Kate Murphy Retires From Collegiate Running

Thank you for continuing to breathe a little bit of reality into this thread. It was nice even being corrected by you earlier when I was thinking back to the similar yet clearly different cycling condition that can be equally devastating.

A note about Brie Oakley: the amount she slowed down her freshman year of XC versus her senior year in high school is exactly what’s expected when an endurance athlete moves from altitude to sea-level. It doesn’t mean everyone will follow that trend, but it’s fairly basic physiology which is why we often see schools at altitude clustered near the top.

As for the effect of puberty, you can’t expect butterflies to compete well at events caterpillars dominate and vice-versa.

KM set a state meet RECORD as a senior - I'd say that's pretty damn great. She also anchored her highschool team to a National DMR record with a 4:38 mile - GREAT! Her Popliteal Syndrome had started to present itself after that (remember she had to pull out of the Wannamaker Mile??), and prevented her from achieving more GREAT goals. Yet she still ran to help her team. Team player all the way. It was never about JUST her. Oregon was lucky to have her, and yes - class acts like Oregon honor their scholarship agreements. Signing any athlete is a gamble.

Hounddog-harrier wrote:

Tons of blame to go around here- her high school, the Ducks, her parents. The fault is the American system. Everyone wants to "get rich quick". High school team wants her to be national high school champion, parents want the same for a college scholarship, Ducks want her to immediately compete at the national level collegiately. When an injury comes along a runner is expected to push through it until she can't, then it is all over because she can't produce. Ten years from now she will be one of those cautionary tales about WHAT SHE did wrong, not what her parents, high school and college did wrong.

She has an extremely rare medical malady.

You're an idiot.

Okay then RoJo, do you care to speak to what 'biology' burned out so many boys????

tell me about what biology burned out the COUNTLESS male high school athletes then I'm so curious to know.

so sick of this BS. done with it.

kmoavine wrote:

Okay then RoJo, do you care to speak to what 'biology' burned out so many boys????

tell me about what biology burned out the COUNTLESS male high school athletes then I'm so curious to know.

so sick of this BS. done with it.

Transgender ism

The reason this keeps happening especially to girls is the massive media pressure and endless hype as best typified by ...what was the name now? Oh yes LetsRun.

Not to much its peculiar obsession with girls and puberty. Look how many posters can't wait to throw that word into the mix. Then gushing at 'the one I really liked to watch...'. Gross.

YMMV wrote:

I loved watching Kate run. I remember her blasting Katie Rainsberger on the final lap of the mile (no dis to Katie, a great runner on her own merits), looking like a tethered greyhound set off the leash.

Missed all of xc senior year? Guess a state championship and leading a team to nxn counts as missing all of xc. You are a moron. Comment on stuff you know like your parent’s basement.

"No Doubt..."? The level of ignorance in this thread is amazing, if not surprising for Lets Run. Slightly more amazing than the fact that those claiming to know the truth of the situation cannot be bothered to read. Murphy had a serious issue near the end of her career that is genetic not overuse. So no, she was not an overtrained high schooler (and if you bothered to check you could see she was fairly modest in mileage and intensity compared to some. And no, Uof O did not cause her problems. Whether they encouraged her to medically retire from team is not known (but not stopping those who have "no doubt."

She was a great high school runner and unfortunately had a serious condition that derailed her promising career.

Let's leave it at that.

It's pretty clear she loves Oregon and being a Duck. Otherwise she could transfer. she clearly says in her post that she doesn't think her running career is over. D1 is a business and most likely OR didn't have the patience to allow her to heal slowly enough - they want that scholarship $ to offer other athletes. Hope she can heal slowly & completely & train slowly back to competitive form. hate not seeing her run there. But awesome PAc 12 success for Ducks without Powells and those transfers!! Go Ducks!!

aovinewaofien wrote:

Rojo? Seriously? Come on.

I'm so sick of this whole "puberty burns girls out" narrative. It's true that not every high school phenom achieves college and professional success. But you are ALWAYS treating this like it's one sided.

Really????

So MANY boys burn out. so many of them, I would argue that it's equal to the rate that girls do. I won't name names. That's just a mean thing to do, but you know it's true.

sick of your sexism, sir.

Agreed. I literally just lost all respect for Rojo. Seriously....

And degrade Tuohy, I'm done with letsrun. Idiots.

runnnnn wrote:

aovinewaofien wrote:

Rojo? Seriously? Come on.

I'm so sick of this whole "puberty burns girls out" narrative. It's true that not every high school phenom achieves college and professional success. But you are ALWAYS treating this like it's one sided.

Really????

So MANY boys burn out. so many of them, I would argue that it's equal to the rate that girls do. I won't name names. That's just a mean thing to do, but you know it's true.

sick of your sexism, sir.

Agreed. I literally just lost all respect for Rojo. Seriously....

And degrade Tuohy, I'm done with letsrun. Idiots.

Female phenoms face more scrutiny for sure.

I would agree that boys burn out at similar rates. After puberty, the average US male weighs 165 pounds and upwards, which is too heavy for elite distance running. Many college males unsuccessfully fight this natural weight gain.

messi wrote:

rojo wrote:

Are you crazy? She ran 4:07 - of course she is VERY Talented. 99.9% of the female world could train their whole lives and not run that.

And people are blaming this on Oregon? Please. It's called puberty / welcome to the world of female teenage running (although in this case it actually may just be something different).

As much as I want to get into Tuohy, I'm waiting until she runs well at age 20.

I think Tuohy is a different kettle of fish than the other HS phenoms. Her running form indicates longevity. Lots of the other (including Lane & the girl at Cal) had "ordinary" running form and that is going to work against you long term.

I have reconsidered my position on Kate Murphy's running form after watching Lake Braddock video. Upgrading it to solid.