A faster, higher Murdock won state hurdles titles

Tommy Murdock had a leg up on the competition throughout the high school track and field campaign this spring.

And a big reason the La Conner High School junior was head and shoulders above all comers was his mental toughness, Braves' head coach Peter Voorhees told the Weekly News after Murdock swept the state 2B boys' 110 and 300-meter hurdles contests at Yakima in May.

A case in point, Voorhees noted, was how Murdock handled a late start time for his preliminary heat in the 110s.

"In the heat before Tommy's," said Voorhees, "a kid broke his leg coming off the last hurdle. Tommy's heat was delayed 10 minutes.

"Tommy stayed really calm, though," Voorhees emphasized. "You have that wave of adrenaline going, preparing for a peak performance. Then the schedule changes. That's tough.

"During the delay," Voorhees added, "a lot of other people were bouncing around, expending energy."

Not Murdock.

"He was able to remain focused," Voorhees said. "The rest of the field didn't know how to handle the delay, in my opinion. Tommy didn't get flustered."

Murdock won the heat in 15.51, comfortably ahead of runner-up Morgan Anderson of Raymond, who ran a 15.73.

The junior standout showed his fortitude again in the 110 final when he faced Anderson in a rematch. Midway through the race Murdock was trailing. He managed a late burst and with a lean at the tape edged Anderson by two-hundredths of a second.

"That really showed Tommy's poise," said Voorhees. "Two hundredths of a second is a turn of the shoulder or just tightening up. Tommy didn't do that."

The result was a winning time of 15.01, a personal-best mark for Murdock, as well as a new school record.

Murdock literally ran away with the 300-meter hurdles title, posting a 39.00 in the medal round, setting another personal and school standard. Second place finisher Judah Milton of South Bend was well back at 40.29.

With the twin wins, Murdock has now mined state gold three times. He won the 300 hurdles as a sophomore in 2022.

Still, the best is likely yet to come.

"I can see Tommy getting stronger between his junior and senior year and getting those times even lower," Voorhees said. "I'm really excited for that."

Murdock will be among key returnees next season.

Voorhees said those ranks include junior Morgan Huizenga, who placed fourth in the state 2B girls' javelin trials, delivering a toss of 111-01, surpassing her previous best by 10 feet.

But, for now, Voorhees and his coaching staff will take time to fully appreciate the La Conner program's many highlights from Yakima last month.

Those start with Murdock, who also placed 10th at state in the 100-meter dash and joined Jacob Pommels, Thomas Kitchen, and Brenden Kitchen for a fifth place finish in the mile relay.

"I'm proud of Tommy," said Voorhees. "He set two school records at the state meet, which is hard to do. State is a three-day event and by the time you get to Saturday afternoon, the legs tend to get a little tired.

"It was great," he stressed, "to see Tommy manage it that well."