All-Area Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year Cameron Miller
| Sunday, Jan 01 2012 10:02 PM
Last Updated Sunday, Jan 01 2012 10:02 PM
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Bakersfield Californian Cross Country Male Runner of the Year Cameron Miller.
Of all the ways to measure how far Stockdale senior Cameron Miller has come in his high school career, perhaps none says more than this:
A month ago, at Woodward Park in Fresno, Miller finished the 5-kilometer course in 15:23 to finish eighth in the Division I race at the CIF State Championships.
Three years ago? Miller couldn’t have even told you if that was a good time.
“To tell you the truth, I didn’t even know what cross country was my freshman year,” Miller said. “I played basketball on the frosh-soph team, and I went out for track just to keep in shape. I made it as far as the area meet, and the guys on the cross country team said I should come try it. I can tell you that’s the best decision I’ve ever made.”
Miller is The Californian’s Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year in one of the best years the sport has seen locally.
Along with Stockdale sophomore Blake Haney, Miller dominated local competition — with the two of them often finishing at the same time.
But more often than not, it was Miller who finished first in the prestigious races Stockdale entered around the state.
Haney’s superior kick won him the Central Section championship, but Miller was the top finisher at state.
“Cameron had a lot of say in dictating how a race would go,” Stockdale coach Josh Lewis said. “He was kind of the will of our team to whatever we wanted to impose, from attitude to setting the pace.”
Miller has become something of a legend around Stockdale’s campus for his work ethic and attitude.; longtime Mustangs trainer Dave “Doc” Rangel marvels at how Miller will lead the other Mustangs into a 30-degree ice bath, smile on his face the whole time.
“They go in there to get rid of some of the lactic acid in their muscles,” Rangel said. “They put so much ice in there it looks like the Titanic. But they’re always happy, shivering and laughing. Must be the endorphins. Cross country runners emit so many endorphins, they’re always happy.”
Miller has had many chances to test that theory; he’s gone from a 95th-place finish at state as a sophomore (in and of itself a spectacular accomplishment for a first-year runner) to 42nd as a junior to eighth this season — becoming the second local to medal in the Division I race and the first since Foothill’s Chris Schwartz won the title in 2007.
“Cameron’s work ethic, as much as anything else, is just so tremendous,” Lewis said. “When you come out and see him run a race, you’re really just witnessing a celebration of hours of hard work.”
After the high school season ended, Miller kept going. He took sixth in the Foot Locker West Regional at Mt. San Antonio College and qualified for the Foot Locker Nationals in San Diego, where he placed 31st.
“I’m extremely pleased with the season,” Miller said. “I got to places I didn’t think I’d be able to. We won a Valley title, ninth in the state in Division I. It was just a culmination of something we’d been planning on doing for the better part of two years.”
Miller said he has been in almost constant contact with Stanford’s cross country coaches, who would like him to come to the athletically and academically prestigious school on a partial scholarship. Miller said the Cardinal is his top choice and that’s he just waiting for first-semester grades to come in before making his decision final.
And something tells him a basketball career wouldn’t have gone this far.
“There were points in the season where I was tired and I would have to wake up at 5:30 to go running before school and practice,” Miller said. “You’re beat, but by the end, all that hard work pays off. For me, it really did. I went from not knowing what cross country was to placing 31st at Foot Locker Nationals.”
