Miller's surge pushes Mid-Prairie girls to state title

The Mid-Prairie girls’ cross country team is full of runners who have competed in meets since they were middle schoolers. At Friday’s state meet, though, it was first year runner Ruby Miller who delivered a victory, passing over 50 competitors over the course of the race to give the Golden Hawks the push they needed to bring home a state title.

Miller, a sprinter and hurdler during track season, began training for her first season of high school cross country in June. Her rise over the past five months has been astronomical.

“It’s nothing short of incredible,” head coach Jeremy Meyers said. “For her to just be able to say, ‘Okay, my friends need me to step in and step up,’ it speaks to her character, it speaks to her being such a great teammate and a great person. Her willingness to do something that’s so far outside her comfort zone and so far outside of what she’s known for on the track, to put in the work and the hours and the miles and all the early mornings, she was key for us.”

1 kilometer into the race, Miller was outside of the top 120 runners, pacing herself early behind a pack filled to the brim with adrenaline for the biggest meet of the year. Once that opening burst subsided, though, she began picking off runner after runner. 10 runners here, 5 more there until she worked her way to 91st at the two-mile mark, giving the Golden Hawks a 3-point lead with just over a mile to go. 

She didn’t stop there.

Miller passed 17 more runners in the final mile of the race to bury the field, delivering a state title back to Wellman as she crossed the finish line to cap off the scoring.

“Before the race, we talked about which teams we needed to watch out for,” Miller said. “As I was running, I was just looking around, and I didn’t see the girl I needed to catch, which she must have been behind me, so I was just like ‘I need to catch this girl,’ so I just kept pushing myself.’”

Once Miller crossed the finish line, the celebration began. The Golden Hawk faithful crowded around their runners at the southern end of the finish line as hugs and tears flowed between runners, coaches, families and friends. One and all credited Miller for showing up when they needed it most.

“She’s become so much mentally stronger,” Kendal Landstrum said of Miller. “Watching her… has been really fun. I’ve enjoyed helping her and watching her. I think we’ve all just given her all of our advice over the years, and she’s just soaked it all in.”

The title marked the Mid-Prairie girls’ 7th team championship, all of which have come in the past decade.