Miller seasoned by trials

At first, placing 76th of 84 swimmers sounded thoroughly unimpressive to Cody Miller. He is more accustomed to success than that.

Then Miller came to his senses. He was competing at the U.S. Olympic Trials at Omaha, Neb., swimming in the same event as Michael Phelps and -- oh, yeah -- he was all of 16 years old.

"It really hit me after," Miller said. "I was like, 'Oh, damn, I just did something not many people have ever done.' ''

Miller, now a junior at Palo Verde, knew he had no chance to make the Phelps-led U.S. team that would travel to the Beijing Games. His trials time of 2 minutes, 8.43 seconds in the 200-meter individual medley was more than 13 seconds behind the world record set by Phelps in the final.

For Miller, the trials were more about soaking in the experience, with an eye toward the 2012 Olympics. He competed against some of the world's top swimmers in front of more than 13,000 people at the Qwest Center.

"I've swam against Olympians before, but never at a meet of that kind of magnitude," Miller said. "No one thought I would make it. I believed I could do it, and I kept pushing myself. Hard work pays off."

Qualifying for the trials was the highlight of Miller's year, but he also placed sixth in the 200 breaststroke at the U.S. Senior National Championships in December. A week later, his powerful kick helped him set two 15-16-year-old national age-group records at the Short Course Junior National Championships in Austin, Texas.

Miller's winning time of 54.38 seconds in the 100 breaststroke broke the record of 54.70 set in 1999 by two-time Olympian and former world-record holder Brendan Hansen. In the 200 breaststroke, Miller won in 1:56.46 to smash Paul Kornfeld's record of 1:58.14 from 2004. Kornfeld went on to Stanford and is the defending NCAA champion in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke.

"I was shooting for the time area, but I wasn't necessarily shooting for the records," said Miller, who turned 17 in January. "Those are two major, major records."

Miller's feats have not been lost on his teammates, either, many of whom compete on the same club team.

"We're all working and dedicated the same as he is," Palo Verde junior Gianni Sesto said. "For him to make it to the level he did makes me think if I work as hard as him, maybe I will get there some day.

"It's not often you see a 16-year-old go to the Olympic trials. It definitely caught my eye."

With Miller part of a loaded roster, Palo Verde is a clear favorite to repeat as state champion. Miller won the 100 breaststroke and 200 IM at state last year. Junior Jay Sirat won the 100 freestyle and was second in the 50 freestyle, and senior Jake Priest (fourth in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly) and Sesto (second in the 500 freestyle, third in the 200 freestyle) also return.

In addition, the Panthers have state qualifiers back in junior Robbie Hill (sixth in the 50 freestyle) and junior Andrew Chin (seventh in the 100 backstroke).

Palo Verde won two of three relays at state last year and returns all but one member of those foursomes.