Hendricken’s Murphy wins high jump state crown

Matt Metcalf, Sports Editor
Posted 2/24/15

Bishop Hendricken’s Ben Murphy is having quite the senior year.

The high jumper, who signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Northeastern University and continue his track career less than …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Hendricken’s Murphy wins high jump state crown

Posted

Bishop Hendricken’s Ben Murphy is having quite the senior year.

The high jumper, who signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Northeastern University and continue his track career less than a month ago, ended his indoor track season on top on Saturday.

Murphy captured the state championship in the high jump with a leap of 6 feet, 4 inches at the Providence Career and Technical Academy.

The feat was undoubtedly special for the Hendricken senior.

“It feels awesome,” Murphy said. “After being second in indoor and outdoor last year, just to win it feels great. It has been a lot of work. I’ve been going at it since freshman year, so to get the win finally in my senior year is gratifying.”

Murphy was hoping for a higher jump, but was happy that his highest leap was enough to earn him the title.

“I wanted 6’6”, but 6’4” did it today,” Murphy said. “I was happy to get the win, both for the team and individually.”

Murphy’s jump of 6-foot-4 was his highest of the season, and tied his career best.

For someone who didn’t even have track in the back of his mind coming to Hendricken, it has been a long climb from a beginner to a state champion.

Murphy came to Hendricken wanting to play baseball, but after getting put on the secondary team, he decided that he wanted to go a different route.

“I did indoor track and then went out for the baseball team in the spring,” Murphy said. “I didn’t get cut, but was put on the secondary team, so I said ‘I’m going to do track.’ I just found something that I was really good at and stuck with it. I wanted to take success from failure. I’ve grown to like it a lot and it turned out to be a really good decision for me.”

Going forward, Murphy will look to improve upon his performance at the state championships with what he hopes to be a higher jump at New England’s – which are set for Friday at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston, Mass.

“It feels good,” Murphy said of winning his first state title. “I feel like I’m back to where I was last year. Hopefully I’ll just keep going up and keep progressing.”

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here