Shelbyville junior Emily Pharris cross the bridge and heads to the finish line
Shelbyville's Emily Pharris took the UIL 2A girls state meet race by the horns from the beginning. The junior was the pace setter and with a full field of talented runners hunting and trying to run her down showed a whole lot of moxy.
Pharris finished runner-up at the Region 3-2A Championships to Cassity Turner of Cross Roads. The two ran stride for stride at the regional until Turner separated and ran away for the win.
The race strategy change for the state meet was effective. Turner was chasing from the beginning and even put on a late race push making up ground on Pharris. However, the 800m bronze medalist at the state track meet had enough turnover to get the win in 12:32, improving from her seventh place finish at the 2021 cross country state meet.
Turner did get up for the runner-up finish in 12:40 and a big jump from 20th place at the 2021 state meet. While Turner was chasing Pharris, she was also having to hold on to her race position heading into the finish line. Emma Walterscheid (Muenster), Cameron Belcher (Windthorst), and Isabella Jaime (Farwell) were all battling for the highest placement they could finish with.
Walterscheid finished in third with a time of 12:43 with Belcher (12:45) and Jaime (12:46) charging hard in the last 400m only to fall a stride or two short of the top three.
The top five runners all ran under 12:50 with three other girls joining them under 13:00 for the competition.
2A GIRLS TWO MILE RUN FINALS PLACE ATHLETE TEAM RESULT POINTS 1 Emily Pharris 11 Shelbyville 12:32.20 0 2 Cassity Turner 11 Cross Roads 12:40.00 1 3 Emma Walterscheid 10 Muenster 12:43.70 2 4 Cameron Belcher 11 Windthorst 12:45.60 0 5 Isabella Jaime Farwell 12:46.30 0 6 Eleana Campos 12 Freer 12:51.90 0 7 Jackie Earley 10 Johnson City LBJ 12:54.10 3 8 Emma Krebs 9 Muenster 12:59.00 4 9 Anallely Moreno 11 Plains 13:00.50 0 10 Mia Picazo 11 Santa Maria 13:00.70 0
Their November running proved there was no stopping them from backing up the talking up. A 13:32 team average was the fastest in the division for the meet. However, a 0.35 second 1-5 split sealed the win.
Gruver would not be an easy team to beat out. They have been podium dwellers for each of the last three seasons finishing third last year, second in 2020, and winning it all in 2019. With two seniors capping off their careers with four trophies, the culture at Gruver is as solid as anywhere in the state.
Gruver ran a 13:51 team average and a 0.47 second 1-5 split. With only one senior scoring, look for them to be back in the thick of things next year.
The third place trophy would have to wait for some drama and double checking of videos and data to award the appropriate winner. Both of the Christoval and Muenster teams ran impressive races.
Muenster ran a 13:39 team average and with two runners in the top eight finishers and under 13:00 they were in a good position to earn a trophy. Christoval ran a 13:54 team average, slower than Muenster, but they had a 0.38 second 1-5 split to give them a shot of getting in the mix for a podium finish.
Both teams tied with a score of 147 point. Christoval was awarded third place by winning the tie breaker when their sixth runner finished ins 62nd place to Muenster's sixth runner's 72nd place finish.
Final Team Results - Girls 2A GIRLS - 2 MILE Split Team - Hamilton Finish Position - 1 Team Score (places): 76 Team Score (times): 1:07:42.6 Ave Time:13:32.5 Team - Gruver Finish Position - 2 Team Score (places): 139 Team Score (times): 1:09:17.7 Ave Time:13:51.5 Team - Christoval Finish Position - 3 Team Score (places): 147 Team Score (times): 1:09:32.7 Ave Time:13:54.5 Team - Muenster Finish Position - 4 Team Score (places): 147 Team Score (times): 1:08:19.8 Ave Time:13:39.9