Posted on Thu, Jul. 17, 2008

She’s small in stature, but big in heart, skill

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Getty Images/Jonathan Ferrey

Arlington native Randi Miller earned her first U.S. National freestyle wrestling title in June. Getty Images/Jonathan Ferrey

Randi Miller always saw herself as a basketball player. Fortunately for her, the Arlington Martin coaches couldn’t see past her 5-foot, 2-inch height.

After getting cut over and over again during her high school career, Miller finally got the hint and dedicated herself to wrestling.

She finished second in the state in her senior year of 2000-01, and now, seven years later, Miller is an Olympian. She will compete in women’s freestyle wrestling in Beijing on Aug. 16-17.

"Being told, 'You’re not good enough for basketball,’ that really put a fire in her," said Tony Warren, the wrestling coach at Martin from 1996-2004 who now coaches at Highland Park. " …Wrestling is a sport that no matter what your size is, it comes down to how big your heart is and how hard you’re willing to work. If you’ve got those things, you can go a long way, and those are things I had seen in Randi."

While Miller wanted to be a basketball player, her mother, Linda Criner, was hoping Miller would take up golf so Miller could earn a college scholarship. But wrestling found Miller, paving her way to college and fulfilling her athletic dreams.

"Once I started getting into it and taking it a little more seriously, I felt like it challenged me in every way," Miller said. "Practices are pretty hard conditioning-wise, and you have to convince yourself that you can get through it. You’ll give yourself every reason to quit when your body doesn’t need to. It’s your mind that’s starting to get tired. The challenge is trying to put that voice out of your head."

Criner didn’t initially know her daughter was wrestling, but she realized Miller was good at it when Miller got second at state. Miller’s best friend in high school, Julie Jacobson, knew Miller had something special when she earned a college wrestling scholarship.

It took longer for Miller to realize how good she could become.

In 2005, Miller went to Budapest, Hungary, to watch her training partner, Iris Smith, compete in freestyle wrestling at the World Wrestling Championships. Smith won the 72 kg/158.5 weight class.

"After watching her win, I decided I wanted to win," Miller said.

Miller had to find her way first. It took awhile before she found the right place, the right weight class and the right coach.

She wrestled at Neosho County Community College in Chanute, Kan.; MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Ill., and the U.S. Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University before arriving at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., two years ago. She wrestled at 72 kg/158.5 and then at 67 kg/147.5 before getting down to her ideal weight class, 63 kg/138.5.

"Athletes sometimes struggle with weight issues, but she made a commitment and was able to go down [two] weight classes," said Tony DeAnda, a coach at the U.S. Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan. "She finally made 63 kg, which is more of an ideal weight for her height. She is more mobile, a lot stronger and a lot quicker. It snowballed from there."

Miller began working with Levi Weikel-Magden, the husband of 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Patricia Miranda, almost a year ago. She also started seeing a nutritionist, which has helped her maintain her weight.

"The thing about Randi is she is very good about setting a goal and not quitting until she achieves it," said Jacobson, who still lives in Arlington and is in law school at Texas Wesleyan. "She is hard core and very determined."

That showed at the U.S. Olympic Trials when Miller upset 2004 Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann 2-1, 4-0. It was Miller’s first U.S. Nationals title.

Now, Miller will have to unseat Japan’s Kaori Icho if she is to win the Olympic gold medal. Miller has never wrestled Icho, the defending gold medalist who has 17 gold medals in 19 international competitions from 2002-08.

Weikel-Magden compared Miller to Brandon Slay, a Texan who upset Olympic champion Bouvaisa Saitiev of Russia 4-3 in the 2000 Games. Saitiev was considered the world’s best freestyle wrestler, having won every world-level tournament he had entered since 1995.

"If Randi does what I think she can do, there’s a very good chance she sort of parallels Brandon’s path," Weikel-Magden said. "Her medal chances are extremely strong. Now, she’s potentially the greenest girl on our squad, and she’s had mixed results internationally."

Criner, who now lives in League City, said her daughter is "living the dream." But for Miller, the dream won’t be complete unless she comes home with a medal.

"It would mean everything that I’ve wanted, to be the best at this," Miller said. "I’m really honored I get to go out there and start for the best and try to get that medal. I’m going to do it hopefully."