Kiski Area grad Eliza Miller earns PSAC medals in swimming, track after transferring to Edinboro mid-year

Kiski Area grad Eliza Miller likes to stay busy. Typically, her time is occupied with some athletic pursuit.

True to her form, Miller kept busy during her first year of college. Busier than most. Two schools and three sports busy.

Miller began her freshman season at Duquesne, competing with the Dukes’ triathlon team then segueing into swimming. But by the end of the semester, she decided city life wasn’t for her, so she went looking for a school in a more laid-back setting.

When her older sister Naomee transferred schools a few years back, Edinboro was among the places she considered, so Eliza had some familiarity with the school and with the swimming coaches. (Naomee Miller swam at Marshall and Division III Kean.)

“I had to walk on to the team,” Eliza Miller said. “I couldn’t talk to coaches or anything, so it was just kind of a spur-of-the-moment place that I could try, and I ended up liking it.”

After getting over an early-season leg injury that put her in a walking boot for two weeks, Miller displayed the form that made her a standout in the WPIAL. She ended up with a gold medal in the 500 freestyle at the PSAC championships, using a 28-second split in the final 50 meters to rally and post a time of 5 minutes, 0.81 seconds.

She finished tied for the gold with West Chester’s Danielle Steele.

“Honestly, I was just going into (the 500 free) trying to get close to my PR,” Miller said. “I didn’t really have any thoughts of winning it or anything. And whenever I had turned around and saw I had won, I was totally in shock.”

But it wasn’t necessarily a shock to discover that her next sport was just around the bend. When Miller came to Edinboro, word got around that she also was a talented track athlete. Edinboro track and field coach Jamison Dietrich said Norwin grad Bernadette Zukina, who swam and ran against Miller in high school, was among those trumpeting what Miller could bring to the track team.

Though Miller said she had no intention of running track, she felt the pull to compete. Besides, she had her sights set on some triathlons over the summer, so track seemed like a good way to stay in shape.

Dietrich said he was cautious about how to handle Miller’s reintroduction to track. She hadn’t had an indoor season like most of her teammates, so he decided to limit her usage.

“Eliza is unique because she’s had a lot of success at almost every running event,” said Dietrich, who just wrapped up his second season at Edinboro. “The real challenge was we had a very limited amount of time with her … so we kind of looked at what can we have the most success with in an eight-week period?”

They settled on using her in the 800, with occasional participation in the mile and 1,600 relay.

Just like she had done in swimming, she was an instant success, placing fifth in the 800 at the conference championships.

“I would like to go a little bit faster,” Miller said, “but, again, with such a short season, I feel like finishing fifth was pretty good.”

And Miller might not be finished adding sports. Now she is considering running cross country in the fall.

Three sports and a health and physical education major? That should be enough to keep her busy.

“When I finished my 800 at PSACs, (my teammates) were like, ‘OK. It’s time for cross country,’ ” Miller said. “I haven’t fully committed yet, but my coach said he would send me a training plan on what it would look like so I can do swimming and cross country.

“I am leaning toward doing cross country, but I’m not 100% yet.”

Dietrich said he believes Miller can pull off juggling three sports.

“Eliza is very mature for being a freshman this year,” he said. “I think she comes off more like a junior. I think she could handle it.”