School: Council Rock North
Cross Country, Swimming
Favorite athlete: Rafael Nadal
Favorite team: I don’t really follow sports (other than tennis), but I suppose if I had to pick one, it would be the Phillies.
Favorite memory competing in sports: When districts last year came down to the last relay (we were tied going in), and we won…our whole team was jumping up and down. It was so unexpected but very exciting.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Well, one of my cross country friends was infamous for tripping during races. There was one meet where she completely landed on her face during our warm-up and then again at the beginning of the race. More recently (last week), however, our swimming team was at Plymouth Whitemarsh – a pool that my teammate and friend claims hates her. She got DQ’d two years ago for a goggles incident (it was ridiculous; lesson: do not dip your goggles in the water without asking an official first), and then this year she was trying to get out of the water, started slipping, and was unable to regain her balance without help. We love her; she always makes us laugh.
Music on iPod: Mostly Classic Rock, some alternative; however, I most recently have become interested in Country music, which is currently my music of choice.
Future plans: Go to college, do well, become successful, fall in love, start a family. I can’t see myself not having kids. I don’t expect much out of life (because everything can change in one moment), but I hope to accomplish all that I dream.
Words to live by: As much as I dislike Polonius’ character in Hamlet, I still like the quote: ‘This above all: To your own self, be true.’ I may not always please others, but I always make sure that I have not become someone that I would be ashamed of being.
One goal before turning 30: Live the life I want to be living – not someone else’s dreams.
One thing people don’t know about me: As uninterested as I may seem in other people’s problems, I can’t help but try to find a solution – even if I never do.
By Alex Frazier
Bizzy is certainly an apt name for Council Rock North’s Elizabeth Millen.
Millen figures she spends about 21 hours a week just swimming. She splits her time between practicing with the Indians and with her Spirit Swimming club team.
Council Rock North coach Ted Schueller offers nine practices a week, five of which are mandatory. The rest can be completed at her club. Both teams have morning practices as well as afternoon/evening practices.
With meets thrown in, it’s sometimes difficult to know where she’s going next. If she has a lot of homework, she may opt to go to high school practice, which only lasts an hour and a half. If her schedule is lighter, she’ll go to her three-hour club training.
“It’s really confusing,” said Millen. “Nobody really understands it.”
But all that time in the water has paid dividends.
When Schueller needs strength in an event, he turns to Millen.
Her versatility has been an asset to the team and one of several reasons why the Indians won the district title last year.
“She’s swum anywhere and everywhere in the lineup for the past three-plus years,” said Schueller. “Every year I always (need) certain strokes or events and (I’ll say) ‘Bizzy, I need you to do this.’ She just does it.”
“Wherever my coach needs me, I swim and try to do my best,” said Millen.
Schueller said that swimming for her club team has helped make her a better overall swimmer.
“When they train at Spirit, they train everything,” he said. “They train IM, they train distance, they train sprint. That’s what helps them develop into a well-rounded, versatile kid. It’s even more attractive to colleges.”
Millen’s two favorite events are the 50 freestyle (“It’s short and sweet and it’s over with quickly”) and the 500 freestyle (“It’s my comfort zone after competing in it so many times for so many years.”)
Last year Millen qualified for districts in every event, except her least favorite, the breaststroke. Mainly, though, Schueller used her in the 100 butterfly and the 200 individual medley.
At districts, however, she swam the two freestyle relays as well as the 100 butterfly and 500 freestyle and qualified for states in all four.
At states, she placed seventh in the 500. Both her relays, the 200 and 400 freestyles, which also hold school records, finished fifth and also made NISCA High School All-American
Her time in the 500 broke her best friend Madison Meyer’s school record by half a second.
“It’s a touchy subject,” said Millen. “She usually beats me, so it was a surprise. I know this year she’ll come back and show me a good race.”
The two will have another showdown at districts this year if not before. Meyers won districts last year with Millen placing fourth.
“She’s a great sport and I know she’s better than I am,” said Millen.
This year Millen is focusing primarily on freestyle events, though she still wants to make district-qualifying times in all events, including the breaststroke.
So far, she has won every event she has swum in and turned in some impressive times. In the 50 freestyle, she’s clocked 24.64, in the 100 free she turned in a 53.78 and in the 500 free she touched in 5:14.97.
She also competes on the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. The 200 has gone 1:38.22 and the 400 has clocked a 3:39.92, both some of the fastest times in both the area and the state.
While Millen has focused on swimming basically since joining Spirit when she was 11, she has also played soccer, softball and lacrosse, which she tried as a freshman.
This year, she decided to run cross country in the fall. Part of her motivation was that she was the worst runner on her Spirit team.
“I was determined not to be so terrible,” she said. “I improved. I was not the worst runner on the team. I don’t think I would have been able to stick with it if I had been. I went in with my friend. That’s what kept me going. I like running.”
Besides being an elite swimmer, Millen is also an exceptional student, ranked in the top 10 percent of her clasa at Council Rock North. She is a member of the National Honor Society and the Science Honor Society and was past president of the Latin honor Society.
Millen has also volunteered her time in the community. For the past three or four summers she has been a candy striper at St. Mary’s Medical Center.
“It definitely gave me a new perspective,” she said. “I thought I wanted to be a doctor. It’s not like it changed my decision, but I liked being around the patients and helping them out.”
Next year Millen will attend the prestigious University of Chicago. For a while Emory was her first choice, but that all changed when she visited Chicago.
“When I went there, I loved the overall feel,” she said. “I loved the team. I loved the opportunities it promised to provide.”
She’s undecided at this point about a major, but is considering economics.
Although she plans to swim, it won’t be the focus of her attention.
“I’m there to focus on academics,” she said. “Swimming’s a second priority. Although I want to improve, it’s college. I’m not there to swim.”
Before she heads out to Chicago at the end of the summer, she will be plenty busy completing her high school academic requirements, competing in leagues, districts and states in swimming and finishing up her US Swimming meets.
