Worth the wait

Brian Foster Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior cross country runner Brooke Murphy runs drills at the Randolph Golf Course on Tuesday afternoon. Murphy had her best finish this season in the Western Regional in Fresno, Calif., Saturday where she placed 27th in a field of more than 200.

A strong high school runner, Murphy entertained notions of running in the collegiate ranks as she entered her freshmen year at the university, but a heavy class load and a desire to take a break from running made Murphy decide not to compete for the track and field or cross country teams.

"Basically I was burnt out on running and I was taking such a tough curriculum I decided to put my academics first," she said. "I regret not running when I got here, though."

Semester after semester passed until Murphy was in her fourth year at UA. She still had a passion for running and had kept fit so she decided to step up her practice routine in preparation for the Tucson Marathon.

After a strong finish in the marathon, an impressive 3 hours and 3 seconds, Murphy went to UA cross country/track and field head coach Dave Murray and expressed her desire to run competitively at the UA.

"A year ago this December she ran the Tucson Marathon and turned in a great time," Murray said. "She came into my office and said, 'Hi, I'm Brooke Murphy and I'd like to come out for the team.'"

Murray allowed Murphy to prove herself during the track season and she didn't disappoint. Long hours of rigorous practice were a staple of her training schedule until an upper thigh injury early in the year sidelined her for the duration of the season.

"I wasn't used to the intensity of the training and instead of taking a break I just kept going and getting injury after injury," Murphy said.

Murphy wasn't discouraged, though, and after she had rehabilitated her thigh injury and taken a month-long break from running during the summer, she was poised to compete for the cross country team in the fall.

"Brooke got over the injury and made a fantastic contribution to the team, and is one of the reasons for our success this year," Murray said.

At the onset of the cross country season, Murphy was running relatively well and looked to be a potential number five, six or seven runner for the squad. She finished 47th in the Irvine Invitational, the first meet of the year, and improved with a 20th place finish in the Aztec Invitational, followed by a 19th place finish at the Mountain West Classic.

Against competition from perhaps the toughest conference in the nation, at the Pacific 10 Conference Championships, Murphy placed a strong 47th and helped the UA women's team to a third place finish.

Her most impressive race of the year came at the qualifying race for the NCAA Championships, the NCAA Western Regional in Fresno, Calif. Murphy placed 27th in a field of more than 200 of the nation's elite runners and, according to Murray, was the decisive factor in the upset of heavily favored Stanford.

"Brooke made our team last week at Regionals," Murray said. "She is the one individual who came through the most out of our team to beat Stanford."

Murphy's fellow teammates hold her in high esteem as well, including senior team captain Amy Skieresz, who has been impressed with Murphy's ability to compete at the collegiate level after four years off.

"She has been running absolutely fantastic," Skieresz said. "She's doing great and I'm really impressed because she hasn't competed in that many years and she's really made an impact on the team."

Murray agreed that Murphy's competitiveness has made her a good runner.

"She gets every ounce of talent she does have because of her hard work," he said. "She trains diligently and she does all the work she needs to do."

Murphy has blossomed into a solid number five runner for the team and expects a strong performance at the NCAAs from both herself and her team.

"Overall, I think we as a team have a shot at winning it (the national championship)," Murphy said. "I need to drop about 20 seconds off my time and be up there with our three and four runners."

That kind of determination has impressed her coach.

"She's a very focused lady in her running," Murray said. "She is also such a tremendous person, a great student and a pleasure to have on the team."

Brian Wahlund can be reached via e-mail at Brian.Wahlund@wildcat.arizona.edu.