By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
Conor Murphy’s final season with the Allentown High School boys cross country team is off to a flying start.
The Redbirds senior has picked up right where he left off last fall. After winning at the Central Jersey Shootout, he moved on to a bigger venue and won the B Division boys race at the Shore Coaches Invitational at Holmdel Park on Saturday.
”It’s a big win for me,” said Murphy, whose 16:21 clocking was four seconds ahead of Paul Ehmann of Mendham High. “I tied my personal best time that I ran at groups and it’s still early on in the season. I’m definitely making huge improvements this year. I’m happy about that.”
Murphy was the top finisher for a Redbirds team that came in 12th with an 18:10 average. Hunter Mulryne was 49th in 18:00, Andrew Fortier took 83rd in 18:35, Vincenzo Ferriola ran to 99th in 18:56, Nathaniel Byrnes was 106th in 19:00, Matthew Kaminstein was 171st in 20:30 and Matthew Gregor was 176th in 20:46.
On the girls side, Allentown did not have enough finishers to place as a team, but had four individual finishers. Amelia Crawford was 49th in 21:34, Michelle Foley was 70th in 22:24, Sara Gutter took 73rd in 22:27 and Jesse Bragger ran to 86th in 22:50.
Conditions were difficult Saturday with it raining throughout much of the morning. Murphy caught a few rays of sun during his run, and navigated the 5-kilometer course just as he envisioned.
”My coach and I planned it out before,” Murphy said. “That’s exactly what I did. I kind of went out conservative. I was probably in fourth for the first two miles. I started to push it after ‘The Bowl’ and took the lead for the last mile then held it.”
Murphy pushed through the downhill final mile to finish a second away from the time he ran at the Group III state meet last year.
”My main goal was to go out to get the win,” Murphy said. “When I race hard to get the win, my time usually comes along with it. But I’m happy with my time too.”
Murphy has three weeks until the Mercer County Championships. The site of it is in flux now, but Murphy is looking forward to his next big chance to race.
”It’s definitely going to be a really competitive county race,” Murphy said. “Nikhil Pulimood from (West Windsor-Plainsboro) South is a really fast racer, but I think I’m in a lot better shape than I was when I ran in counties last year so I think I’ll be able to do a lot better.”
