It's been two years since Ryley Miller won the State Cross Country Title, and things are still looking up for the UGA Sophomore. Miller graduated from South Gwinnett High School as the 2003 CC State Champ, with a 5k p.r. of 15:20. He also won the 1600 and 3200 state titles during his senior year, with p.r.'s of 4:15 (for a full mile) and 9:21. In his first year of collegiate running, Ryley had p.r.'s of 25:21 for 8k (set on Arkansas' home course) and 31:19 for 10k, and ran a 4:10 mile indoors at the SEC Championships, which qualified him for the finals where he placed 9th in 4:13.
As his second year approaches, it sounds like even more is in store for this talented runner.
Gatfxc.com: How has college been for you so far?
Ryley: College has treated me pretty well so far. I met a lot of new friends last year
living in the dorms and it\'s great to have some freedom.
Gatfxc.com: How have classes been? How do you balance academics and
athletics?
Ryley: Classes have been very tough so far. My major is
exercise and sports science and I\'m pre-med so I\'ve had a lot
of really challenging maths and sciences so far. Balancing
academics and athletics is tiring to say the least. Waking
up before class for weights, going to class, doing workouts,
going to study hall...it all makes for a busy schedule. I\'m
always really tired at the end of the day.
Gatfxc.com: What is the toughest workout you have done so far in
college?
Ryley: It\'s really hard to say. I guess the hardest CC
workout was either a 5x1 mile or a 3x2 mile starting with
little rest (90 sec) and ending up with 2:30 rest and
speeding up as we went on. We would start the 5x1 mile at
5:05 and get down to 4:40.
Gatfxc.com: What runner do you admire the most and why?
Ryley: I guess I\'d have to say Simon Ngata. He was a teammate of mine last year and
was the only guy that would never say he was tired or that he
didn\'t want to run. He never made excuses and at this level
of running, you\'d be surprised how many people become
unmotivated and stop caring about the sport. On top of being
a great runner-Simon\'s just a fun guy to be around.
Gatfxc.com: What are your goals for the future?
Ryley: For cross country in the future my ultimate goal is to be an all-American and to maybe lead the team to a high placing at nationals. For track I want to break the school record in the 1500 (3:42) and qualify for nationals.
Gatfxc.com: What have been the biggest challenges you have faced in
college?
Ryley: Definitely learning to study. I got through high school with very rarely studying. That doesn\'t tend to work as well in college.
Gatfxc.com: What have been the best things about running in college?
Ryley: Other than the chance to run with elite athletes all over the
country...definitely the sweet freebies. I don\'t have to pay
for running shoes, I get awesome free spikes, we get free
football tickets, spending money for meets, entertaining
recruits-oh man the list goes on. I just love running for a
college.
Gatfxc.com: Name/Describe your most painful race ever.
Ryley: Easily would be the SEC indoor mile prelims earlier this year. I decided it
would be a good idea to stick with a 4:01 miler for the first
6 laps, and I felt really good until that last 400. I got
passed by 6 guys on the last 200 (including former teammate
Dan Fassinger) and really thought I was going to collapse.
my legs went to jello. my splits went 61, 62, 62, 65. The 3
seconds that I went off pace with were all in the last 200.
Gatfxc.com: What lessons did you learn as a high school runner?
Ryley: I learned the right times to run hard and when to relax.
Running all out every day was an easy way to get injured and
it took a few injuries to figure that out. I also learned to
be patient. Track is not a sport where you\'re going to get a
ton better in a week or even a month. I learned if I just go
out there and log the miles and do the workouts, eventually I
will lower my times. I never let it get to me if I was slow
at the beginning of the season because, as Coach Dan Monroe
always said, no one will remember who won Berry or Stage
Races-they\'ll just remember who won State, and that\'s what I
aimed for every year.
Gatfxc.com: What advice would you give runners that want to continue
running in college?
Ryley: The biggest thing that I wish I would
have done is to just contact the coaches of the schools
you\'re interested in first. If you wait for them to contact
you, it might be too late and you could be stuck at a school
that isn\'t really the school you want to be at. But don\'t
get me wrong-UGA ended up working out perfect, I just wish I
would have done some more research.