Iowa cross country third-year Max Murphy traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia, to compete against the best runners in the nation on Nov. 18. 

Murphy finished his second-ever 10,000-meter race in 69th-place with a new personal-best time of 30:13.9. Most importantly, Murphy accomplished his long-awaited dream of competing in the NCAA Championships

“It’s been a goal of mine since coming to college, and I’ve been very close a few times,” Murphy said.

This year, Murphy began his season by breaking a school record in the 6,000-meter race in the Hawkeye Invitational. He then went on to be the first Hawkeye to cross the finish line in every regular season meet he competed in. Murphy saved his best performance for the season finale, recording the highest finish of any Hawkeye in the NCAA Championship meet since 2010. 

“This is the best finish by a Hawkeye in this meet in a long time,” distance coach Randy Hasenbank told Hawkeye Sports. “We are very proud of him.”

Hasenbank was particularly impressed with Murphy’s final two performances of the year, noting his near-perfect race plan execution and patience. 

In the NCAA Midwest Regional, Murphy worked his way up from the back of the pack.

“Out of 230 guys, he was probably in the bottom 75 about 800 meters into the race,” Hasenbank said. “He spent the next five and a half miles working his way to the national meet.”

Murphy replicated this meet plan in Charlottesville.

“I thought [Murphy] performed at a very high level today,” Hasenbank told Hawkeye Sports. “More importantly, he kept his poise, found his rhythm, and just let the race come to him. For his first time in this meet environment, I thought he performed very well.”