Sarah Ann Miller's impact at Twin Valley stretches far beyond broken records

Jun. 19—During the offseason, Sarah Ann Miller would go to the track at Twin Valley up to five days a week and run.

While she was preparing for her upcoming cross country and track and field seasons, the training sessions were always less about times and distances and more about the meaning behind the miles.

"It's done a lot for me personally," Miller said about running. "It's always been my outlet. It's always been something unique to me, and it made me kind of stand out. It's been an outlet for me to escape the craziness the world is."

As a freshman, the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out Miller's 2020 outdoor track and field season and left her with more questions than answers.

After two strong years on the middle school cross country and track and field teams, Miller turned to running to find solace.

"I remember feeling super isolated," Miller said. "It really helped me love the sport more, because I wasn't racing. The only person I was trying to beat was myself."

She also ran for her grandfather, who was diagnosed with cancer when Miller was young and continues his fight with the disease to this day.

"Not knowing what exactly was going on (with him) was just always something I couldn't really escape," Miller said. "I used running to work through it and have something else to think about."

The deep connection with the sport allowed Miller to blossom on and off the track, and carve out one of the most impactful running careers in Raiders' history. Miller, a recent Twin Valley grad, is one of five finalists for the Reading Eagle's Female Athlete of the Year award, which will be announced June 29.

"That became my spot," Miller said about the track. "It was always a place that I could be myself and do my thing."

After playing soccer as a young kid, Miller started competing in cross country and track and field when she was in seventh grade at Twin Valley Middle School. With natural speed, Miller took running right away.

Miller won the 800 at a meet at West Chester Henderson in eighth grade, and it was at that moment she began to realize her potential.

"I just remember having this lead," Miller said. "I was like, 'Holy crap, I'm good at this.' It just went from there. That was the moment that I was like, 'Yeah, I really love doing this.' "

Miller entered her freshman season of outdoor track and field with much anticipation, but it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I felt a huge loss," Miller said. "I know where I would have been, or where I could have been, if I did have that season. That's something that stuck with me."

Miller entered her sophomore year at Twin Valley with some of that leftover bitterness from the previous year and the lost season, but was able to overcome it.

"I needed to be present and race the races I was racing in that moment," Miller said. "I appreciated every single race that I had. I really just took every race like it could possibly be my last."

Miller finished fourth in the 800 at the 2021 county championships and District 3 championships. She qualified for the state championships, finishing 19th in the 800 in Class 3A.

"She had a great sophomore year," Raiders coach George Read said.

As a junior, Miller placed third in the 400 at the Berks championships. She finished fifth in the 800 at the district championships and 20th at the PIAA championships.

With three years under her belt, Miller entered her senior year poised for breakout seasons in cross county, indoor track and outdoor track.

"I came in with so much more confidence," Miller said. "The more I ran, the more experience I got."

In her final season of cross county, Miller finished 12th at the county championship meet and 44th at the District 3 championships with a career-best time of 20:24.00. She received all-division honors.

"Sarah, when it comes to cross country, is the quintessential athlete that (shows) you don't have to be the highest scorer (or have) the most yards to truly have a phenomenal impact," Twin Valley coach Greg Linsky said. "She really became a next-level athlete by becoming selfless."

A co-captain, Miller helped the Raiders place sixth in Class 3A at the district championships, the best finish in program history.

"We would not have reached the goals, the heights that we did, or had the success without Sarah taking that leadership role," Linsky said. "She was the glue that really held us together and made everything work."

Miller carried that into indoor track and field, where she set program records in the 400 with a time of 59.92 and 800 with a time of 2:15.96, and was a state qualifier in both events. She qualified for the national championships in the 800, the first female from Twin Valley to do so.

"She's the whole package," Read said. "Not just a great athlete, but a good kid."

A team captain, Miller was also a member of 800 and 3200 relay teams, which set school records.

"I wanted to set these goals for people that were incredible," Miller said. "My coach always said, 'You're giving Twin Valley its name. You're the face of it right now.' I always took that with huge responsibility."

While she was shattering records, Miller was also racing for her grandfather back home.

"Knowing that he wasn't there to necessarily see me run, I always wanted to accomplish something big so he would see it in a newspaper," Miller said.

That moment came at the Berks championships, as Miller won the 400 in a program-record 56.85 and the 800 in 2:15.15 to finish with two gold medals. She also finished fifth in the 200 and was a member of the Raiders' 1600 relay team, which took second.

"I was so mind-blown," Miller said. "Being able to end my high school career with a really good 400 was really cool."

While Miller was surprised, so was her grandfather when he opened the newspaper the following day.

"He was so excited," Miller said. "He was over the moon, and so was my grandma."

Miller led Twin Valley to an undefeated dual meet season. She ran four events at every dual meet, and three or four at most invitationals.

"She did whatever it took for the team," Read said. "She never questioned it."

Miller went a combined 23-0 in the 200, 400 and 800 during the regular season, winning every race in which she competed. She was named All-Berks in the 400 and 800 and finished as the Berks Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

"She held everything together," Read said. "When she spoke, they listened. Sarah only had to say the word and it was getting done."

Miller finished her career with program records in the 400, 800 (2:12.90) and distance medley relay (12:56.31). In the 800, she finished second in Class 3A at the District 3 championships and 10th at the PIAA championships. She qualified for the New Balance Nationals, held in Philadelphia, in the 400 and 800.

"I always just wanted to leave doing something that a lot of people remembered and appreciated," Miller said. "It feels like I left something worth remembering behind."

Outside of athletics, Miller was involved in multitude of other extracurricular activities at Twin Valley, including LINK crew, or Leaders In Networking Kids. LINK crew features seniors mentoring freshmen, sophomores and juniors, helping them through the challenges of high school.

Miller was a participant in the club as a junior, which helped her overcome a lot of obstacles inside and outside of the classroom.

"You get to learn the values of trusting the people in your community," Miller said. "Creating bonds that you're going to have for a really long time. I made really good connections. They helped me through things that I tried to push away."

Miller was a LINK leader as a senior, and was an advisor on the club's annual trip to Camp Conrad Weiser in Reinholds in March.

"I don't like to sit back and watch people struggle," Miller said. "You don't know what everybody is going through."

With her innate love for helping and supporting others, Miller will continue her academics and track and field career at East Carolina University on a partial scholarship. She will study nursing.

"It was always just really hard to sit back and know what they were going through without being able to really help," Miller said about people who are struggling with illness. "I just want to do my part in helping them."

On the track, Miller will run the 800 or 1500 for the Pirates, who are a member of the American Athletic Conference within Division I of the NCAA.

"I felt like it's going to be a really good spot for me," Miller said. "I didn't want to be just a number at a school. I wanted to go somewhere that I knew I was going to be a big part of the team."

As she leaves her record-breaking career at Twin Valley behind and heads to ECU, Miller continues to live by a message that she often shared with her younger sister, Olivia, and other Raiders teammates.

"Just keep moving forward," she said. "The race is not behind you, the race is in front of you. There's no point in looking back."