Athlete: Matthew Murray
School: Pearland Dawson
1. What was your most memorable race/moment?
I'm going to share two moments because they both embody why I run and it's hard to choose a favorite between them. The first was my sophomore year at the Region cross country meet in Atascocita. This was my first time making it past district (my freshman year I got 12th at district, and my sophomore year I had a bad district race and got 17th so shoutout to my team). Anyway, I qualified for state and the first thing I did after was run up to my coach and she started crying (tears of joy) and that was just a really special moment to me, seeing how proud I had made her. The second moment was after a DMR my senior year. I ran the 1600 leg and I got the stick in second place about 50 meters back. Over the four laps I reeled in the guy that was in front of me and ended up catching him with about 80 meters left. I split a 4:20 and he split a 4:28. Directly after the race I was talking to him and he said his best 1600 was a 4:33 (so he basically just PRed by 5 seconds and ran a great race). His coach then came up and started yelling at him for losing, so I walked up and reached across his screaming coach to shake his hand and tell him "good race". His coach didn't know what to do and he and I shared a special moment of sportsmanship that I will never forget.
2. Who would you consider your biggest competition over your four years?
There were a lot of fast guys that I raced. Some memorable competitors I had the pleasure to race (and often lose to) were Connor Meaux (my teammate next year), Pedro Nasta, Andrew Hebert, Jason Bugg, Ryan Teel, Reed Brown, Sam Worley, Alex Rogers, Enoch Ramirez, Julian Perez, and Zion Walker. If I forgot to list your name here but you know we raced at some point, thank you for the competition, and it was a pleasure having the opportunity to race y'all.
3. What was your greatest accomplishment?
I qualified for state 6 times (once in track, twice in swimming, and three times in cross country) which were really cool experiences for me. However, my greatest single accomplishment I think would have to be finding my kick. As a freshman and sophomore, I would just run as hard as I could and set a fast pace and not have anything at the end. At the 2015 Victor Lopez Classic I figured it all out and matured as a runner. In the 1500, we just chilled for the first two laps which we ran in 2:10. Then I was able to hit a :57 on the last lap and win and that was a major accomplishment and learning moment for me, and I feel like it helped me out a lot in the long run.
4. If you could do it all over again what would you change about your running career in high school?
I would've enjoyed it more. I spent a lot of my time worrying and being nervous and getting frustrated. If I could go back, I would've been more carefree. Obviously, I would've still tried in practice and in races, but I wouldn't have spent so much time stressing over things that I couldn't control. So to any freshmen out there reading this: just have fun with it; enjoy the mile repeats and the long bus rides with your team after a cross country meet when everyone is all sweaty and muddy.
5. What were the most difficult obstacles you had to overcome?
The mud at region and state this year was pretty bad. No, but for real, the hardest obstacle I had to overcome was myself. Forcing myself to get up in the 110-degree heat and run five miles. Forcing myself to push harder when it hurt the most. Forcing myself to go with the guy that flies past me with 200 left. There was part of me in every practice and race that was telling me to back off, but there was part of me telling me to keep pushing. I was my own most difficult obstacle.
6. What will you miss the most?
My teammates and my coaches. I will miss the rap battles we'd have on the bus and arguing over who was going to take the cooler to camp and just the camaraderie we all had.
7. What advice would you give to younger athletes?
Enjoy the ride.
8. What influence has your coach had with respect to your performance and overall life goals?
They have had a huge influence. They're coaching techniques and advice has helped develop my running and they're support and influence off of the track has helped develop my character. Thank you Coach Ryan, Coach Hypolite, Coach Sirmon, Coach Bandy, Coach Hawkins, and Coach Myers.
9. What are your college plans?I plan to stay in Houston where I will continue my running career at Rice University. I plan to major in mechanical engineering.
10. Who would you like to say 'thank you' to?
Anyone that ever told me I wouldn't make it.
11. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
I like cheesecake.
12. What was the funniest thing that happened during your running career?
This is one of those "you had to be there" moments, so y'all won't think it's funny but anyone that knows what I'm talking about knows how funny this was. At the 2016 Lancaster Meet of Champions, we were bored, sitting around waiting for our race to come. So we had this little collapsible table at our camp and we were stacking Jason's Deli boxes on top of it and this guy on our team, Pat (who's a thrower), was trying to box jump over the table. So we were slowly building it up and after he cleared three Jason's Deli boxes on top of the table we put a fourth and a high jumper on our team tried it and barely cleared it. A high jumper. So Pat, the thrower, thinks he can clear it too, so he tries and he clears the boxes but didn't get enough distance to clear the whole table and his heels clip the far side of the table and the table flies out from under him and the Jason's Deli boxes fly everywhere and he lands flat on his back and everyone on our team and about three other teams and a few people just jogging past all start cracking up. I think we have four different videos of it.
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