Senior triumphs following tragedy

Eme Miller made herself a solid favorite in the 200-yard freestyle at the Jan. 26 preliminary round of the sectional tournament.
She dominated the field in the finals, improving upon that time to win the sectional championship in the race by more than two seconds.
When she climbed out of the pool, a state berth secured, her brother, Sam, and sister, Aly, were there to greet her. Her mom, Michele, was next in line for a hug.
The whole family was there to celebrate.
Almost.
••••••••••••
A swimmer for most of her life as part of the Jay County summer and winter programs as well as in school, Eme had never competed at the Indiana University Natatorium.
In most years, it was her age that betrayed her. Because of where her birthday falls in relationship to the tournament series for USA swimming, she would qualify for state but then bump up to the next age group and be unable to make it.
Once she qualified and broke her arm. Another time she thought she had made it, only to be disqualified.
As a junior in high school last season, her opportunities were fading away. So even though she wasn’t feeling quite right at the 2011 sectional, she didn’t back down.
“I was feeling like I had a little head cold, but I was like, ‘This is sectional, I’m going to go out there and do good,’” Eme said. “After the 200 free I was fine. Then the 500 came and … I felt awful. I couldn’t get out of the pool.”
But not only did she get out of the pool, she dived back in as well, joining teammates Mary Hudson, Caitlin Mark and Charlotte Becot in winning the 200 freestyle relay to earn a berth in the state finals.
The chance to swim at the natatorium would have been a dream come true for Eme. But reality intervened.
Her illness got worse. She missed a day of school. On the day she and her teammates were interviewed for Jay Today, Jay County High School’s televised announcements, she could barely stand.
She kept telling her coaches, her teammates and her family that she was fine. She wasn’t.
When she finally went to the doctor, she was diagnosed with pneumonia.
By the time the day of the state finals rolled around, the illness had put her in the hospital.
“She wasn’t happy with me,” said JCHS coach Matt Slavik. “She wasn’t happy with her mom. She wasn’t happy with the doctors. She wasn’t happy with anything because she thought she had lost her chance.”
“I was mad at the world,” Eme added.
About a month-and-a-half later, the world dealt her another blow.
It was the day Eme and her teammates were going to have their portrait taken to be put on the pool wall alongside all of the other state qualifiers in Patriot history.
She was just getting back into the swing of going to school following her illness.
Eme said she remembers being in Florine Golden’s “Family Relationships” class and talking about funerals. The class was even looking at caskets.
She thought to herself that these were things she had never had to deal with.
Then Eme received the news. Her father, Dave, had been killed in a plane crash in southeastern Kentucky.
Dave, who owned and operated Miller Aviation and was the long-time manager at Portland Municipal Airport, had been flying passenger David Cowherd from a regional airport near Dayton to the Pikeville/Pike County Regional Airport in Kentucky.
His plane crashed as he tried to make a landing in heavy fog.
It’s hard for Eme to describe what that day was like, and how a teenage girl recovers from losing her father. But she knows swimming helps.
“I love swimming because I get my anger out,” Eme said. “And I love doing it.
“Swimming really helps me a lot. I can just go out there and do what I want to do and have fun with it.
“Just being around the pool, that’s my happy place.”
It would be understandable if she didn’t have a happy place at all, if Dave’s death had made her permanently angry at the world. That is not the case.
“I think by just looking at how she’s lived and how she’s looked at things has been an inspiration to the girls,” said Slavik. “When everybody is grumpy and unhappy, Eme’s out there working.
“It’s been a pleasure to be with Eme. She’s got such a great personality. To see something like this happen is inspiring. She’s had a lot of tough breaks … Life’s thrown her a few curve balls, as it relates to her swimming career and her life. And to see that and to see her push through and to see her tenacity through all of this, it just shows a lot about her character. … It shows you that good things eventually come to good people.”
Eme has accomplished plenty athletically since her father’s death.
Less than two months after the crash, she helped the JCHS girls track team win its second straight sectional title. In the fall, she was one of the top runners for the girls cross country team on the way to its sixth straight sectional crown.
She teamed with Katy Smeltzer, Mark and Hudson to break the school record in the 400 freestyle relay. And now she’ll be swimming at the state finals.
She said she’s been able to learn something from the tragic crash.
“I know that life is so short,” Eme said. “Don’t wait. Just do it.”
While flying was one of Dave’s passions, supporting his children through their athletic endeavors was unquestionably another.
Sam was a stand-out swimmer for the Patriots. He holds school records in the 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle and 200 individual medley and was a state qualifier in the 200 freestyle during his senior season.
Aly was a top-notch long distance runner for the JCHS girls track and cross country programs. She won the cross country sectional title twice.
And Eme is now a two-time state qualifier.
“He was really into it,” said Eme. “He was always there, timing and stuff. I feel like I’m doing it for him and myself, because I know he really liked it. I feel like I’m not just making myself happy, but making him happy too.”
Dave knew how much making the swimming state finals meant to his youngest child. She said she always complained to him when things didn’t go right or she fell just short.
He often told her, “Just go do it.”
Now, she has.
“Just being able to say I did it, it makes me feel better inside,” Eme said. “I know that he’s happy for me. It’s his dream as much as mine.”[[In-content Ad]]