ST. JOHNS, Fla. – Christian Miller is the fastest teenager in the country. But on Thursday morning at Creekside High School, Miller was slower than he’d ever been.
With a crowd assembled inside the weight room at Creekside, his father, Griffin, clutched Miller’s Gatorade National Track and Field Athlete of the Year award and waited ever so patiently for his son to walk in for the surprise.
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Minutes after organizers said Miller was walking up, he came through the doors to raucous applause and his dad holding the massive Gatorade award that he handed to his son. Miller stood for a moment and took it all in. Miller said that he thought he was showing up at his high school to talk to young athletes from his club program, the St. Johns Striders.
“I had no clue because I was just going to come out here and just give some inspiring words to the kids. But I got a great surprise from everybody in the Striders community,” Miller said. “It was just amazing.”
Miller is the first local athlete, male or female, to win the national Gatorade honor in any sport. The area has had a handful of state winners, but never a national winner.
Miller is the first, and a well-deserving one, too. His season was unlike any other. Miller clocked a 9.93 at the PURE Athletics Elite Invitational last April, an American U20 record, and the fastest time in the world this year by a U20 athlete. That time pushed Miller into a new echelon as he went to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials and qualified for the finals in the 100. Miller went on to finish fifth in the event, an unbelievable accomplishment for an athlete who just graduated high school last month.
Miller’s coach, Ricky Fields, said that his star sprinter had potential when he started his running journey years ago, but his work ethic set him apart.
“He was the kind of kid that wanted to be good. He wanted to be good. You got to want to be good to be good. That’s the first thing,” Fields said. “Christian never missed practice. Never complained. Never cried if he lost. He didn’t win a lot but he had the makeup to do what he’s doing right now. He had a great support system from his family. It’s a blessing.”
Miller has now turned in four sub-10 second times in the 100, unreal numbers for an athlete who just turned 18. The Gatorade national award is the sundae, but an Olympics berth could be the cherry on top. Miller’s times and finish at the Trials have him under consideration for the U.S. 4x100 relay team. Miller will find out this weekend if he’s selected for the Paris Games.
“Knowing that out of everybody in the nation, out of every track and field boys athlete out there, they chose me to award this to based off of all the things I did throughout this year,” Miller said. “It was just honestly, just amazing to me. I wasn’t really expecting it, but I’m grateful that they chose me and I’m excited to see where that leads me next.”