Miller time doesn’t earn medal but will leave lasting legacy for Sarah Ann

Track and Field coverage sponsored by ATT Sports., Inc.

By  Julie Pelchar Cohen — MikeDragoSports.com senior correspondent

SHIPPENSBURG — Sarah Ann Miller has been the face of Twin Valley girls track and field since her days dominating junior high races.

She wanted to write a fitting final chapter to her legacy.

“Looking back on this whole season,” she said, “my main motivation was to leave my mark on my school and my community.”

Miller certainly left a lasting impression on her last day in green and white.

The senior might have just missed a trip to the podium at the PIAA Track and Field Championships but she ran the second-fastest 800-meter time in Berks County history.

Funny thing is Miller had no idea her 2:12.90 romp, which placed her 10th in the Class 3A race, left notice extending well beyond her school district.

“I had no idea I was close to it,” Miller said of racing within .05 seconds of the record set by Wilson’s Katie Dallas during a silver-medal run at the 2021 PIAA Championships.

Miller’s performance highlighted a relatively quiet day for Berks athletes on this warm and sunny Saturday at Seth Grove Stadium.

Brandywine Heights senior Adam Petersen earned a pair of 2A sprint medals. He took bronze in the 100 and seventh in the 200. The Wyomissing boys 400 relay took 2A bronze. Spartans sophomore Max Tipton earned a seventh-place medal in the shot put.

Wyomissing junior Addie Cohen grabbed her second medal of the two-day meet, adding a 2A 3200 bronze to Friday’s 1600 silver. Berks Catholic junior Julia Rosenberger was eighth in the 3A high jump.

Miller has been an iron woman for the Raiders track program for nearly a third of her life, typically running the 400 and the 800 and whatever relay she has been asked to race.

She holds school records in both mid-distance events — her 56.85 at the Firing Meet bettered the record she had broken the week before — and came within .2 seconds of the 200 mark.

“She’s a beast,” said Raiders head coach George Read. “She runs everything I ask her to run.

“She’ll run four races a meet just for the team.”

After dominating the mid-distance events as an eighth-grader at the junior high county championships Miller lost her freshman to the pandemic.

She has spent her last three Memorial Day weekends at the PIAA championships.

Her most successful holiday trip came Saturday after finishing 20th last year and 19th as a sophomore.

Miller capitalized on what she anticipated would be a fast race.

“I knew if I could stay close to the top group,” she said, “I would be able to hit a really, really fast time.”

Miller’s time would’ve guaranteed her a medal almost any other year. With Haverford Township’s Olivia Cieslak leading the way with a winning 2:07.45, seven girls touched the 2:10 mark.

Miller’s time Saturday would’ve placed third two years ago and second last spring. 

“Only getting 10th is insane,” Miller said.

Crazy, but not disappointing in the least.

Miller had no regrets about narrowly missing a PIAA medal. She wasn’t disheartened in the least that only hundredths of a second separated her from the top spot in Berks history.

As she paused from shopping the merchandise tents after her race, Miller looked genuinely calm and happy wearing her sunglasses and Twin Valley uniform one last time before heading to East Carolina, where she’ll run for the Pirates.

“I love that the competition is getting better,” she said. “I love ending on a high note.”

Petersen took what he called a “chill” approach to competing in two state finals. He advanced from Friday’s prelims to both sprint championships.

“Just be cool because when you get nervous you tense up,” he said. “I think I was the most calm for today. I knew I was going to get a state medal.”

Petersen, who won a pair of district gold medals, started his day with an 11.03 in the 100 and ran a 22.50 in the 200.

His bronze in the 100 came as a surprise.

“It feels awesome,” he said. “This is what I’ve wanted all season. It feels good to finally get this medal. Third in the state. I was not expecting that.”

Tipton wasn’t expecting such a high finish, either. He hit 50-9¾ on his first throw and reached 50 feet on two other tosses. His previous personal best was a 49-8, which earned District 3 silver last week.

“My coach would’ve been happy with me just getting a PR today,” Tipton said. “It felt great to hit it at states and then to hit it two more times was even better.”

The Spartans relay team of Andrew Delp, Ethan Brower, William Delp and Charlie McIntyre checked every box off their list this year. Their state finish was higher and faster than last year, when they placed sixth, and they set a personal best Saturday with a 43.29.

Wyomissing’s relay team is a blend of power and precision. No superstar leads this bunch; the four football players took a workmanlike approach to their season, which also produced district gold.

“As a team we all work well together,” McIntyre said. “We don’t have one speedster. That combined speed and working together every single day at practice helped our confidence and our chemistry, and I think that translates onto the track.”

Rosenberger tied a personal best Saturday with a 5-4 in her first trip to the PIAA championships. Only four other girls jumped higher. Rosenberger took eighth based on misses.

“I started off well and then I started to get a little rocky,” Rosenberger said. “I got in my head a little bit, but I got myself out of it.”