LIHU‘E — In its 25th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, announced Thursday that Island School’s Pierce Murphy has been named its 2009-10 Gatorade Hawai‘i Boys Cross Country Runner of the
LIHU‘E — In its 25th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, announced Thursday that Island School’s Pierce Murphy has been named its 2009-10 Gatorade Hawai‘i Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year, states a press release from Gatorade.
Murphy is the first Gatorade Runner of the Year to be chosen from Island School.
The 5-foot-7, 140-pound junior raced to a second-place finish at the Hawai‘i High School Association state championships this past season with a time of 16:18.35.
“To me, this award is an honor and I am very proud to represent Island School with this award,” Pierce said in an email to The Garden Island.
A Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation All-Star, Murphy took first place in the KIF championships, finishing a full two minutes in front of the next-fastest runner with a time of 16:23.20.
Murphy was also the second-fastest Hawai‘i runner at the Foot Locker West Regional championships, crossing the line in 51st place overall with a time of 16:37.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the racecourse, distinguishes Murphy as Hawai‘i’s best high school boys cross country runner.
“I realize that it is important to get good grades, just as important as it is to be a good athlete,” Pierce said.
“Shawn and I are very honored that Pierce received this award,” said Doreen Murphy, Pierce’s mother, in an email. “We have always instilled in him that it is not just about being a great runner but you have to get good grades too.”
Murphy has maintained a 3.78 GPA in the classroom. A talented artist, he has volunteered locally as a peer leader and as an elementary school tutor.
“We tell Pierce if he wants to get into the college of his choice that has a great running program, then he has to do well in school too,” Doreen said.
“Murphy is such a determined kid with an incredible work ethic,” said Kaipo Kealaleo, Island School’s athletic director. “The amount of training he puts in is unreal to the point where sometimes he’d be out running at 2 a.m. He only knows how to give 100 percent.”
Pierce already has his eye on what he hopes to accomplish when the KIF season begins again at the end of the summer.
“My short-term goals for this upcoming track season are to break all three KIF records again and to finish first at states in the 1,500-meter and 3,000-meter,” he said. “Also I am aiming to make it to Nationals in one or both events.”
He joins Bryce Jenkins (2007-08 and 2008-09, Leilehua) as athletes who have won Hawai‘i’s cross-country award since its inception in 2007.
Murphy is now a finalist for the Gatorade National Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year award to be announced in January.
