Kiski Area wrestler Darren Miller commits to Bucknell

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, September 10, 2018 | 8:06 PM

Darren Miller woke up Monday still not entirely sure where he would wrestle in college.

He ended the day with 100 percent certainty.

Miller, a Kiski Area senior, verbally committed Monday evening to wrestle for Bucknell, choosing the Bison’s program over his other finalist, George Mason.

“It feels great,” Miller said. “I can’t wait to get up there. As I started narrowing down, it was between two and still was till (Monday) when I committed. I love the coaches up there, but I felt like Bucknell was the place I was comfortable with and I could see it as my home for the next four years.”

Miller took his official visit to Bucknell over the weekend and felt pretty solid about the school after the trip, but he decided to take an extra night to sleep on it.

He won’t be tossing and turning about his decision.

“I think leaving there I made up my mind but had to make sure (Monday), Miller said. “Just the second-day feeling after leaving there, going through the pros and cons with each school. It’s just a great feeling to be committed there.

“Just the closeness of the team, how they accepted me right away, it was just great being up there. I got to see some of my old club friends and old school friends up there.”

Bucknell’s roster includes Miller’s former Kiski Area teammate, Noah Levett, along with other WPIAL alumni in Mitch and Zach Hartman (Belle Vernon) and Drew Phipps (Norwin). Belle Vernon senior Scott Joll also committed to the Bison recently.

A starter since his first days at Kiski Area, Miller has a 118-21 record in three seasons.

After wrestling at 106 pounds as a freshman and sophomore, Miller bumped up to 120 last season and went 35-9, winning his second consecutive Section 1-AAA championship. His best season was 2016-17, when he finished third in the WPIAL and PIAA individual tournaments.

Miller also helped Kiski Area win WPIAL Class AAA team championships in 2017 and 2018 and finish second in the state in 2018.

“I think Darren’s a hard worker,” Kiski Area coach Chris Heater said. “He puts in a lot of extra time. If something’s not quite where it needs to be, he works hard and tries to improve all the little pieces of his game plan. He’s not that vocal kind of a leader on the team, he’s just kind of a quiet leader. He leads by example of how hard he wrestles on the mat and practices in the room.”

Fellow Kiski Area senior Cam Connor committed to Penn over the summer, giving the Cavaliers a pair of Division I recruits.

Before leaving for college, Miller has a chance to break Kiski Area’s career wins record of 159, set last season by Levett.

“My goal is to be undefeated and go for a state championship,” Miller said.

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: Kiski School