Recently named the 2019 OBSERVER Female Athlete of the Year, Brown is one of the most unquestionably deserving athletes to earn the honor of a Division I scholarship.

“She’s an incredible athlete. She’s one in a lifetime for a coach,” said Fredonia cross country coach Carol Zirkle. “It’s been an incredible opportunity for me to coach someone so talented. It’s just so fun. It’s been a very fun ride.”

Brown’s love for the sport of running is clear — she doesn’t have any reason to hide it. She proudly shares her own experiences from the sport on social media on her Twitter account with the handle @Ems–runs. Brown believes her love of running is what got her to where she is now.

“If you love it, that’s the thing that will bring you to bigger stages,” said Brown. “The love that you have for your sport is the whole point of it all. You do it because it’s something you love to do. If I didn’t have as much love for the sport as I do, I don’t think I would be running in college.”

Emily Brown is shown wearing Pitt attire after officially signing her National Letter of Intent on Thursday. OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen.

Her level of dedication is so rare, even a veteran coach like Zirkle is blown away by it.

“She is so passionate about her sport. … Her commitment to be the best she can be and to make her teammates the best they can be is unbelievable. There’s no one that even comes close to her that I’ve coached,” said Zirkle. “She does all the little things — the things you always tell an athlete to do, she does them all and more. The biggest thing with her is you have to reign her in because she does so much.”

Brown’s scholarship is not like just any other offer, either. The Pitt Panthers compete in the ACC in the highest level of competition in the country, and Brown will be relied upon as a runner year-round, including cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. While that is not out of the ordinary among runners at the collegiate level, the fact that a school as notable as Pitt will have Brown representing them year-round speaks to the caliber of athlete she is.

“The fact that she’s going to a high-level Division I school — I mean, we’ve had athletes go Division I before … but it’s great for our community and great for our team to see that when you have a goal, and you apply yourself and do everything you can, that’s what you can achieve. It shows what hard work and drive will do for a person,” said Zirkle.

In her Fredonia career, Brown has competed at the varsity level in all three sports, going back to before she even reached high school. She began in cross country as a seventh grader under Coach Zirkle, who ended up coaching Brown through her entire varsity cross country career. It’s not uncommon for an athlete to be impacted by a coach — especially after such a long time together — but it’s Zirkle who may have been the one impacted the most.

Fredonia’s Emily Brown runs during a cross country meet during the 2019 fall sports season. OBSERVER File Photo.

Throughout the three sports Brown has played at the varsity level — all beginning in seventh grade — she certainly has plenty of highlights. In all, she made nine trips to the NY State Championships, and she still has two seasons remaining. She has also gone twice to the NY State Federation Meet — an overall State Championship meet including schools of all designations.

“How many athletes can even say they’ve been to States once? She’s been there nine times. … I’ve coached for 25 years, and in cross country, we’ve had four times we could’ve gone to the Federation Meet, and two of them were her,” said Zirkle. “She’s opened the door for me to see so many different aspects of the sport. … We’ve been able to go so many places because of her commitment, and her family’s commitment to give her all of the opportunities.”

Just in 2019, Brown went to States in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track, in addition to the NY State Federation Meet in cross country and the New Balance Nationals for outdoor track over the summer. On the national stage, Brown remembers how surreal it was to be competing against the best runners in the country — names which she’s followed online and aspired to be like.

“The first time I medaled at States, I got fourth place in the steeplechase in outdoor track my sophomore year, that was a big moment for me. It was the first time I was next to all of these girls that I kind of saw as idols,” said Brown. “I would look them up online and follow their times, but I got to be on the podium with them, like I was one of them. …

… Then when I got 13th at the National Championships in the steeplechase, that was a high point for me too. I was really surprised because I made the fast heat [the highest level race] so I was next to all of these girls that are nationally recognized, a national champion, and girls that are signing to the best running schools in the country, that was really cool. I never thought I’d be here,” she said.

Though the results and accomplishments she’s racked up in her career wouldn’t suggest it, Brown hasn’t had the easiest road to success. She has been her own toughest critic, as she constantly pushes herself to improve, despite being atop the local running scene for so many years.

“When I started running, I didn’t really think about it. I just liked to run and I wanted to have fun and get faster. … After I made States in my eighth grade year, I started to put pressure on myself. I thought I couldn’t do worse than I had in the past,” Brown said. “Primarily in my ninth grade year, I had really bad stress episodes before my races, to the point where I was crying. … It wasn’t like people were putting pressure on me, but it was me putting pressure on myself. There was a lot of mental struggle of trying to be as good as I was … but I think all of the mental struggles, the negativity and the lack of confidence was overcome last year.”

While there were plenty of times she may not have believed it would happen, it should come as no surprise that Brown earned attention of schools at the highest level of competition in college sports. In fact, it wasn’t just Pitt that came calling. Brown considered another school — the Ivy League’s Cornell — as a finalist in her recruitment. Having an offer from a world-renowned academic school says just as much about Brown’s dedication to her studies as to her sport. But in the end, Brown — who plans to dual-major in Biology and Exercise Science — knew Pitt was where she wanted to be.

“It was a lengthy decision, but with Pitt, everything just clicked,” she said, noting that Pitt came into the recruiting process later than many other interested schools. “At first I thought, ‘What if I could actually go to Pitt?’ … and everything actually worked out. The program and the coaches were everything I wanted athletically, and they also had the academic programs I wanted, but I’ve always wanted to go to a bigger school. Everything I wanted in a college lined up with Pitt. … From the moment the email was sent, [Pitt was] at the top of my list.”

Moving to a big city at a big college like Pittsburgh will be quite the change in lifestyle for Brown, but she believes her time at Fredonia has given her a unique perspective to take into the challenge.

“Being from a small town, sometimes it’s hard to realize how much more is out there,” Brown said. “I’ll be able to represent Fredonia and prove that it isn’t just the big schools that can represent. You can be from anywhere as long as your heart is in it. …

Not taking opportunities for granted is definitely something I learned from Fredonia,” she added. “Now I know that I can go to big meets in college and I’m thankful to know I won’t take them for granted.”