Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: For Pierce Murphy, Boulder Is Paradise Found
May 14, 2015 | Track and Field, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER - Mark Wetmore isn't big on profiling, but he's analytical enough about recruiting to complete his due diligence on prospects, their race times, their backgrounds and whether they might be "a good match for our culture."
Pierce Murphy went one-for-three in those categories, maybe two-for- three depending on how much weight Wetmore assigned to Murphy's high school times. But the short answer to that question is "not much."
When he wasn't surfing - which he did nearly as much as he ate and slept - Murphy ran track and cross country for the diminutive, independent Island School in Lihue, Hawai'i. And while Wetmore is in no immediate danger of exhausting his superlatives about Hawai'i, Kaua'i, and the islands in general, he doesn't waste many words on the state of high school distance running in the 50th state.
"I don't want to offend Hawai'i, I love Hawai'i, it's one of my favorite places," said Wetmore, the University of Colorado's veteran track and cross country coach. "But it isn't a hotbed of distance running. Pierce was the best thing in Hawai'i in his junior and senior years of high school - but not a major runner compared to back here in the mainland."
Still, in a region where running at sea level is really running at sea level, Murphy put together an eye-popping high school running resume. As a sophomore, he set Kaua'i Interscholastic Federation records in the 800-, 1,500- and 3,000-meter runs, then again set 1,500- and 3,000-meter marks as a junior. Another record was set in the 3,000 meters in his senior season.
The eclectic Wetmore is more realist than skeptic (well, there might be a sliver of skepticism), but he perused Murphy's records and times and concluded: "By the end of his senior year he ran some times that factored through our subjective evaluation, meaning yes, he ran 'X' but it was in paradise against nobody and probably 80 degrees . . . that kind of thing."
But Murphy and his dad - obviously among his son's biggest proponents - kept the communication with Wetmore and CU flowing. In Wetmore's recollection, Shawn Murphy, of Hanalei, Hawai'i, kept emphasizing that his son was "better than his numbers, better than a lot of people know," Wetmore said. "We get that from a lot of dads, but in this case the dad was right . . . so we said, 'Oh, OK.' We took him as a walk-on."
MAKE THAT A RECRUITED WALK-ON, which means the shrewd and observant Wetmore saw more in Murphy than his high school numbers. What's more, running in an Oregon singlet - he briefly considered the Ducks, as well as Portland and Hawai'i - didn't appeal to Murphy, who wanted to leave the islands. He visited Boulder and quickly judged it, as well as his future teammates and coaches, to be a fabulous fit.
"I don't know if it could have been any better," said Murphy, who laughs and admits to initially being "kind of intimidated" by Wetmore. But for the most part, he's growing out of that after becoming more familiar with the eccentric Buffs coach.
"I think it's that he's quiet most of the time but he's also strict. That made me kind of intimidated. You respect him, knowing how good of a coach he is made me respect him more . . . he's a funny guy, but when I first came here I didn't see that. As I got to know him, it all got a lot better. It's nice to pick the right school. There's nothing I regret so far."
Ditto for Wetmore and his staff about offering Murphy the opportunity to run with the Buffs. If it took time for Murphy's performances to begin an upward trajectory, there was an immediate sense of him sliding seamlessly into the CU training/running/being niche.
"Racing-wise it took a while," Wetmore recalled. "But it wasn't long at all - a handful of weeks at the most - before we realized he was a good match for our culture. Generally when we feel somebody is a good match for the culture, we don't worry about the times. We're confident they'll come."
What made Murphy a good match?
Explained Wetmore: "He was a unique individual, had his own style, his own personality. He was immediately popular with the other fellows. And he's what a coach wants, he was agreeable, polite and on time. Yeah, he had his own kind of surfer-dude style that everybody liked. He's quiet but secretly very funny. I think that's why he's popular. He's got a very, very dry and quiet sense of humor that breaks them up sometimes. We have our big brash leader who makes a lot of noise, then we have a really quiet business-like Jack Armstrong, All-American boy type leader, then there's Pierce, who speaks very softly and carries a big board."
Also, Murphy is one of the most low-maintenance student-athletes Wetmore has encountered in his two decades of heading CU's running teams. "One of the easiest people I've ever coached," Wetmore said. "He never wonders if he should be in another event or wonders if he should run different split times along the way. He doesn't blink; he just shows up and says some surfer version of 'Yes, sir,' like, 'You got it dude,' or something like that."
Murphy still makes time for surfing when he returns to Kaua'i or visits friends in California. On trips home, his daily regimen includes running in the morning, surfing midday, running in the afternoon. When he returns to Boulder, the surfing signs are there, said Wetmore: "He always comes back with a couple of nicks and cuts from his board hitting him or him hitting some coral or something."
Murphy has visited a barber since arriving in Boulder in 2012, having his shoulder-length sun-bleached locks lopped off in favor of a shorter, undoubtedly more manageable, cut. The "surfer-dude" persona remains, but it belies a toughness and race-day fury that Wetmore would love to patent.
"Yeah, he's tough," Wetmore said. "He's from a suburb of paradise. If there's a paradise in paradise it's Hanalei. His island is called the Garden Island, and the paradise of the Garden Island is Hanalei . . . that's his surfing beach, his hanging out town, basically his hometown. Absolutely he's the toughest guy from that neck of the woods, that neck of the jungle.
"He had never been to 15-below, experienced snowstorms (until he came to Boulder). I've had people from Southern California who quit and went home. This guy's never blinked. He's an old-school tough guy. He's so tough that he doesn't mention it and you'd never know it."
UNLESS YOU RUN AGAINST HIM. If Murphy is in the "gut zone" - a tight race in the final mile of a 5,000- or 10,000-meter event - don't bet against him.
"Mentally, when I'm in a 5k or 10k and it's coming down the last mile or two I know everyone is hurting. It's pretty much who can handle it the best mentally," he said. "If guys start going, taking off, some guys can't handle it mentally and start breaking down. It'll really get to them. I don't know if I've learned it or knew it all the time, but I just kind of let that happen. I think I'm a tough guy mentally when it comes to racing.
"I feel like I'm pushing through more than my body really wants to. I think a lot of athletes do that. But I always know that coming down to the last mile of the race, I tell myself that I can hang with anyone . . . I tell myself that we're all hurting the same. It's all mental and I believe that mentally I can take on anyone out there."
That attitude, along with feeling stronger and more fit than at any time during his CU career, has pushed him into his best outdoor season. He wasn't bad indoors either. At the Husky Classic in Seattle in February, his 5k time of 13:39.29 was the third overall fastest at CU and won the event. A month later, he was a first-time qualifier for the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships; he placed sixth in the 5k (13:54.56). He added All-American indoor recognition to go with a pair of the same honors in cross country, and he now has the scholarship he came to Boulder without.
Outdoors, he has logged a sixth-place 5k finish (13:37.05) earlier this month at the Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford, and prior to that a 12th-place 1,500-meter run (3:44.31) in mid-April at the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific.
Upcoming are the Pac-12 Conference Championships (Saturday, Sunday) in Los Angeles, the NCAA West Regionals (May 28-30) in Austin, Texas, and the NCAA Outdoor Championships (June 10-13) in Eugene, Ore. Murphy says he likely will run either the 5k, the 10k or possibly both. Whatever his event(s), he believes he will step to the starting line as prepared as possible.
"Training-wise, mileage-wise, racing-wise, everything has been better than any outdoor season that I've had," he said. "I've been feeling great; hard workouts are hard but I also feel strong. I feel like I'm the most fit I've ever been for an outdoor season."
Wetmore concurs: "Absolutely, but he keeps getting better and better. He'll surprise you. While he's running the best he's ever run by checking the stopwatch, he isn't done. He's got a year to go."
If it mirrors the improvement of years one, two and three, Murphy's final year could be the best for the walk-on runner/surfer who went from sea level to altitude, embraced the change and quietly became an All-American. For Wetmore and the Buffs, taking a chance on him really wasn't chancy at all.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
