow to a team trying to win a
conference championship.
“On 99.9 percent of the cross-country teams across the
state, Aric would be the No. 1 runner on the team,” West coach Scott Hammer
said. “It just so happened he was on the team where his brother was a better
runner.
“When Alec went out, it gave Aric an opportunity to shine
and he stepped up to the challenge. That forced him to take on that frontrunner
mentality and not settle finishing behind his brother.”
In his first race as the leader of the team, Aric Miller won
the Waukesha South Invitational. Later, he won the Wisconsin Little Ten
Conference championship in a thrilling race that saw Miller edge Wisconsin
Lutheran’s Eric Brown, the state record-holder in the 800-meter run, for the
title.
“That was definitely one of my best races of my career,”
Miller said.
It’s safe to say he filled in for his brother admirably.
Aric Miller, a senior, has been selected the 2013 Daily News
Boys Cross-Country Runner of the Year.
“It’s an honor,” Miller said. “I never thought I’d thought I
beat out my brother for something like this.”
“The way he approaches a meet,” Hammer said about what he
likes about Miller. “He comes off very calm and quiet before the race. When the
gun goes off, he really flips the switch and turns into a fierce competitor.
It’s fun watching him prepare and flip the switch. It was a fun year to watch
him as he really matured as a runner.
“This year he really stepped up for the team and came into
his own.”
Miller was the leader of the team that won the conference
championship and advanced to state for the second straight season. Even after
Alec Miller returned to the lineup, Aric Miller was a big pick-me-up for the
Spartans.
“He’s a competitor, there’s no doubt about it,” Hammer said.
“There’s nothing he wanted more than to win a race and beat
his brother. When Alec went down with the illness, it was kind of an unspoken
understanding for Aric to step up.”
“It just gave me some inspiration,” Aric Miller said. “I
just knew that I’d have to run at the front and I didn’t have Alec as a
backup.”
Adding the Millers into the mix before last season
transformed the entire program. In 2012, West advanced its girls and boys
crosscountry teams to state in the same season for the first time in school
history. The Spartans did it again this fall, with the help of the Millers.
“Whenever you have elite athletes, especially in
cross-country, it is naturally going to elevate the level of the pack runners
chasing them,” Hammer said. “It really comes down to how the team prepares
during the week. It forces everybody to up their game, it improves everybody on
the team. They elevated their teammates to run at a higher level.”
It worked with the Spartans landing five runners on this
year’s All-Area team. Hammer knew there was something special about the Miller
boys. So when they decided to go out for football as freshmen and sophomores,
Hammer was disappointed, but he never gave up hope.
When the Millers were in eighth grade, Hammer promised them
they would become state-caliber athletes.
Imagine how excited Hammer got when he learned the Millers
were switching from football to cross-country.
“When we finally got them to commit, I knew we went from a
good cross-country program to a great program,” Hammer said. “We had the
supporting cast. We just needed the stud runner and we got two.”
Aric Miller wasn’t sure where cross-country was going to
take him in his life. Two years later, he’s generated interest to compete at
elite NCAA Division I programs, including Marquette and Wisconsin.
There was a lot of pressure on him to take on the leadership
role of the team, even if he didn’t want it.
Miller still felt it wasn’t his team after his brother was
sidelined.
“I just wanted to do my best to fill in for him,” Aric
Miller said. “Even though I can’t get the same times as him.”
There was also a lot of pressure on Miller to win the
conference meet, with Wisconsin Lutheran posing as the biggest threat with a
trio of talented runners leading the lineup.
It was almost a must-win for him.
He stepped up to the challenge and left the competition
behind him.
It was a blessing in disguise.
“I’m proud of what he accomplished this year,” Hammer said.
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