Emily Pharris defends her UIL 2A Girls XC State Title
Texas UIL State XC Championships
Every girls race on day two of the UIL Cross Country State Championships were good and had storylines to keep eyes on. The 2A girls story lines had something to do with last year's champions.
Individually, Emily Pharris was looking to defending her individual state title and the Hamilton girls were also eyeing another top of the podium finish.
2A Girls
Starting with the 2A Girls division which competes over the 2-mile distance rather than the traditional 5000m like the upper divisions. We quickly find that while the individual race wasn't competitive, the team battle was very tight with the top contenders being separated by less than twenty points.
On the individual side, Shelbyville senior Emily Pharris came away with the victory in a time of 11:30, which won her the race by seventeen seconds. Pharris added to one of the more prominent trends we've seen in girl's races this weekend by taking control of the race from the gun and never relinquishing the lead. She had built up an eight-second lead at the mile mark and this only grew as the race went on. She showed remarkable consistency throughout the second mile and largely maintained pace through to the line which earned her the seventeen-second victory.
This victory marks Pharris's sixth win of the year and her fourth in a row. She's been the class of the 2A division all year and further demonstrated this with her victory today. Look for her to carry the momentum from her dominant cross-country season this fall to the track in the spring where she'll likely challenge for another state championship in May.
2A Girls 2 Mile Run Finals
On the team side, we saw a close battle between Hamilton and Goldthwaite with Hamilton ultimately coming out on top thanks to a strong performance from their fourth and fifth runners. At the mile mark, Hamilton's lead was just eleven points as Goldthwaite got off the line hard and quickly made this race interesting. However, throughout the final mile, Hamilton's depth showed strong pace and increased this gap to seventeen points by the time the race was over. Sophomore Anna Pearcy led the way finishing fifth while the rest of the top five finished in the top thirty. Hamilton had a great year in the 2A division and rounded it out with a state title.
In terms of the remaining places on the individual podium, the battle for second place was more heavily contested, however, Farwell junior Isabella Jaime came away with second place in a time of 11:47. Jaime was more conservative through the first mile and it paid off as she was able to move up and take this spot on the podium. In third place, Windthorst senior Cameron Belcher rode a strong start onto the podium as she held on for third place over the final mile in a time of 11:52.
On the team side, Goldthwaite made the race close but ultimately came up short and finished second to Hamilton. They showcased strong pace over the first half of the race but Hamilton's depth runners just proved to be too much. In third place, Christoval closely followed Goldthwaite, scoring 110 points and making the race for second close.
Overall, while the race for the 2A Girls individual crown wasn't competitive, the race for the team battle was exciting and demonstrated the importance of the fourth and fifth runners, especially at the state meet.
