Miller's time has already arrived at Baylor

World U-20 silver medalist in outdoor 800 meters clocks fastest indoor time in the world this year, in addition to contributing to college-leading DMR at Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational in Kentucky

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Aaliyah Miller is only a freshman, but the Baylor middle distance star is quickly mastering the learning curve when it comes to racing on an indoor track.

Competing in just the second indoor meet of her track career, Miller produced a world-leading time this year in the women’s 800 meters Saturday by clocking 2 minutes, 3.43 seconds to prevail at Kentucky’s Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational at Nutter Field House in Lexington.

“My coaches kept telling me I could run this fast and I thought they were crazy, but I guess they weren’t that crazy,” Miller said. “I wanted to run at a faster pace than I did last week. I think I went out a little too hard, but I just wanted to stay in control and finish strong.”

Miller improved to No. 2 in Baylor history behind only Olicia Williams, who clocked 2:03.21 at the 2015 Iowa State Classic. Penn State freshman Danae Rivers ran the second-fastest collegiate time this year by placing second in 2:04.04.

“With Aaliyah, I was hoping for 2:04 and she goes and runs 2:03, which just blew us away,” Baylor head coach Todd Harbour said. “She went out in 58.5 (for the first 400 meters) and 1:31 (at 600 meters) were her splits, which is just incredibly impressive.” 

Miller’s 800 effort, a significant improvement from her 2:06.60 opener Jan. 14 at the Texas A&M Team Invitational, is believed to be a college freshman indoor record and top 30 all-time among NCAA Division I performers. The last freshman to break 2:04.0 in the indoor 800 was BYU’s Lacey Bleazard, who ran 2:03.91 in the 2009 NCAA prelims on her way to winning the title.

“I’m pretty excited,” Miller said. “I was nervous coming in, but I was prepared for a fast race. It’s a pretty encouraging start and it shows all the offseason training has paid off.”

Miller, the silver medalist in the outdoor 800 at the IAAF World U-20 Championships in July in Poland, elevated to the No. 4 all-time American Junior indoor performer behind only Mary Slaney (2:01.8), Ajee’ Wilson (2:02.64) and Mary Cain (2:02.75). Miller’s outdoor personal best is 2:02.96 from the U.S. Junior Championships in June in Clovis, Calif.

“All that experience from over the summer running at Brooks PR and Clovis and Poland and racing against all those fast people really helped me a lot,” Miller said. “A lot of those races were tactical, so I feel like I’m prepared to run any type of race, which has really helped with my transition to running in college.”

Miller, a McKinney Boyd TX graduate, also contributed Friday to a college-leading performance by Baylor in the distance medley relay, teaming with Alison Andrews-Paul, Kiana Hawn and Maggie Montoya to clock 11:12.39. Miller split 2:05 on the 800 leg.

“It’s been a good start to the season and I’m just enjoying it,” Miller said. “Now that I’m in college, I’m not backing down because I want to stay up there and race some of these big-name people, so this is pretty motivating.”