This past week Kate Murphy spoke with FloTrack's Gordon Mack and discussed her season ahead and the biggest question of them all. That question was deciding between Foot Locker and Nike Southeast.
Kate is arguably the most prolific athlete to ever return to high school for her senior year. The only athletes who ever compared to her turned professional after their junior years making this season a big one for Kate. With that level of talent comes a ton of pressure but also the chance for some pretty big wins.
Murph, as she is known to her teammates, is a team player. She is always willing to sacrifice her own chances at glory for team glory and that led her to choosing to run at NXN-SE instead of Foot Locker South on the same day.
With that decision being made it looks like Lake Braddock has a serious shot at cracking the top 8 at NXN this year and could even see Kate Murphy finish first and become Virginia's first ever NXN champion.
After a very long track season that saw Kate set multiple state records and even make the Olympic Trials semi-finals in the 1500m, Kate had to take some time off and build back up for her final XC season. Though the training is not done yet, she is finally ready to open up her senior campaign and show the country what she is made of.
This weekend at WakeMed in Cary, North Carolina Kate is going to open up in the Great American XC Festival. This will be a huge meet with 100's of teams and a lot of tough competition.
We have not seen the final list for athletes and teams to be competing this weekend at Great American but it looks like she could have quite a few sub 18 girls to run with and even a couple sub 17 girls as well. Do not be surprised if Kate opens up her senior year with a sub 17 performance on this fast course!
It is no doubt going to be a fun and exciting season for Kate Murphy. She is the defending NXN-SE and 6A State Champion. She will face tough competition in nearly every race of the season and it is going to be exciting to see her grit and determination to win every single race.
