Orange City track star’s message: “Deaf can do whatever hearing can do”

Nyrania Barr-Miller, a class of 2024 student at University High School in Orange City, excels in track-and-field events. Barr-Miller’s athletic accomplishments are made even more remarkable in relation to the fact that she is hearing-impaired. 

“Sometimes I have a hard time hearing the starting gun, but once I start running — that doesn’t matter,” Barr-Miller said. 

Lisa Eggert, University High School’s track-and-field coach, has served as Barr-Miller’s event coach for the past four years. Eggert described some of the differences that Barr-Miller may experience in a track-and-field event, as well as the growth she has witnessed in Barr-Miller over the past four years.  

“In the sport of track and field, [being hearing-impaired] does not classify [a student] for adaptive or Special Olympics. [Nyrania] races with everybody else. The only thing — when it comes to hearing — is that she can’t hear her competitors, and she has a little bit of a difficult time hearing the starting commands that get the races going,” said Eggert. “Besides that, the girl is amazing. She is fast and talented.” 

Most recently reported in Tony Tussing’s April 18 edition of Beacon “Class Notes,” Barr-Miller earned the first-place position in the 100 high hurdles, and second in the 200 and 400 at the Five Star Conference track-and-field championships that took place at Flagler Palm Coast High School on April 4. 

Make a quick search of Beacon archives and you will find multiple references to Barr-Miller’s accomplishments over her high-school career in track-and-field events.

Barr-Miller said she was first inspired to pursue track and field in middle school, after watching her big brother run. Barr-Miller said athletics have taught her about self-control and the value of hard work.  

At events, Barr-Miller has teamed with her interpreter, Tani Jenkins, for the past four years in order to receive starting information.

“The starter says something, and then the interpreter can [relay] exactly what the starter says,” said Eggert. “[Nyrania] cannot hear the starter say, ‘On your mark.’ She waits for the interpreter to give her the signal for ‘on the mark’; same with ‘set,’” said Eggert.

“And then the gun — sometimes she can hear it. More often than not, she’s kind of learned how to listen for it. It doesn’t sound anything like what we would hear, but it’s enough to where she can react to the signal of the gun. There have been some changes in technology with her hearing aids that have made that possible… but she’s definitely learned her own way of adapting in that part of the process,” said Eggert.

“[Nyrania] knows she’s at a slight disadvantage, and she’s just honed her skill. She has adapted — any athlete tries to improve their start. She is no different in that, ‘I have to make the start the best I can,’” said Eggert.

Barr-Miller said she has a goal of one day becoming a coach herself, or working with deaf children. When asked if there was anything that she would like to share with Beacon readers, Barr-Miller’s message was “Deaf can do whatever hearing can do.”