Hearing-impaired Florida track star shatters high school records and receives scholarship to university

ORLANDO, Fla. - A Central Florida high school track star is going off to college to compete on an even larger scale. What makes her accomplishments and talent even more impressive is that she is hearing-impaired.

She told FOX35’s Amanda McKenzie that deaf athletes can do whatever the hearing can do.

Making that leap over a hurdle takes timing, strength, accuracy and consistency. Nyrania Barr-Miller has all of that.

"I feel amazing. I’ve worked hard for this and I’m ready to go to state and win this," Barr-Miller said with the help of her sign language interpreter.

Barr-Miller won’t hear the starter alerting runners to get set.

"I run the same as the hearing people," Barr-Miller said.

She said she lost most of her hearing at the age of two. "I get field commands," she said. 

"On your mark, get set, and then I look down and I can hear the gun. That’s how I sprint out of the block - is on the report of the gun."

While competing and training in track and field at University High School, she shattered some school records for the 100, 200, 400 and 400 hurdles.

She’s just really fast," said track and field coach Lisa Eggert.

Eggert said she remembers watching her run in middle school and coached her all four years at University High.

She said she’s proud of Barr-Miller’s growth and her most recent school award for self-control.

"We were at a meeting and it happens where in a hurdle race – a false start – so gun goes off – she doesn’t hear the recall gun, which calls everyone back," Eggert said. 

"She runs through 8-9 hurdles. They finally get her stopped because they didn’t want to jump out because they didn’t want to startle and injure her. 

She stopped. She walks back. They give her a few minutes to recover. So she’s gotta redo the race again. Second gun goes off – it happened again. 

So she goes five hurdles this time. She finished second. Couldn’t quite get there in time.

She could have thrown a fuss about it, but she didn’t. Every time she got back in those blocks and did her best every time."

Barr-Miller said she was first inspired to pursue track and field after watching her older brother run track.

Now she is off to Saint Thomas University of a track scholarship.

"I’m very excited and I’m ready," Barr-Miller said. "Now I just want to watch and see what she does," Eggert said. "She’s gonna do big things."

"Barr-Miller said one day she would like to become a coach."I’m not an inspiration," Barr-Miller said. "I inspire myself."