Emily Shilson has scored a takedown. Her hard work has made her not only a star athlete but a star student as well.
In academic pursuits, Shilson holds a 4.035 GPA. This level of achievement requires an incredible amount of dedication to her studies, but this is not a surprise, as effort spills over into everything that Shilson does.
We told you about Shilson four years ago, when, as a young 68-pound-athlete, she took the sport by storm, capturing numerous state championships in both girls and boys categories. Once Shilson became old enough to compete in the cadet age division, her master plan was to train with Team USA at every elite camp possible, regardless of time or location.
In the past 24 months, she has trained at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado for 10 days, and in Los Angeles, California, at Arizona State University and Ferrum College (Virginia) for four days each, River Falls, Wisconsin for three days and Emmanuel College (Georgia) for 10 days.
At 95-100 pounds, Shilson plowed through the cadet bracket, beating all opponents in the first period and never allowing a point to be scored against her. She claimed the 2016 Cadet National Freestyle title, becoming the first girl from Minnesota to do so. Three days later, she moved on to win the USA
wrestling Junior Women`s Freestyle title. Upon approaching the national competitions, Shilson says her plan was “to dominate.”
Recently, Shilson has competed in Oklahoma City, Dallas, Lima, Peru and at Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota. She currently holds a Pan AM championship and two national titles.
