Wrestling | 12/14/2022 3:06:00 PM

DENTON, Texas (Dec. 14, 2022) – Silence filled the arena. It was as if you could see the intake of breath of all the fans, as the tension remained palpable. Two wrestlers circled on the mat – all eyes focused on the next move. Then, the crowd jumped to their feet, electrified, ignited, and overjoyed. All that mattered in that moment was the wrestler in maroon – winning the match.  

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Nari Miller, grew up in Minneapolis, Minn. on the north side and attended Edison High School. Prior to her freshman year at Edison, the only connection Miller had with wrestling was watching WWE.

Everything changed when the dean of Edison encouraged Miller to join the wrestling team.

"There were a lot of fights going on at my school and my dean was trying to put that energy elsewhere," Miller said. "I was not getting involved in the fights. It was like all-out brawls. It was really bad. There was stuff happening right in front of me. He told me to join wrestling, and so I ended up joining."

When Miller stepped into a wrestling practice for the first time, she expected to see moves from WWE, but everything was different. The moment she began wrestling was one of those life-changing, course-altering experiences for Miller.

"It [wrestling] was hard," Miller said. "It was harder than it looked. We had a lot of girls on my team when I was a freshman, but they were all seniors. There were eight girls total – seven of them graduated. It basically just left me and the rest of the guys there. We had some really good girls, but none of them went to college to wrestle and I still think about that to this day."

When she first began wrestling, Miller's mom was worried, not because of the sport, but because after-school wrestling practice meant Miller had to ride the city bus home late at night. Nevertheless, Miller committed to the sport and recorded countless hours on the city bus to and from various practices, extremely dedicated to growing in the sport even from the beginning. 

Miller joined the wrestling team during her freshman year in 2018 when women's wrestling was not sanctioned in the state of Minnesota; nevertheless, Miller began solidifying big dreams, while knowing success was possible.

Due to wrestling being unsanctioned for women, Miller wrestled mostly guys throughout her first three years of high school.

She said she remembers the first time wrestling a guy, but not because it was a guy, because it was her first time wrestling.

"As a freshman, wrestling was just so new to me, so I was not surprised by it," Miller said. "I was surprised by everything – everything shocked me. The guy just fell into that surprise."

While Miller was not deterred by any opponent she faced, she did face situations where guys would not wrestle her because it was against their team contract, so they would forfeit leaving Miller without an opponent to wrestle. 

Wrestling for Miller started as just an after-school activity but after a tournament in St. Paul her freshman year the fire for a bigger dream was lit.

"There was this one specific tournament in St. Paul, where I had lost the entire day," Miller said. "I got whooped the whole day. It was just kind of like my villain origin story. I was just like—I'm done. I'd done losing. I'm so tired of it. From there, I started taking wrestling very seriously. I would train two times a day. I would train all over. If my team wasn't doing enough, I would go train with other teams."

Then, during her junior year of high school, Miller set her sights on training for the Olympics. When she told her mom about her dream, her mom said 'what do we have to do to get you there.' From then on, Miller knew she wanted to wrestle in college and make it to the Olympics.

During her senior season in 2022, women's wrestling finally became sanctioned in Minnesota, allowing Miller to wrestle for a state championship.

"I had done everything consistently – being consistent in something not everyone can do it, so people will drop off," Miller said. "I remained consistent all throughout high school and it showed at the end."

Miller became the first girls' wrestling champion in the 152-pound division in state history—another life-altering, incredible moment a part of Miller's story – one she worked countless hours for.

Beginning her junior year, Miller began attracting the attention of college coaches. One of those coaches, Randi Miller, stuck out to Miller because they had the same last name.

"I met Coach Randi as a junior and I was already a fan of hers because we have the same last name," Miller said. "I walked up to her and was like 'oh my gosh we have the same last name,' and she was like 'really what is it?"

Ten years prior to Miller joining the wrestling team for the first time, Randi Miller became the first African American female to win a medal in women's wrestling for the United States, winning a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics. Randi Miller paved the way for Nari Miller. Randi Miller blazed paths, so Nari could break barriers in the state of Minnesota.

Although Miller was a fan of Randi Miller, Texas Woman's University did not originally make Miller's short list of colleges.

"I had announced my top five schools and Randi reached out and said 'I'm not on the list reconsider, reconsider,' so we set up a meeting," Miller said.

After the meeting, Miller and her mom traveled to Denton. Miller said she had researched schools and they all had only parts of what she was looking for, but Randi Miller and TWU checked every box for her.

"She [Randi] told me mental health is a priority here," Miller said. "For me, I deal with a lot mentally, especially the sports psych side. She told me we don't do weight cutting here – certain things that pertain to wrestlers that is a toxic part of wrestling that she eliminated completely."

The unique life perspective Randi Miller brought to wrestling attracted Miller, because she said she knew she could grow as a wrestler and person at TWU. Miller also loved the diverse atmosphere of TWU. Additionally, she said she knew with Randi Miller's plan and experience she could achieve her dream of going to the Olympics.

"The last tournament I was at I made a minor mistake, and it cost me the match," Miller said. "I was sitting there crying, and Coach Randi came up to me and was like 'if you're trying to be ready by 2028, then you got to get up and go out there and wrestle for your place,' so now I'm training with a higher mindset. Now, I'm not just training for this specific match, but I'm training for nationals, for the Olympics. Coach Randi sees the bigger picture and she reminds me of the bigger picture. I like that."

Miller broke barriers for women at her high school and in wrestling in the state of Minnesota. For her amazing accomplishments, she was chosen by the Minnesota Coalition of Women in Athletic Leadership (MCWAL) as the recipient of the 2023 Breaking Barriers Award in celebration of the 2023 National Girls and Women in Sports Day, Minnesota.

"I was surprised," Miller said. "I am honored and excited to receive it. My mom is thinking about trying to fly me home for that, so that will be nice. I like the award ceremonies because they give you a nice meal and cheesecake."

Miller also said at the time, when she was wrestling in high school, she did not even feel like she was breaking barriers.

"I was more focused on my goal I was trying to get to that I didn't realize I was pioneering in a way," Miller said. "When I was out there wrestling a guy, I was just focused on beating him up. I'm fighting for my life in the middle of the circle and I get a call 'oh that was so cool' and I'm like 'thank you."

Even to this day, Miller continues to break barriers, as she represents the first female wrestler to wrestle in college from her high school. She said she continues to mentor girls from her former team.

"My senior year, one girl joined, so I took her under my wing," Miller said. "I talked to her the other day about how college wrestling was going, how it has been, and how I think that they should come to college and wrestle. I think that they are still recruiting, but they said a lot of girls are joining. I mean, they put me on the poster, so they should join."

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Two wrestlers circled on the mat – all eyes focused on the next move. Then, the crowd jumped up to their feet, electrified, ignited, and overjoyed. All that mattered in that moment was the wrestler in maroon – winning the match. 

Nari Miller recorded her first win at home in Kitty Magee Arena on November 10. With the crowd joyously cheering her on, she held up the TWU symbol, and the crowd continued to go wild. In that moment, she broke down barriers. It did not matter if you knew Nari Miller. It did not matter if you knew the specific rules of wrestling – all that mattered was the collective joy she ignited in the stadium.

Nari Miller is a pioneer.

Check out Nari Miller's interview with Minnesota Now on MPR News about her college experience here.

Check out an article from the StarTribune about Nari Miller in celebration of 50 years of Title IX here.