DLN ALL-AREA: Porsha Miles hits her stride in time for final farewell at Coatesville
Running has been in Porsha Miles’ blood since well before high school.
She competed in AAU summer track meets when she was younger, and hasn’t lost a step. She’s proven that she can be a top runner at every level of competition on the track.
Aside from her natural speed, talent and hard work, the one thing that has kept Miles on track is confidence. She knows that every small uptick in confidence is just as important as few hundreths of a second in speed.
That confidence — along with all of her hard work on and off the track — led to Porsha Miles being named the Daily Local News 2019 All-Area Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year.
In 2016 and 2017, Miles was named to the All-Area second team for track. In 2018, she wasn’t part of All-Area at all.
So in 2019, she vowed to go out on top.
“I was doubting myself a lot and this year, I built my confidence up more,” Miles said. “Taking track more serious and believing in myself more than any other years.
When Miles was a freshman, she qualified for the District 1 Championships in the 200 meters. so she came into this season familiar with being in the spotlight and facing high level competition on the track
This time around, Miles qualified for the PIAA Championships in four different events — the 100 meters, 400 meters, 4×100 relay, and 4×400 relay. She had the third-fastest time in the preliminary round of the 400 meters at states, but had to bow out of the final due to a hamstring injury.
“I strained my left hamstring at the state meet and I didn’t run the 4×4 either, just the 4×1,” said Miles. “My biggest accomplishment on the track would be winning the 4×4 at districts this year and being 4×4 state champions last year.”
On the state leaderboard, Miles is ranked 10th in the 400, 13th in the 100, and 16th in the 200 meter. Her ability to run multiple events will catapult her into the collegiate level.
Miles is committed to run for James Madison University in the fall and will be primarily focusing on the 400 meters. While training for her freshman campaign, she is looking to put the hamstring injury behind her, and start a new chapter in her life.
She’ll have one very familiar face to help adjust to college life, as Coatesville teammate Arianna Eberley will also head to James Madison. Miles said Eberley is one of her main supporters on and off the track, and always pushes her to do better.
“The campus is crazy and really nice,” Miles said of JMU. “The coaches, the team and once I got there the first time I just knew that was the one.”
Miles ran a personal record of 56.16 in the 400 meters at the Black Knight Invitational in a winning effort. Miles knows the times she ran in high school won’t hold up at JMU.
“My goals for my freshman year are to lower my 400 and to run a 53 mid,” Miles said, shooting for a time drop of nearly three full seconds.
Coatesville head coach Damien Henry helps pave the way for his athletes to get the results they earn. Miles thought coach Henry set a great example for the athletes:
“He made sure we didn’t miss any reps and made sure that we were in the weight room consistently,” Miles said. “ He believed in us and that made us as team believe in ourselves”.
