Miles Higgins didn't originally plan to join track and field. While he played football and basketball in Ligonier Valley School District, he decided to join the middle school track and field team during the spring break as a way to pass the time between basketball and football seasons.
During middle school, Higgins was a quarterback, and his coach at the time suggested that his strong arm might be well-suited for the javelin.
This turned out to be true. Now a sophomore at UNC Wilmington, Higgins is becoming a prominent figure in the javelin event.
In his first season, he set the Seahawks' freshman javelin record at 211 feet, 6 inches in his first meet.1⁄ He later qualified for the NCAA regionals with a throw of 214-1.
In the current season, he set another record in the first meet, this time achieving the overall program mark of 220-8 (67.26 meters).
It's no surprise that Seahawks coach Jeff Klaves, who is also Higgins' event coach, is extremely enthusiastic when discussing the former Ram.
Klaves, in his fourth season as UNCW’s coach, expressed his excitement about Higgins' achievements, indicating that this is just the beginning of a promising future for the young athlete.
Higgins is on a path he never expected. He initially thought he would pursue a college football career as a quarterback. However, due to his size at the time (6-foot, 220 pounds), the coaching staff believed he would be more effective in another position.
Higgins jokingly mentioned that his experience as a quarterback was short-lived.
Nevertheless, his exceptional arm talent was not going to be wasted. As a freshman, he threw the javelin 150 feet primarily relying on his arm strength, which made him consider the javelin as his future.
It was during the early days of the covid pandemic in 2020 that he began to take javelin more seriously.
Even though he couldn't train in a team setting at the time, he stayed in touch with the Ligonier Valley track coaches to maintain his workout routine. He also studied footage from Olympics and Diamond League events to analyze how the top throwers achieved their distances.
He won consecutive WPIAL Class 2A titles in the javelin and attained fourth and second place in the PIAA meet during his junior and senior years, respectively.
Higgins, who is now 6-3, 250, realized that in college, he needed to focus more on his mobility to meet elite standards, understanding that the throw is 80% about body and 20% about arm.
Klaves emphasized the importance of building the throw from the ground up. In Higgins' case, they are also focusing on refining his body position to apply force effectively while preserving his exceptional arm talent.
When discussing technique with his javelin throwers, Klaves often uses metaphorical language. He compares the final stage of a throw to a car crash, where the athlete must swiftly stop after running, while ensuring that the arm is in the right position, possessing the necessary strength and flexibility to launch the javelin in sync with the 'car crash' movement.
For someone like Higgins, who has a strong arm, Klaves has been more focused on the technique. Athletes with talented arms, he said, often can go back to relying on it too much.
Higgins agreed.
“A big thing for me is being patient with the upper body but allowing myself to be quick and stable with the lower body,” he said. “I need to stay back and stretch with my chest and allow my legs to generate more power up through my body and bring it up through my arm.”
The Seahawks’ motto for this season is “No ceilings,” and Klaves is confident that applies to Higgins. Klaves is quick to issue a reminder that Higgins is still young in his development as a thrower.
The impressive numbers have shown themselves, and they promise to get larger. The challenge now, Klaves said, is to be able to produce those numbers consistently. Hitting the big throws in March is nice, the coach said, but hitting them in May and June is what produces medals.
Higgins’ throw of 220-8 ranks tied for 29th in the nation, so there remains a lot of work to do. But Klaves said he believes Higgins can be a trend setter for the Seahawks.
“As a program, we’ve been discussing, ‘Who is going to be that one to show us it’s possible?’” he said. “Miles has definitely done that. Now we want him to be one of many. … Now the conversation they’re having is, ‘Who is going to get to nationals? Who is going to be able to represent us?’
“Miles is a big turning point for that. … With him growing and progressing, it’s going to open some doors to more people having the amount of belief he does.”
Higgins said qualifying for the NCAA championships is an expectation rather than a goal. Last year, as a regional qualifier, he said his preparation and approach weren't mature enough to advance to the championships. That, he said, has changed.
And being a student of the event, he knows all the numbers it takes to qualify. Even the numbers it takes to make the Olympic trials.
Numbers, however, have taken a back seat to technique. The “how,” he said, will take care of the “how far.”
“It’s easy to focus on, hey I want to throw 70 meters, I want to throw 75,” he said. “But we’ve been trying to change the mindset to, what do I need to do to throw that far. It’s more of a position-based approach. If I’m hitting these positions with my body, the numbers are going to come eventually.
“I feel like there’s no reason I shouldn’t be (at NCAAs) if I put myself in the right positions. I’m just trying to carry that confidence. Not cocky, just confident in myself and my ability.”
