(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Times News is running a series of stories asking area coaches and athletic directors to remember their “Most Memorable” sporting event. Today’s Most Memorable moment comes from Jim Thorpe track and field coach Frank Miller)

By Rod Heckman

rheckman@tnonline.com

Sitting near the top of the stands at J. Birney Crum Stadium offers a breathtaking view.

Not only can someone see the entire football field and track, but the trees in the foreground and the mountains in the background are a sight to behold.

Back in 2010 - May 19 and 20, to be specific - Frank Miller found himself in that Allentown setting.

And while the scenery was as spectacular as ever, for Miller it became even better.

The track and field coach watched as his Olympians won six gold medals at the District 11 Championships. In all, Thorpe qualified for states in 13 different events.

“Outside of (one), I was able to see it all,” said Miller of his PIAA qualifiers. “With J. Birney Crum, the nice part of being down there is they’re constantly chasing you off the fence, so I basically perched myself up as high as I could to see the whole peripheral. That was the nice part about that facility; you had the height in the bleachers where you had the high jump and the horizontal jumps going on at the same end down toward the finish line.

“So I was able to see our kids competing in the jumps and on the track ... It was an exciting day. And, outside of not getting to see Ben (Moore) qualify in the jav, I had a great perspective for all the track events and the jumping events, to see our kids accomplish what they accomplished on that day.”

As impressive as those two days were, the Olympians have actually gone on to have more success in recent years.

But as a still relatively young program at the time, their performance in 2010 was tabbed as Miller’s Most Memorable Moment.

“We’ve had better district meets since then, but that stands out because that was kind of the footprint that we were able to develop at that point in time,” said Miller, the program’s head coach since 2007. “Last year’s districts was a phenomenal experience for us, and last year’s state meet obviously is high up there on the list, if not the highest, but it just happened last year ... that 2010 district experience was really the mark of what we were looking for in trying to get to build the program and establish that expectation of - this is what we expect and this is what we’re going to work to every single year.”

Carl St. Hill, who captured individual gold medals in the 100 and 200, and JaAshia Page qualified for states in four events. Both were also part of relay teams that turned in exceptional efforts.

St. Hill joined with Kareem Mickens, Alex Garcia and Scott Lignore to win the meet’s final event, the 1600 relay, by defeating heavily-favored Bethlehem Catholic and a strong Notre Dame squad.

But it was Page, along with Amelia Herman, Hilary Reis and Ashley Nicola, that stole the show. The foursome not only captured the 400 relay crown, they also set a district record in the process in what was the first meet they had run together.

“We had a girl get sick about the middle of the season, Samantha Harlan, who was on that team,” said Miller. “We kind of thought we rushed her back at the league meet and she wasn’t ready to run three, four events. She was in the individual hurdles, so we had a runoff in between leagues and districts and Hilary won the runoff. She conceded running the 400 to be a member of the 4x1 team.

“Amelia Herman stayed in her starting spot. We moved Hilary to two, Ashley Nicola we bumped to three and we had Ja finish the race for us. We knew it was going to be a tough one because that year at the Olympian Invite, Tamaqua, Palmerton, and Lehighton all ran state qualifying times and they were all in that race. The girls just executed phenomenally, and ended up running a district record, which still stands as our school record today. The entire day was a highlight, but that was definitely the highlight of the highlights.”

Reis also earned a second and a state berth in the high jump, while Nicola took third and gained a trip to Ship in the 200. Page’s accomplishments included second in the 100 and triple jump, and fourth in the long jump.

Mickens earned gold in the 400, as did Garcia in the triple jump. Ben Moore was second in the javelin, as was the boys 400 relay team of St. Hill, Garcia, Talon Fogal and PJ Johnson.

“Carl had a fantastic day with three gold medals and a second,” said Miller. “And it could’ve been four gold. We felt we were the best 4x1 team, but earlier in the week PJ Johnson, while moving a couch, dropped it on his ankle and we weren’t even sure he was even going to be able to run. We scratched him from his individual events.

“He probably would have qualified for the long jump as an individual, but for the sake of the relay team he said don’t put him in any individual events. He knew he’d be able to run anchor for us, which he did all season, and that group finished second to qualify to get him out there as well.”

Miller was optimistic heading into the district meet, but the results even exceeded his expectations.

After all, Thorpe’s program didn’t start until 2000, and it only had a few state qualifiers over the first 10 years.

“We really didn’t expect that many (to qualify for states),” said Miller. “Going into it, we knew we had chances ... It was a beautiful day down at J. Birney Crum. There was no wind, and that was one of the nice parts about that track, because very rarely do you get wind because of being inside the bowl. It’s pretty closed off. There were some expectations, but we had some events where we performed well and got a couple extra kids out there.

“We just felt like we were getting to where we could be competitive across the entire district, taking those little steps as a program, building the program, and then 2010 was really the day that we felt ... was our arrival. And from that point on, it kind of set an expectation for our program that each year we’re expecting to have at least one kid compete Memorial Day weekend at Shippensburg.”