During the next few weeks leading up to the beginning of the cross-country season, MileSplit RI will feature some of our top returning runners this fall. We graduated some outstanding harriers from last year, but we still have an impressive list of talent coming back this season with hopes of making their marks on the dirt trails.
Conor Murphy, Classical
Here's a runner we believe has the potential to finish among the top 5 with an outside chance of sneaking into those one or two positions with the right kind of race. As a sophomore last year, Murphy was 13th overall at the State Meet and finished second to graduating senior Matt Walker of Westerly at the Class B meet. The Classical standout, a gritty competitor, followed his fall campaign by demonstrating his talent on the track oval, particularly the middle-distance events. In January, he ran an all-time best of 2:30 for 1,000 meters at the Dr. Sander Invitational in New York and was second overall for 800m at the outdoor states where he cruised to a PB of 1:54.30. He also clocked 4:02 for 1,500m. While the longer race are not necessarily his forte, Murphy did run a state best of 15:32 on the fast 5K layout at Brown Northeast Invitational. This year's field, much like last year, does not have a clear-cut favorite. He may be a long-shot, but Murphy certainly should be in the conversation when talking about a list of potential contenders.
