Stone Miller was, as his name implies, a sound sleeper from birth.
Younger sister Sage Miller, well, she tended to sleep early. Parents who have early-to-bed babies can imagine what comes next.
“She was very different from Stone as a baby. She didn’t sleep that much,” said their mother, Jamie. “Stone was a very good baby. He slept through the night pretty early. She did not sleep. I would have to wake up every two to three hours. I had to put her in the swing a lot. She liked to move a lot.”
Joe Miller laughs now, but trying to get a rare extra hour or two of deep sleep was basically impossible back then.
“She was a very early riser. We’d be sleeping at 5 a.m. on a Saturday and she’d be standing on our bed staring at us,” Joe Miller recalled. “‘Let’s go ride bicycle!’”
Sage’s less-sleep-and-more-play nature didn’t impede her transformation into an elite high school swimmer.
Now an ‘Iolani senior, Sage Miller earned three more gold medals and one silver at her final state championships on Saturday. Her resume speaks volumes. The first gold was in the 200 IM (2:02.81), followed by gold in the 100 butterfly (54.13) and the 200 freestyle relay with freshman Robyn Shin, sophomore Kendra-Ray Nishikawa and sophomore Olivia Wong (1:36.85).
The silver medal was with the 200 medley relay team.
>> Freshman year: Gold in the 50-yard freestyle (23.51), bronze with the Raiders’ 200 medley relay team, fourth with the 200 freestyle relay, fifth with the 400 freestyle relay.
>> Sophomore year: Silver in the 50 freestyle (23.45), silver in 100 butterfly (55.01), bronze in the 200 medley relay, fifth in the 200 freestyle relay.
>> Junior year: Gold in the 50 freestyle (23.46), gold in the 100 butterfly (55.71), gold in the 200 medley relay and silver in the 200 freestyle relay.
The nationally accomplished swimmer with a total of seven HHSAA gold medals and four silver medals in HHSAA competition was always early.
She was one month early, to be exact.
“She was very small. Six pounds. Tiny, tiny,” Jamie Miller said. “She was really active. Everything, she did early. Sat up. Crawling at five months. Started walking around nine months. Just running all over the place.”
“She always got into things. She would climb counters, jump off tables. She got a black eye because she was rocking on a rocking chair and fell off at seven months.”
The Millers had a pool at the house. Stone, Sage and, later, Skye were all water babies.
“She was in the pool very young,” said Joe Miller. “Sage wanted very much to be with Stone and what he did right away. She was like a mermaid.”
Club swimming was next, along with gymnastics and ballet. A little dabbling with golf and soccer. Whatever the sport, the Millers noticed something different with Sage.
“She was driven. When she was 6, she could do 20 pull-ups,” Joe Miller said. “Her competitive spirit was always there. She always wanted to win. I don’t think that there was a switch that turned on all of a sudden. It was always there.”
Sage Miller remembers those pull-ups.
“My mom did CrossFit when I was young, so my sister and I and a lot of kids would hang out there and play on the bars. I would do pull-ups for fun,” she said. “I don’t know if I can do 20 now, but maybe like 15.”
Ivan Batsanov remembers the Miller kids well. Long before he became coach at ‘Iolani.
“At 6, 7 it was literally my first couple hours here. I noticed she was a little feisty one. I didn’t know the kids. I wasn’t even coaching back then,” he recalled.
The quest for victory wasn’t all-consuming. At that age, Miller’s club swim practices were just twice a week.
“Even when she was 8, she would go hard against the 10-year-olds. She wasn’t winning when she was little,” he said. “I don’t think she won until she was 11. It was a friendship thing where she met a lot of her best friends. Swim and play together. Hang out.”
Gymnastics was quite a natural fit then.
“She was really good at it,” Jamie Miller said. “She was supposed to start on the team at 8 years old, but she couldn’t put in the time.”
Swimming was and still is in her blood. Three years later, Sage was 11 and the Millers were deep in the routine of national competition. In Federal Way, Wash., Sage showed up to a regional meet.
“She was seeded last out of 50 girls,” Jamie recalled. “This was her first national-regional meet, so we didn’t know how she would do.”
Sage Miller’s stronger events included the butterfly and freestyle, but surprise, surprise, she ranked sixth out of the top eight to qualify for the breaststroke final.
“I went with my brother. I medaled in the 50 fly. In the 50 free, I was seeded to medal because I false-started. I got really sad about that,” she said.
Then, in the blink of an eye, Sage Miller, the last seed, was the 50 breaststroke champion.
“I don’t really remember that much. I just remember being really, really happy. Breaststroke isn’t my stroke at all. I would say it’s my worst stroke of the four, but since I was a sprinter, I was surprised that I won,” she said.
The medals. Oh, so many, by the hundreds. They sit in Miller’s closet. There is no measure of the hundreds of thousands of laps in the pool, but what may be most interesting about her approach to competitive swimming is this: Sage Miller was not an early-morning practice swimmer until the past eight months.
Another notable fact: Joe and Jamie Miller got their kids involved with weight training early on. Sage was not a fan.
“We supplemented in weightlifting when she was about 12 or 13 with John Nakasone at Aloha Personal Training. That was different from most kids. With the Olympic training methodology, she was working on the large muscles for explosiveness,” Joe Miller said. “That was a major differentiator for her. That’s why she has a great start off the block.”
Squats, deadlifts, power cleans, box jumps, chin-ups. Dad, mom and the kids were all pounding iron.
“I didn’t realize it was helping me until two years ago. No one else would do weightlifting except for me,” Sage Miller said. “I was always, ‘Why do I need to do this?’ I gave my parents a hard time about it sometimes.”
Following brother Stone’s footsteps has come to a pause. A multi-gold medalist while at ‘Iolani, Stone is swimming for NYU. With a 3.9 grade-point average and opportunities at Auburn, Princeton, UCLA and USC, Sage Miller chose USC. Up close, she got to see precisely how crucial weight training is for the Trojans.
“Now, I’m grateful. It’s important. At USC, for mid-distance, they lift five times a week. They’re in the gym a lot. It’s not all lifting, but it’s lifts or other power, dry-land kind of things,” she said. “I’m glad I started it younger. I know a lot of people that aren’t into it, and they get hurt in college. It’s a really big change. It’ll be a big jump for me. I lift one to two times a week, throughout the year.”
Last summer, Miller was at the Futures Championships in Sacramento, Calif. She qualified for a national-level final for the first time.
“I swam all these different events and was in the 200 fly finals. I was seeded fifth or sixth and finished second. I dropped three seconds,” she said. “I was really nervous for my race and did really well. When I took every breath for my stroke going down, I could hear all my teammates.”
The years have dwindled into months, and soon it’ll be weeks before Sage Miller boards that plane to Southern California. Life will be different and Miller’s choice didn’t entirely depend on the financial package.
“At first, UCLA was going to give me more money than USC, but I wanted to choose USC. My recruiting trip there was a lot of fun and it set the expectations high for the other trips. The team was fun and really welcoming, and the coaches were nice. They have a really good team culture,” she said. “They have a mix of boys and girls. At UCLA, it’s only girls. At Princeton, they don’t practice with the guys.”
Miller was accepted into USC’s Marshall School of Business. Dedication doesn’t change in or out of the water.
“A lot of people have talent, but you have to put in hard work if you want to be good. I feel like since I was younger, swimming wasn’t one of my biggest priorities, but when I was 12, 13, seeing what I’m capable of, I put a lot of work into it.”
The effort goes both ways.
“I’m just really grateful to have both my parents be so supportive of me. They sacrificed for me to be where I am. It didn’t just come from myself,” she said. “They sacrificed a lot of time to drive me to practices and meets, especially these past few years. Traveling to a lot of higher-level meets, the college recruiting trips.”
Batsanov has witnessed the competitive process for hundreds of swimmers, champions and contenders alike.
“Her biggest strength besides her very hard work and being very focused, she channels her adrenaline and energy very well. She puts it together really well. A lot of people are overthinking. She’s very confident. If she got any doubts, she channels that into confidence,” he said. “She’s a funny kid. She’s very outgoing. Lively. You always notice her presence though she’s not always the most vocal one. Sage is a kind person, a great human being. She’s one of the best athletes in the nation, but she is a great person and kind soul.”
Jamie Miller has begun to dread the inevitable.
“The thing with Sage, as a mom… I’m going to start crying. She’s just a great kid, so loving. Sweet. I’ll miss her when she’s gone,” Jamie Miller said. “She gives the best hugs.”
Sage Miller
‘Iolani swimming • Senior
Top 3 movies/shows
1. “Gossip Girl”
2. “Gilmore Girls”
3. “Mamma Mia!”
“I’ve watched ‘Mamma Mia!’ three times. I watched it with my friend when I was young.”
Top 3 foods/drinks
1. Matcha (Daily Whisk, Kaimuki)
2. Acai bowl (Banan, Kaimuki)
3. Taco Bell (Baja Blast Freeze, grilled cheese burrito)
Top 3 homemade food:
1. Mom’s steak
2. Mom’s baked cauliflower
3. Mom’s pesto pasta
“I can make all of them, but I only usually make breakfast.”
Top 3 music artists/favorite song:
1. SZA — “All the Stars” (with Kendrick Lamar)
2. Rihanna — “Love on the Brain”
3. Fisher — “Waiting for Tonight” (with Jennifer Lopez)
Favorite athlete: Regan Smith
“She has the American record in the 200 butterfly. I strive to be as fast as her.”
Smartest teammate: Sophia Owen
“Sophia has always been one of my smartest friends and always gives me good advice about school and life in general when I need it.”
GPA: 3.9 as of spring 2024.
“I had a 4.6 in fall semester.”
Favorite teacher: Ms. (Michelle) Hill
“She teaches me Literature of the Ocean and has been my homeroom teacher since sophomore year. Every morning she comes to school with a smile on her face. She radiates positivity and has the sweetest soul.”
I’m two weeks into the class. The first thing we did was learn about Maui legends. We did little skits and played games. It’s fun. We learned a few different ones from New Zealand and Tahiti.”
Favorite class: AP Psychology
“I love learning new things, and most of the things taught in psych is new to me and very interesting. My teacher, Ms. (Ernette) Au, makes the class really fun.”
Favorite motto/scripture:
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:9
“To me it means to not give up. God has a path for us and always stay strong.”
Hidden talent: I can do really long handstands.
“Maybe not minutes, but maybe one minute. Or 30 seconds, 45 seconds.”
Bucket list: “Going to Ibiza with my friends. We want to do a senior trip on a cruise, a Mediterranean one.”
Time machine: I would travel to Greece in the 1990s, the time that ‘Mamma Mia!’ takes place.
Youth sports: Gymnastics
If you could go back in time, what would you tell your younger self? “I would tell my younger self to do what makes me happy and not care about what others think.”
Shoutouts: “Shout out to my mom and dad for all that they do for me and for the constant love and support. Coach Ivan for pushing me to my highest capabilities. My sister Skye for inspiring me to always be the best version of myself, and my best friends for the most fun times!”
