Shelbyville's Emily Pharris won the UIL 2A girls 800m
UIL Track and Field State Championships
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2A Girls 800m
Way back in 1993 was when the record for this race was set at 2:14.74. In lane two, Anna Pearcy, a sophomore from Hamilton had the fastest time coming in with a time of 2:19.74.
Emily Pharris a senior from Shelbyville came in second last year and third place in 2022. The defending gold medalist was in lane nine with a time of 2:20.67 Gracie Brown, a junior from Nocona.
It was a clean start and the girls were bunched up around the 200m mark. Coming down the homestretch on the first lap things started to spread out a bit with Pharris coming through first with a time of 1:06.15 and Rylie Hillis a sophomore from Goldthwaite crossed in 2nd and Brown rounded out your top three.
At the bell lap, Pharris widened the lead with Brown hot on her heels trying to catch her on the turn coming down the homestretch, but Pharris had a lot left in the tank and crossed first to win the gold medal with a time of 2:17.67. Pearcy, came out of no where to capture the silver with a time of 2:18.72 and Brown finished third with a time of 2:19.18. These were season's best for all of the top three winners.
2A Girls 1600m
Wearing hip three Kaycei Salazar a junior from La Villa was the defending 2023 state champion with a time of 5:17.14, wearing hip four was Calista Turner a senior from Malakoff Cross Roads who is the reigning bronze medalist. The fastest time from regionals and the silver medalist was Cameron Belcher a senior from Windthorst.
Logan Lang a freshman from Wink took off hard and set the pace down the backstretch with the pack staying bunched up through 300m. Coming across the first 400m was Belcher in the lead 1:17.10 followed by Turner and Lang.
They began to spread out a bit. Turner took the lead at the 800m mark with Belcher crossing close behind.
Belcher took back the lead with 400m to go with Turner and Salazar respectively in second and third place.
Coming down the back stretch Belcher had about a 50m lead and captured the gold with a time of 5:08.74 and a season's best for her. The battle for second and third was a little closer with Salazar coming in to steal the silver with a time of 5:15.54 and Turner got the bronze medal with a time of 5:16.24.
