Athlete of the Week: Aamarie Ebarb

WESLACO, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Inspiration takes many forms for Aamarie Ebarb. Watching her older sister Amity compete gave her the spark to follow in her footsteps.

“So my sister has run her entire life, since she was a kid, but I never wanted to run until I saw her last state meet, and that motivated me into running,” said Aamarie Ebarb, East Texas A&M track and field/cross country signee. “So I picked it up in my freshman year because I wanted to be like her.”

Amity ran at the University of Texas, so it meant Aamarie needed to take large strides and step into large running shoes.

“It was important because I wanted to make my parents proud, because they had a D1 athlete already, said Aamarie. “So why not make two?”

Aamarie’s cross-country and track journey will take her to East Texas A&M, which is near Dallas, this summer.

With every step, her legacy grows.

“It wasn't until my senior year in cross country, this last year, cross country, I realized like I am myself and I don't need to worry about beating my sister's record at this meet,” said Aamarie. “I just needed to focus on myself.”

Aamarie is constantly looking to improve and beat her PR.

However, there is another personal record she has improved over the years, which is the number of dogs she has. Aamarie would adopt dogs that were about to be put in shelters.

“They're rescues,” she said. “So whenever we would see Facebook postings of people saying they are going to throw them in the shelter, we always reached out, and said we could home them. So we've gotten eight corgis.”

A difference maker on and off the track and doing it all her way.