Jill Miller, who specializes in coaching cross country and distance runners, enters her fifth season on the University of Wisconsin track and field coaching staff in 2018-19.
Miller was named the UW head women's cross country coach in the fall of 2018 after she has led UW to three top-15 finishes at the NCAA cross country championships.
During the 2017-18 season, Miller and the women's cross country team made their second-straight NCAA championship appearance and finished in the top ten for the first time since 2014. The Badgers finished third in the Big Ten thanks to an eighth-place finish from senior Sarah Disanza. Disanza once again led the team to a 10th place finish at the NCAA meet, earning her fourth All-America honor with a 39th-place finish.
On the track, sophomore Alicia Monson earned an 18th-place finish in the 5000 meters at the NCAA outdoor meet while both Monson and Amy Davis collected second-team All-America honors in the 5000 meters at the NCAA indoor meet.
Due to the women's program's joint success during the cross country, indoor track and outdoor track seasons, Wisconsin finished eighth in the USTFCCCA Program of the Year standings, the highest ranked Big Ten team.
In her third season in Madison, Miller led the UW women's cross country team to a 14th-place finish at the NCAA championships while defeating a pair of then top-10 teams in the process. The Badgers also took third at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional thanks to a quartet of USTFCCCA All-Region performers in Alicia Monson, Sarah Disanza, Amy Davis and Michele Lee. Monson went on to finish third at at the 2017 USATF Junior Cross Country Championships to qualify for the 2017 IAAF World Junior Cross Country Championships.
Davis, Disanza and Monson all shined during the track season as the trio all scored in the 5000 meters at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships with Disanza leading the group with a third-place showing. Disanza went on to finish seventh in the event at the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships, earning first-team All-America honors thanks to an outdoor PR of 15:48.51 that ranks fifth in school history. Davis and Monson also ran top-10 times in school history in the 5000 meters.
During her second year at UW, Miller coached the 2015 Big Ten Women's Cross Country Freshman of the Year Shaelyn Sorensen and had three athletes score in the 10,000 meters at the 2016 Big Ten Outdoor Championships. In addition, Gabi Anzalone and Michele Lee advanced to the NCAA West Preliminary Round in the 10,000 meters while freshman Amy Davis qualified for the 2016 USA Junior Championships in the 5000 meters.
Miller's impact was felt during her first season at Wisconsin, as the women's program collected numerous accolades on the track and course, including the team's best-ever USTFCCCA Program of the Year finish as the Badgers claimed fifth in the comprehensive rankings.
| The Miller File |
| Name: Jilll Milller |
| Alma Mater: Wake Forest, 2005 |
| Coaching Experience |
| University of Wisconsin |
| • Assistant Coach, Cross Country and Track & Field, 2014-Present |
| William & Mary |
| • Head Coach, Women's Cross Country, 2012-14 |
| • Assistant Coach, Women's Track & Field, 2011-14 |
| • Assistant Coach, Women's Cross Country, 2011-12 |
| Brown University |
| • Head Coach, Women's Cross Country, 2010-11 |
| • Assistant Coach, Track & Field, 2008-11 |
 |
| Elite Athletes |
| • Elaina Balouris - Six-time All-American, four-time CAA Athlete of the Year |
| • Sarah Disanza - Four-time All-American, Big Ten indoor 5000 meters record-holder, 2014 NCAA runner-up in cross country |
| • Emily Stites - Four-time All-American, 2013 Southeast Region Athlete of the Year |
On the cross country course, the Badgers finished second at the 2014 Big Ten Cross Country Championships thanks to a runner-up finish by Sarah Disanza. Wisconsin finished second at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional before finishing 10th at the NCAA championship, the program's best finish since 2006. Disanza finished runner-up, UW's best individual finish at the NCAA meet since 1999, to claim All-America honors. The Wisconsin men also enjoyed a successful cross country season, winning the Big Ten team title thanks to a 1-2 finish by Malachy Schrobilgen and Michael Van Voorhis and the men's squad placed 10th at the NCAA meet thanks to a 10th-place showing by Schrobilgen.
Disanza continued her success from the course to the track, as she broke the Big Ten record in the indoor 5000 meters with a time of15:20.57, the fifth-fastest time ever by a collegian. Disanza finished third in the 5000 meters at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships to claim first-team All-America honors. During the outdoor season, Gabi Anzalone was third in the 10,000 meters at the Big Ten meet and Molly Hanson claimed second-team All-America honors in the 1500 meters for a second-straight year.
Miller came to Wisconsin after spending three years at William and Mary, with her final two seasons as the head women's cross country coach. Miller also served as an assistant women's track coach and was the Tribe's recruiting coordinator.
A two-time Colonial Athletic Association Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year, Miller led the Tribe to a 12th-place showing at the 2013 NCAA Cross Country Championship and 13th-place finish in the Terry Crawford Program of the Year Standings. It marked the first time in program history that William and Mary scored at all three national championships. The team accomplishments also included a perfect score of 15 points at the CAA Cross Country Championship, and a runner-up finish at the CAA Track and Outdoor Championships in May.
Miller was instrumental in the development of Elaina Balouris, a six-time All-American. During the 2013-14 season, Balouris was 11th at the NCAA cross country championships, and finished 14th in the 5000 meters in her first-ever indoor championships. At the NCAA outdoor meet, she wrapped up her career with a lifetime-best fifth-place finish in the 10,000 meters. Balouris swept the CAA Athlete of the Year awards in both cross country and track and field, becoming just the ninth athlete in conference history from any sport to win four CAA Athlete of the Year honors.
During the 2012-13 season, Balouris was named the CAA Athlete of the Year in both cross country and track and field, and was named All-America in both the fall and the spring. The individual champion at the CAA cross country meet, she broke the W&M course record with her championship run, and went on to place 13th at the NCAA meet. After earning All-East honors indoors once again, Balouris set school records in both the 5000 meters and 10,000 meters outdoors, and finished second at the CAA meet in the 1500 meters and 5000 meters before placing 10th in the 10,000 meters at the NCAA outdoor championships.
Emily Stites also enjoyed a successful career under Miller, earning a pair of All-America honors in 2014 with a sixth-place showing in the 5000 meters at the NCAA indoor meet and a 10th-place finish in the 10,000 at the NCAA outdoor meet. During the 2013 cross country season, Stites won the Southeast Regional championship with a course-record time, and was named the Southeast Region Athlete of the Year, both program firsts.
Stites enjoyed a breakout freshman campaign in 2012-13, as she finished 26th at the NCAA cross country championship and was named CAA Rookie of the Year. She continued her dominance in cross country by leading Team USA at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country Challenge, and then won the USA Junior Championships in February. That win earned her a spot at the World Cross Country Championships in Poland, where she was voted the captain of the U.S. junior women's team. Outdoors, she won the CAA title at 10,000 meters and finished 10th in the 5000 meters at the NCAA championships before winning her second U.S. junior title by over 45 seconds in the 5000.
Stites and Balouris weren't the only two W&M runners to have success under Miller. At the 2014 CAA Outdoor Championships, Meghan McGovern ran a conference-record time to win the 5000, with the Tribe also taking the 10,000 meters and having two scorers in the 3000 steeplechase despite every runner trying the event for the first time. Indoors, Dylan Hassett pulled off the difficult double of earning All-East honors in both the 3000 and the 5000 meters on back-to-back nights
Miller's first season as the head of the women's program was a smashing success, as the Tribe won both the cross country and track and field CAA titles and advanced to the NCAA cross country championship for the first time since 2005.
Prior to joining the Tribe, Miller spent three years at Brown University, including serving as the head women's cross country coach during the 2010-11 school year. During her time with the Bears, Miller coached three NCAA outdoor qualifiers in both 2010 and 2011, and led athletes to three school records and 23 all-time top-10 performances.
Miller graduated cum laude from Wake Forest in 2005 with dual degrees in psychology and political science. While a student, she helped Wake qualify to four consecutive NCAA cross country championships, and the school's first ACC title in 2002. On the track, she was runner-up at 3000 meters at the 2002 USA Junior Championships, and finished 10th in the 5000 meters at the 2003 NCAA Indoor Championships to earn All-America honors.
