Murphy Ready For Last Race In Buffs Uniform

BOULDER — Maybe after Pierce Murphy runs his final race in a Colorado uniform, he'll have time to reflect on what that last hurrah actually meant.

But until next Wednesday's NCAA Championship 10,000-meter run is completed in Eugene, Ore., the ultra-successful and equally laid-back Murphy isn't thinking about the big picture. Instead, he's focused solely on making his final run as a Buff his best.

“I've been more focusing on just the race itself,” Murphy said earlier this week after a workout in Boulder. “When I think about the race, I try not to think about races I've run before or races coming up. I focus on just that one.”

If all goes well for Murphy, that focus will put a successful finishing touch on a stellar career that began in the most inauspicious of ways — as a walk-on who had to send emails to CU's coaches to drum up their interest in him.

But the former walk-on has left his mark in CU annals. So far, his resume´ includes three-time All-American honors in cross country (including a third-place finish in last fall's NCAA Championships, the best by a Buff since 2003); three-time All-American indoor track honors (including a third-place finish this year in the NCAA Championships 5,000); and one All-American designation in outdoor track (a fifth-place finish a year ago in the NCAA Championships 10,000).

Clearly, no matter what happens next week, it will be a memorable career.

But his goal is to cap that career with his best race yet.

“Hopefully the best race I've ever run,” Murphy said. “Hopefully the hardest — or make it the hardest. And hopefully I finish the highest at nationals that I ever have.”

Those goals are certainly within Murphy's grasp. He enters the race with the third-best qualifying time from the NCAA Preliminaries, a 29-minute, 51.24-second finish last week in Lawrence, Kan.; and the 28:48.79 he ran earlier this season in the Payton Jordan Invitational is the fifth-fastest collegiate time in the nation this year.

Murphy's experience on the national stage should pay off. It's unlikely that anything that happens in the race will surprise him, and he'll go in with the confidence and experience of knowing he can compete with the best.

It's all the result of five years of training under CU coaches Mark Wetmore and Heather Burroughs.

“I've learned that months before nationals you have to make sure you get the training in, get the hard work in and be fit for when you start racing,” Murphy said. “Then you start racing and you're fit and you're figuring out how to race again. When nationals come, you are fit from the months of training you've done and you know what to expect.”

One thing Wetmore doesn't expect from Murphy is an inordinate amount of tension from Murphy.

“Pierce doesn't seem to have that gene for stress,” Wetmore said. “That seems to help everybody around him. Along with being a very good runner for us through his career, he's been an important, integral part of the culture of the team.”

Murphy admits he doesn't stress about competition — or anything else, for that matter. In a sport with its fair share of high-strung competitors, he's as low-key as they come.

“I don't get stressed before races, or every, really,” Murphy said. “I didn't know that until I came here and people started telling me I was so relaxed, even before races. That's just how I race.”

But that doesn't mean Murphy won't have a strategy for next week's championships. He's seen most of the competitors in the field, and he'll plan his race accordingly.

“The 10K, when it comes to competing, is the funnest because you have 25 laps to kind of relax and get in position for that last four laps,” Murphy said. “It's really mental. You have to be patient and know that you have a lot of time to make it up if you've made any mistakes.”

One thing Murphy has learned under Wetmore is exactly how important patience can be to a distance runner. After redshirting his freshman year, he slowly began to understand the process of steady improvement — and what it takes to continue that process over the course of several years.

“I just had to listen to coach and do what he told me,” Murphy said. “My sophomore year, I wasn't too quick — I was getting fast, but it would be frustrating at times knowing your teammates are running great. They were older than me, but I wanted to be at their level.

“I just knew I had to listen to coach and be patient and wait for that time. Patience and hard training.”

Murphy is one of nine Buffs who will be competing in next week's championships (Wednesday through Saturday) at Hayward Field. Joining him on the men's side will be Adam Peterman in the steeplechase and and Morgan Pearson in the 5,000; while the women's entrants will be Madeline Alm and Dani Jones in the 1,500; Erin Clark and Valerie Constien in the steeplechase; Kaitlyn Benner in the 5,000; and Mackenzie Caldwell in the 10,000.