I’m here tonight to introduce one of the finest athletes that ORHS has ever produced. Let me tell you a little bit about her accomplishments as a runner, as a student and nurse, and as a person.

She was a member of our girls’ cross-country team during one of the best 5 year runs in our proud history. She ran in 14th place on the 1997 State Runner up team; 16th place on the 1998 State Runner-Up team; 15th place on the 1999 State Champion team; and State Champion with a time of 17:40 for three miles on the 2000 State Runner Up team.

Counting the 1996 State Champion team, this five-year run gave ORHS 2 State Champion teams and 3 Runner-Up finishes. The 2000 State Champion Cross Country team is the only undefeated team in ORHS history, winning the Kingsport, Tennessee Classic, Great American, and Furman Invitational championships, and the Region 2 championship.

In addition to her 2000 State Cross Country Championship, she won 4 State Track championships, winning the 3200 meters in 1999 and 2000, the 1600 in 2000 and 2001. The year 2000 saw her win the 3200 and 1600 and finish 2nd in the 800 in track and then win the individual state championship in cross country. That’s quite a year.

She went on to star at Belmont University in Nashville in both sports, track and cross country, winning the Presidential Scholar Athlete her senior year. She won multiple All-Conference awards and academic All-Conference awards at Belmont. She continues to run to this day, now specializing in marathons, triathlons, and ultra distance races.

She has a nursing degree from Belmont and a Masters in Nursing from Vanderbilt University and worked for a decade in women’s health and fetal medicine. She also has taken medical mission trips to Ghana, Moldova, Romania, and Mexico.

She is married to Josh Thurman, and the mother of 5 children with the 6th coming next month. She lives in Franklin, Tennessee, just south of Nashville.

I give you an amazing athlete, student, professional, wife and mother, Sarah Damen Thurman.

by Coach Jim McNamee