NMHS Athletic Hall of Fame

Mia Nahom, Class of 2017, seemingly charted a path to the Athletic Hall of Fame from her early moments as a freshman standout with the Green Wave soccer side.

 

By the time she had raced to victory as a senior in the New England 1,600-meter run, Mia had often found herself center stage, blessed with the athletic talent and emotional fortitude to rise to the occasion.

 

Along the way, Mia contributed to a South-West Conference championship and nine SWC and state tournament match victories in soccer, proved herself one of the elite cross country runners in the state and New England, and etched an iconic indoor and outdoor track & field career.

 

On the soccer pitch, Mia was a tireless defender whose freelancing style richly rewarded the Green Wave, most notably when the lithe freshman scored the match’s only goal vs. Danbury in the state class ‘LL’ tournament’s second round.

 

Mia’s soccer coach throughout her high school days was Greg LaCava, who very early recognized her as a tireless runner who complemented her endurance with soccer smarts and skills.

 

“Sometimes, I see what I have in players and let them go,” he recounted. "She’s one of those… she’s all over the field.”

 

That freelance style by Mia was a vital component of the Green Wave as her 2013 soccer side raced to a 12-3-1 regular season and won twice in the SWC playoffs before coming up short, 4-3, in overtime to Pomperaug in the championship match. Mia and Co. won twice more in the state class ‘LL’ tournament before bowing out in the quarterfinals with an overall 16-5-1 record.

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Mia chose to step away from soccer to run cross country as a sophomore, and run she did. With only her freshman season on the outdoor track & field squad to fall back on for competitive experience, she demonstrated almost immediately her running acumen.

 

Mia echoed regular season successes with a surprising runnerup finish in the SWC championship meet, just 10 seconds off the winning time. A week later, she chased home Stanford University-bound Hannah DeBalsi to earn a silver medal in the state class LL’ race.

 

Mia followed up those performances with a third place in a highly competitive state open race, just one second shy of another runnerup finish. She capped her season and, as it turned out, her NMHS cross country career, with a solid eighth place at the New England championship race, boasting the best effort by a sophomore or freshman that day.

 

Mia returned to the Green Wave girls’ soccer side for her junior year, just in time to further bolster a deep and skilled squad ready to shine. Coach LaCava’s crew rolled to an 11-2-3 regular season and, with Mia playing an important role in midfield and defensively, they swept past three SWC playoff opponents to capture the SWC championship.

 

The Green Wave extended its run with state class ‘L’ tournament victories in the first round and quarterfinals, finally absorbing defeat in the state semis, thus closing the book on an historic 16-3-3 autumn season.

 

Mia’s senior soccer season was individually noteworthy as she served as co-captain and earned all-SWC Colonial Division laurels. However, the prior spring’s graduation had been harsh on the Green Wave and the 2016 squad struggled through a 3-11-1 record.

 

Even with all the cross country and soccer accomplishments on her Green Wave resume, Mia was most impactful running track. In all, she captured a remarkable 21 SWC, state and New England individual gold medals in events ranging from the 800 to the 3,200, climaxed by that 1,600 triumph at the New England meet as a senior.

 

Following numerous seconds and thirds in SWC and state competition as a sophomore, Mia scored her first gold medals indoors as a junior in the SWC and state class ‘L’ 1,600 meters, which would turn out to be her signature event.

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She earned her first golds outdoors as a junior in the SWC 1,600 and 3,200, followed soon by a win in the state class ‘L’ 3,200. By that time, Mia had been registering Top 10s several times in the New England championship meets, both indoor and outdoor, letting everyone know she was a serious threat any time she hit the track.

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She dominated the SWC and state ‘L’ indoors as a senior and placed third in New England and 11th in the New Balance Nationals in the 1,600, just five seconds off the winning time.

 

Mia didn’t miss a beat in her final outdoor season, sweeping aside her state rivals in the 800 and 1,600 and then climaxing it all with that run to New England gold in the 1,600.

 

Perhaps most memorably, even before racing to regional laurels, Mia had absolutely stolen the show at the 2017 SWC meet, contested on the NMHS track. Defying the odds, she won the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 and added runnerup in the 400 to contribute a remarkable 38 team points for the Green Wave, lifting her team to a second place finish.

 

By the time Mia had doffed her running shoes at NMHS for a final time, she owned the SWC outdoor records in the 800 at 2:13 and the 1,600 at 4:52.7.

 

Along the way, her medals count included eight SWC indoor and outdoor gold medals, eight indoor and outdoor state class ‘L’ golds and four state open golds, plus, of course, that triumph in the New England 1,600.

 

Mia didn’t slow down after her NMHS graduation, taking her considerable talents to the University of Connecticut. As a Huskies athlete, she set records in the mile run, the 5,000 meters and the 3,000-meter steeplechase. She won the Big East 3,000-meter steeplechase and helped UConn claim a Big East team title.

 

Locally, Mia later claimed the women’s title in the 2021 New Milford 8-mile road race.