Spencer High School track athlete Miara Elmore is used to jumping hurdles. The 17-year-old senior participates in many track and field events for the Greenwave, including the 300 -meter hurdles. Last year, Elmore placed fifth at the state track meet in the 300-hurdles event. When it comes to academics, Elmore faces no hurdles because she has long been focused on her grades.
“My parents have always encouraged me to do well in school. They always say grades before sports. But I have wanted to do well in school. I think it comes to me naturally to want a good education,” says Elmore.
If education holds a higher priority than sports, academics must be very important to the multi-sport athlete, with the emphasis on very. Each of her high school years, Elmore has played at least two sports and sometimes four. Such commitment to athletics often causes sports participants to maintain average grades in order to juggle all their activities. Not the case for Elmore. She has been involved in a sport this winter and now in the spring, and she still manages to take AP classes and keep her grades well above average.
In 2012, Elmore moved from Texas with her military family. She has lived in a few different places but called Killeen, Texas, home long enough to establish a good foundation of academics and athletics. Her last year at Killeen High School, Elmore participated in four sports. When she came to Spencer as a junior, she scaled back to volleyball, basketball and track. For her senior year Elmore has concentrated on basketball and track.
In her beginning days at Spencer, sports helped her make friends and fit in. Coming from a larger school environment, Elmore worried about her ability to compete in sports and to establish relationships such as those she left behind. Today when she walks through the halls of Spencer High School, she is well-known and respected among her peers, many of whom know her from sports teams she has been a part of the past two school years.
The 5’7” athlete is a natural for track and field. She participates in both the 4×400-meter and the 4×100-meter relays as the third or fourth anchor. In addition to the 300m hurdles event, she also competes in the triple jump and 400-meter race. She exhibits all the characteristics track coaches look for in athletes. Elmore is strong, she has endurance, she has a long stride and she is willing to work hard at improving her time and techniques.
“My best triple jump was at the state meet. It was 36.3 and that was my first time ever reaching 36 feet. I saw other jumpers using the 36 board and I had always used the 32. I decided to try the 36 board and I did it! I know now that I can use the 36 board in practice because I have a goal of 38 feet this year,” she says.
In that event at the state competition, Elmore placed third. She is looking to better all of her stats from her junior year under the direction of new Spencer track coach Janele Deloatch, who recently joined the Spencer faculty. Deloatch has been coaching track since 2007. Although she had never coached Elmore prior to the 2013 season, she knew the talented athlete was a plus for her program.
“As a veteran, we are looking for her to bring leadership and inspiration to the team,” says Deloatch.
Elmore comes into track season after experiencing a successful season with the Lady Greenwave basketball team. The small forward helped advance her team to the first round of the state playoffs for Region 5-AA. Elmore loves basketball and says that with each passing year, she has come to enjoy the game more than previous years.
“I started out playing basketball as something to do but, I don’t know, somehow it just became more important to me. I guess I really began to get the game, to understand how to play it, and now, I really love it,” says Elmore.
Her love of basketball and her natural skills in track and field have given Elmore hope she will be able to move from the high school level to becoming a collegiate athlete. She is still looking at colleges but when she makes a decision, she wants two things: to get a degree in psychology and to be a two-sport athlete.
The vision of being an athlete at the next level is one Elmore’s coach thinks is possible for the senior.
“Miara has the potential to do very well on the collegiate stage. College athletes must be multi-dimensional, and with Miara’s talent in sprinting and field events, she can add a lot to any college program,” Deloatch says.
Elmore says her favorite subject is math, sharing that being able to put formulas to work is something she enjoys. When it comes to her education plan, it would seem Elmore is using her analytical mind in the same way. She has a formula of utilizing athletics to achieve an education at the college level. Recognizing athletics might pave the way, Elmore is practical in knowing academics will carry her on a much longer road.
“The standards I set with grades and the classes I take will get me further. I am going to have many years to use academics to get my master’s and maybe even beyond. It’s what will keep me going for a better future,” she says.
Getting to know Miara
Family: Parents, Alfreda and Maurice; three siblings including twins, Deja and Maurice who attend Spencer
Pets: Two dogs, Milo and Missy
Favorite food: Fries
Best place to eat: Cheddar’s (Their broccoli cheese casserole may just be my favorite food.)
Music: All types
Athlete she admires: Kevin Durant
Favorite team (college or professional): Oklahoma City
Church she attends: Grace Awakening
Favorite movie: Tie between The Lucky One and The Notebook
Place she would like to visit: Hawaii
Ritual she practices: Separating myself from everyone while I stretch to get focused
Person(s) she most admires: My parents
Best thing about Spencer High School: There seems to be a better connection here with students. More like a family.
Columbus Valley/Academic Athlete/April 2014
Miara Edwards
Spencer High School
Columbus, GA
By Beth Welch
Photos by Jerry Christenson
Education is athlete’s ticket to future plans
