For years, Ithaca has been a swimming powerhouse in Section 4, easily crushing every other school in the district. Despite an extremely deep roster, a big reason for the team’s success is Kevin Miller ’16.
In his junior year alone, Miller broke a total of four school and pool records, had two top-three finishes at states, and became an All-American in the 500-yard freestyle. I sat down with Kevin and talked to him about what pushes him to do so well and his plans for the future.
Marlo Zorman ’16: Right off the bat, what are your plans for college? You must be getting recruited, so what are your top college choices?
Kevin Miller: The two colleges I was looking at are Cornell and Penn State. Ultimately, I decided on Cornell, and I’m committing pending my admission. I just connected much better with the team and coach there. For a long time, Cornell has been considered one of the slower Ivy Leagues, but recently they’ve started to have strong recruiting classes. The program has a lot of potential and I really want to be a part of that. The chance to help improve a program and be a part of something like that is not an everyday experience.
I’d like to study business. Both colleges can give me an excellent education, but since Dyson is a smaller program, there’s more intimacy among professors and students.
MZ: What are the most important lessons you’ve learned during your years of swimming?
KM: One of the biggest things I’ve learned is to be open to criticism, making sure you’re listening to your coaches. For the most part, coaches know what’s better and you have to learn to listen.
I’ve also learned that It’s important to take the sport seriously and treat it with respect, but you can’t get to the point where if you fail it’s the end of the world. You should never be scared of failure. Sophomore year, I was so bent out of shape about wanting to break Alex Meyer’s record I was losing sleep over it. I thought I didn’t accomplish anything unless I got that record. That led to me swimming slow times. During the next meet, when I was much more relaxed, I was able to swim a lot faster.
MZ: I know swimming can be very time consuming. How do you balance swimming and schoolwork?
KM: It’s definitely a time commitment, but it’s doable. I’ve never actually had any trouble balancing schoolwork. Anytime I do poorly in a class it’s because of me, not swimming. You just have to learn to manage your time well. The biggest problem for me was stupid classes like gym and health. If athletes didn’t have to take classes like gym they could have a study period, or even take another class. Not having that burden would be a huge help in accommodating schoolwork.
MZ: Who or what has had the biggest impact on your success as a swimmer?
KM: Since I was ten years old, I’ve never had the same coach for two consecutive seasons. [Kevin competes for IHS and club teams; each team has a different Coach] A seasoned swimmer would look at that and think it’s impossible or crazy, having to adjust to a new schedule and coach every season. I agree, but it helps me because I’m able to hear and receive so many opinions on how to swim, train, and recover. Each coach gives you tips and over the years all of those ideas have accumulated. I’ve been able to combine the good qualities of all coaches: that really helps. A big thanks goes to [Coach] Mike, he’s been there for me since seventh grade.
I’ve had a big impact on myself too. There’s no other person on the pool deck who can motivate me like myself. It has to come from yourself, you have to be motivated enough. You have to want the post-season accolades enough to endure the pain. No one can make you want it more than you can.
MZ: Who’s been your biggest role model throughout high school?
KM: I’d probably have to say something cliche like my brothers or my father. Recently it’s been my two older brothers: my oldest brother Dan has a job in NYC and is a full-on adult, doing really well. My other brother Dave is in London and is doing excellent schoolwork and swimming incredibly well. They’re both really good role models.
MZ: How do your teammates help you improve as a swimmer?
KM: In practice, I never want to be seen as a slacker. So I always do more than they do and work harder. Doing that allows me to have some bragging rights, but I only ever use those in some situations. Their presence there makes me want to be the hardest worker on the team, just to know that I’m pushing myself a little harder than they are. It could be seen as a self-centered view, but at the same time it’s important for me to push myself harder than they’re pushing themselves.