Baylor Bear Insider
Sitting out as a redshirt, Aaliyah Miller wasn't even there in Albuquerque, N.M., last March when the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships were canceled because of COVID-19. But, she still called it "devastating."
"You know how hard your teammates and yourself have worked for this championship meet," Miller said. "So, to have that taken away was obviously devastating. Just seeing pictures of it, I know that would have broken my heart, for sure."
That's part of the motivation for Miller and the rest of Baylor's team going into the NCAA Indoor Championships that begin Friday in Fayetteville, Ark.
"It was devastating last year to be that close and not get to compete," Baylor coach Todd Harbour said. "For us to be here now, we're thankful, we're humbled. We've battled, just like every other team on campus. It's been a season like no other. So, to be where we're at, for Aaliyah to have a shot, KC (Lightfoot), Ackera (Nugent), Tuesdi (Tidwell), we're thankful for it."
Miller is on a first-name basis with heartbreak. As a freshman in 2017, she earned her first all-conference honor with a fourth-place finish in the 1,000 meters, helping Baylor win the team title at the Big 12 Indoor Championships . . . on a broken foot.
Running at the Iowa State Classic two weeks before the conference meet, Miller set a school record in the 800 meters with a time of 2:02.89 that was ranked No. 3 all-time on the American Junior Indoor performer list behind only Mary Decker (2:01.8) and Ajee' Wilson (2:02.64).
"It was a big indoor PR, but when I walked off the track, I knew something was wrong with my foot," she said. "Initially, it was hard to process, because everybody saw the time and kept saying, 'Good job! Good job! I can't wait for conference and nationals.' But in my head, I knew something was wrong."
When the initial X-ray didn't show anything – "we thought it was just a muscle injury" – Miller made it through the conference meet, "but I still knew there was something wrong." Back in Waco, an MRI showed that Miller had a stress fracture and would have to be in a cast for a month, wiping out her outdoor season.
"I got all of that within like 10 minutes," she said. "I really wanted to contribute immediately, have an impact and start to make a name for myself. So, that really hurt just having to swallow that pill that I was going to have to sit out and wait around for next year."
Miller had actually qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships that year with the fifth-best time in the nation in the 800 meters, but had to scratch because of the injury.
Not cleared until November, she lacked the base and endurance it would take to get her back to that level. But, Miller still put together one of the best seasons for a middle-distance runner in program history, sweeping the conference indoor and outdoor titles in the 800 meters and setting the meet record at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships with a 2:02.41 clocking. She also earned her first career All-America honor, running the third leg on the 4x400 relay that placed eighth at nationals.
"It was just a good feeling to race confidently and with the strength that I didn't have before," she said. "It was just harder, because I didn't have the base and endurance that I would like to have had, especially going into our long season."
Going through "a lot of personal stuff and mental stuff," Miller didn't have the kind of junior season she expected, finishing third in the 800 at the indoor and outdoor conference meets and failing to make the finals at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. She did earn another All-America honor, running anchor leg on the 4x400 relay that finished seventh.
"I feel like a lot of times, people can forget how much is encompassed with track and being a student-athlete," she said, "because it could be school, it could be relationships, it could literally be the running like this is not cooking the way we want. I really had to step back after that season and really address things that were going well and things that weren't going well."
Showing that she was back on form, Miller ran unattached at the Iowa State Classic indoor meet in January 2020 and won with a time of 2:02.55 that would have ranked No. 2 in NCAA. There was at least discussions about burning her redshirt season, "but I'm super glad we were just able to stick with the plan."
"I wouldn't even be in this situation I'm in right now since everybody last year lost that year going to nationals," she said.
This indoor season, all she's done is win, win, win. She opened with a victory in the 1,00 meters at the Texas Tech Corky Classic with a time of 2:44.66, won her first 800 at another Texas Tech meet and then broke her own school record with a 2:02.35 clocking at Iowa State.
At the Big 12 Indoor Championships, she added two more conference titles, winning the 800 in 2:02.98 and running third leg on the 4x40 relay that beat heavy favorite Texas with a season-best time of 3:31.90.
"She's had this kind of talent since she came to Baylor out of high school," Harbour said of Miller, who won five individual titles at McKinney Boyd High School. "She's never been at this place where she can go out to the track and run 2:02 and make it look pretty easy. She's not quite at the place where (KC Lightfoot) is at, making it that look easy, but she's making it look very effortless. She's not going to tell you she's running to win this thing, but we're going to run to win it."
Texas A&M freshman Athing Mu is the favorite with a sizzling time of 1:58.40, but Miller's fifth-ranked time of 2:02.35 is less than a half-second behind No. 2-ranked Lindsey Butler of Virginia (2:01.96).
"I really want to make sure I'm executing the race plan and running confidently and racing smart, just seeing where that takes me," Miller said. "There's going to be a really good set of girls, so the competition is there, the track is fast, the only thing left to do is compete and go get it."
Having already earned her undergrad degree in marketing and working on a master's in sport management, Miller will have a decision to make after this year whether to return for another outdoor season. But, she also wants to run for the U.S. at the Olympics and already has a qualifying mark.
"I just want to focus on what's right in front of me," she said. "When the time comes, I will figure out what I want to do. As long as I'm in grad school, I would be eligible. But, either way works."
Baylor begins the NCAA Indoor Championships Friday night with Tidwell in the pole vault, Nugent in the 60-meter hurdles, Miller in the 800 meters and sophomore transfer Arria Minor from Georgia in the 200 semifinals. The meet will be streamed live on ESPN3.
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