Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame
It didn’t take long for Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Mike Miller to make an impact upon enrolling at Linfield in the fall of 1994.
After a Hall of Fame running career at Clark College in Vancouver, Miller joined the Linfield cross country program and immediately led the Wildcats to their most recent Northwest Conference cross country championship. A successful performance at the NAIA regional meet earned the Wildcats an invitation to compete in the NAIA Championships in Kenosha, Wis., where Linfield placed 18th.
It was on the running track where Miller truly rose to prominence. As a junior in 1995, he captured a third-place finish in the 1,000-meter run at the NAIA Indoor Championships in Lincoln, Nebraska, and also helped the 4x800 relay squad secure a fourth-place medal at the same meet.
On the outdoor circuit, Miller led Linfield to consecutive men’s Northwest Conference team championships in 1995 and 1996 while setting a conference-meet record in the 1,500-meter run.
“Mike was a very talented runner with a chip on his shoulder,” recalled his coach, Garry Killgore. “I am grateful that he allowed me to help him to channel that chip in a way that helped him to maximize his great talent.”
Twenty-five years after his graduation, Miller’s record-setting time of 3 minutes, 45.06 seconds still stands as the program’s all-time best performance in the 1,500. He also stands second all-time in the 800, less than a full second behind teammate Josh O’Connor.
Miller joined ranks with O’Connor, Sean Stortzum and Jeremy White to form one of the fastest 4x400 relay quartets in Linfield history. The four Wildcats blazed to a time of 3:16.82, the fifth-fastest mark in the record book.
Competing at the 1996 NAIA Outdoor Championships as a senior, Miller placed sixth in the 1,500 to earn NAIA All-America acclaim. It marked a fitting conclusion to one of the finest middle-distance careers Linfield has ever known.
Following graduation, Miller continued to compete in the middle distances, earning invitations to race at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 800 and 1,500 in 2000 and in the 1,500 in 2004. He was a member of the U.S. Army’s Elite Track and Field Team from 2001 to 2005, qualifying for the U.S. Track and Field Championships six times. His top performance was a top-5 finish of 3:57.1 in the mile.
Miller was a first-generation college student who was born and raised on the Skokomish Indian Reservation in Washington state. Athletics provided him the impetus to further his education, first at Clark, then at Linfield.
He went on to earn a master’s degree in executive management from the University of La Verne and later completed a doctorate degree in Educational Leadership and Change from Fielding Graduate University.
For the last 20 years, Miller has been employed at the University of California at Santa Barbara where he currently is the assistant vice chancellor for enrollment services, overseeing admissions, financial aid, registrar as well as fund-raising and grant writing.
Mike lives in Santa Barbara with his three school-age daughters, Olivia, 17, Emma, 15, and Ava, 12.
