Sleep had barely touched Nehemiah Mills the night before the biggest race of his life: his mind too wired, his body too tense. When he finally rolled out of bed, it wasn’t with excitement; it was with pain. His stomach twisted with queasiness, and he couldn’t tell if it was nerves or something worse. His legs were sore from the previous day’s preliminary events, and he simply felt “off.” For the Beechcroft High School rising junior, the morning of the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) Division I State Track and Field Championships began in a fog of restlessness.
