November 10, 2022 - Shelbyville High School’s Emily Pharris, competed at the 2A State Cross Country Championship, at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock, Texas on November 4, 2022 and brought home a gold medal.
Coach Randall Thomason shared about Emily Pharris:
Emily is a prime example of hard work and dedication pays off. She has shown up every day for practice whether it’s at 6:30 am or 4:30 pm after school. On top of being the new 2A State Champion she is also a scholar student, taking college classes on top of her high school work, and always lending a helping hand. Before the cross country state race, I asked her how she was feeling and her answer was real simple, “I’m just ready to be done so the faster I run the quicker I will be finished.”
As a long distance runner to be great you have to have a strong mental will to win. Emily, out of all the kids I have coached or been around, definitely has that mental strength! She took the lead early on in the state meet and kept it the entire time. When Emily gets beat by someone once, she rarely allows that person to beat her again, and that is something not many are able to accomplish on their own, but Emily has shown she can do it time and time again. The whole season in fact, if she got beat by a runner the next meet they were at together Em made it a point to go beat them.
She went from having huge leads in meets and not having enough kick to finish, to leading an entire race and never allowing herself to take her foot off the gas. She is a natural leader, student athlete, and all around great young person. We can’t wait to see what she does in track and field this season and even what she does in her future. She has made our Shelbyville family and community proud and has brought back another gold medal to Shelbyville’s already stored tradition of winning and excellence. Way to go Champ! We are Dragon Proud!
