Miller rolls toward repeat

The 103-pound wrestler certainly has been up to it.

Miller will put his 56-1 record on the line and attempt to become Southern Nevada’s next two-time state champion when the Sunrise Region wrestling tournament begins at 3:30 p.m. Friday at Las Vegas High School. The Sunset Region tournament will begin Friday at Bonanza. Both tournaments conclude Saturday.

“It’s almost like there’s more pressure this year than last year,” Miller said. “Everybody wants to take me down; even a takedown — they say ‘I just took down a state champ’ and act like they won the match, even though I (pinned) them.

“There’s a huge target on my back, so I’ve just got to come out every match like I’m nothing and like they’re the state champ.”

Miller, who boasts a 4.0 grade-point average at Black Mountain Christian School, hasn’t lost to an in-state opponent since the first match of his junior year. That loss came against Las Vegas High’s Nathan Garcia, who finished second at state in 2009 — at 119 pounds.

Many of Miller’s former opponents wrestle in heavier weight classes, leaving the pint-sized senior in the sport’s smallest weight class — one that traditionally is full of underclassmen.

Miller occasionally wrestles up a class, but he rarely weighs more than 109 pounds and often makes 103 with ease. So the natural lightweight set higher goals after winning state last year and placing second as a sophomore.

“He’s self-motivated; he wants to be a two-time state champion,” Foothill coach Bill Smales said. “I’ve talked to him about that. A lot of people are state champions, but to be a multiple-time state champion — no matter the level or the state — is something special. He wants to be that two-time state champion and not just the guy that people say got lucky for a year.”

A three-sport athlete, the Foothill team captain started at sweeper with the Falcons’ soccer team this fall and plays shooting guard for Black Mountain’s basketball team.

But wrestling is Miller’s No. 1 sport, and he said he is “stoked” with Foothill’s 5-1 finish in Southeast League dual meets, as the Falcons have built a solid squad.

“I feel like I’m someone that they expect to win,” Miller said. “If we’re down, they know I’m someone that will come back and get the momentum shift. The team is better, but it’s coming from our coaches.

Coach Smales and Coach (Billy) Love, they’ve been pushing the pace a lot better. We’ve been doing a lot better, and that’s why we’re 5-1.”

With an 18-10 overall record, the Falcons have the most single-season wins in Foothill history, and Miller owns the program’s record for career victories with a 177-29 mark.

“My goal is to walk out on the mat, take them down and stick them,” said Miller, who has 27 pins this season. “I don’t want to wait; I just want to stick the kid.”

That aggressive mentality is rubbing off on the other Foothill wrestlers, Smales said.

“Him having the success he’s had, kids buy into our system more,” the ninth-year coach said. “They see him as a first-year wrestler his freshman year to all he’s learned in our system and what we do, (and) he’s excelled at it. And when you have someone of that caliber on your team, kids watch him and learn from him. They get confidence from seeing him beat guys that are really good.”

Miller hopes his countless hours in the wrestling room and weight room pay off starting this weekend with another Sunrise title.

“It’s not really a big secret: If you put in the time, the reward is going to come,” Smales said. “Every wrestler, every coach knows that if you’ve got kids who put in the time, they are going to get better.”