PHILADELPHIA — Allegany High track star Avery Miller is now a national champion.
The rising senior took first place in the heptathlon at the New Balance Nationals at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, besting U18 Belarus national champion Yuliya Maslouskaya with a score of 5,057 to capture the top honor.
Miller’s point total in the two-day event would’ve placed her sixth at the championships at the Atlantic Coast Conference, seventh in the SEC, fourth in the Big Ten and 11th in the Big 12.
“I can’t thank (Allegany track coach George) Brown enough,” Miller said. “He has been organizing my daily workouts since the end of the state championship meet to get me ready for this. I felt like I was as strong in the seventh event as I was in the first.”
Miller qualified for the competition based on her projected score calculated by personal bests in the heptathlon’s seven events.
Those events are 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-meter dash, long jump, javelin throw and the 800-meter run.
A score out of 1,000 is awarded in each event based on pre-determined benchmarks.
Maslouskaya, who trains at IMG Academy in Florida, was the heavy favorite this week after winning the New Balance Indoor national title in the pentathlon in March.
The Belarusians’ score of 4,992 placed her solidly second ahead of Sarah Dumas (4,825), a senior at Franklin High School in Massachusetts and a University of Pennsylvania track signee.
Miller continues to solidify herself as one of the all-time great Allegany County athletes and has drawn interest from several major track programs including Notre Dame, Colorado, North Carolina and South Carolina.
“Avery’s training indicated that she could score 5,000 points her first time out, which is somewhat unheard of in the heptathlon, especially for someone in high school,” Brown said.
“What an awesome way to not only represent herself and our community. On the national stage, where so many world-class athletes have competed at Franklin Field, home of the Penn Relays.”
Miller was in fifth place after Day 1 following her performances in hurdles, high jump, shot put and the 200-meter dash.
Her long jump of 18’ 9.5” to open Day 2 was second-best moving her into fourth place. Then Miller recorded a personal best in javelin with a heave of 120’ — 43’ better than her previous high and second-best in the field.
“I have been working hard with my throws coach Nick Agoris,” Miller said. “There is no way I could have thrown a 120 without him.”
Javelin moved her into second place behind the favored Maslouskaya going into her final event, the 800m.
Miller ran a 2:16.17, a personal best, to bring home the gold.
“I was being told that I needed to beat her by 1.85 seconds to win it all,” the Camper said. “When I got to the last turn I peaked over my shoulder, which you should never do, and saw she was about 15 yards behind me. I knew if I just sprinted the straightaway I had it.”
Miller got back into contention in the final two events on Day 1, easily winning the 200m with a time of 24.95 and placing second in the shot put (34’ 9”).
Miller got off to a slow start as her 16.22 in hurdles was good for 12th out of 13 competitors. It was only her third time ever competing in the event.
“I have a lot of work to do in hurdles,” she said. “I have been working with coach (Jade) Bean and she has really helped me a lot, but there is definitely room for improvement.”
Her high jump of 5’ 0.5” was also 12th out of 13 despite being a personal best.
Miller rebounded later in the day and carried that into Day 2, allowing her to add a national championship to an already expansive list of accolades.
In her junior year outdoor track and field season, Miller won four individual Class 1A state championships for the second straight year, becoming the first girl in the 52-year history of the Maryland outdoor championships to win the maximum four events twice.
She won the 100m (12.03), 200m (24.65), 400m (55.30) and long jump (18’ 10.5”), setting personal bests in all three running events with an average margin of victory of 1.59 seconds. She also won the long jump by over two feet.
Miller enters her senior season with 10 individual outdoor track and field titles. Only Kisha Jett of Hammond and Sally Glynn of Walter Johnson sit above Miller on the all-time career state titles leaderboard.
She will have a chance to surpass them as a senior.