Miller has talent to match smiles

Hurdler Amber Miller of Ursuline returns to the state with determination.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Ursuline senior Amber Miller smiles 16 hours a day and probably while she sleeps, too.
It's become such a trademark that the girls basketball team bet her she couldn't frown for this season's team picture.
(She won, much to her parents' chagrin.)
But you need more than a nice smile to become one of the best hurdlers in the state. You also need talent, a good work ethic and an inner drive.
Miller has those things, too.
"She's absolutely the best I've ever coached," Ursuline hurdle coach Art Carter said.
"Her work ethic, her attitude. She flat out wants to get out there and do it."
And this weekend, her work pays off.
Hurt last year
Miller will run both hurdling events and the first leg of the 4x400-meter relay in the Division II state meet at Dayton's Welcome Stadium.
She was there last year, too, and she's got the scars on her knees to prove it.
Miller got them during the preliminaries of the 100-meter hurdles.
After a bad start -- her foot slipped off the starting block -- she hit the first hurdle and fell.
"It was very shocking," she said.
"I did a complete flop. That was the first time I actually fell during a race. One time I fell in practice, but never during a race."
Then she paused, and her smile faded for a moment.
"I still think about that. It still stays in the back of my mind."
Miller also ran the 300 hurdles, but she didn't make it out of the preliminaries and finished 14th.
"I was still mad about the 100 hurdles," she said. "I couldn't let it go."
Teammate fell, too
Her teammate last year, Adam Chatman, fell during the 300 hurdles as a junior at the 2001 state meet.
"Then I came back the next year and won," said Chatman, who won a state title in the 300 hurdles last spring.
"And she's gonna win it this year."
Miller won't go that far, but she would like to place in the top eight to get on the podium. She's never been there. She came close last year when she ran the first leg of Ursuline's sixth-place 4x400 relay.
"But I had to sit on the ground," she said with a laugh. "Only the [anchor] got to stand on the podium."
(The anchor, by the way, was then-freshman Cierra Bennett, who also placed third in the 400. She's back in both events.)
Miller won the 100 hurdles at last week's regional and placed second in the 300 hurdles behind Liberty's Brittny Humphrey.
"I think I'm a little better than last year, a little faster," Miller said. "Now that I've been there, I know what I need to do."
Bright future
No matter what happens, she has a bright future. Miller, a member of National Honor Society at Ursuline, will run at Ashland next year and major in sports management.
"To get a scholarship for running hurdles is pretty good, especially at her height," Carter said.
How tall is she?
"I'm 5-41/2," Miller said, which may be true when she's standing on a ladder.
"I'd say 5-3 myself," Carter said. "It takes a special person to jump over obstacles and still be good. But she meets every challenge. That consistency and confidence gets you to the next level. She's a tremendous kid."
scalzo@vindy.com