Murphy battling through injury for Altavista

Altavista junior Sarah Murphy, one of the area’s strongest and most promising girls cross country runners, is still struggling with a hip condition that forced her to sit out a few meets last fall, prior to the postseason.

“It was a physical condition that she needed to work on that was causing the problem,” Altavista coach Darryl Smith said. “Her hip muscles need developing more, which causes her to have some pain.”

But Murphy is not allowing anything to hinder her from reaching for her goals of qualifying for the Group A state championships at Great Meadow in The Plains for a third consecutive season this fall. After leading the Colonels to second- and fourth-place team performances, respectively, the past two years, she is intent on topping her top-10 and top-five individual finishes.

“I’m going to try, if my hips do good, to push through the pain and finish top-five,” she said. “There’s usually a lot of pain and my doctor said I have to stop if it gets to too much. (But) I’ve never had to pull out of a race. If it all possible, I’m going to finish.”

Smith admires that mentality, but he is guarded against pushing her too far, too fast.

“She’s one of the most determined ladies that I’ve ever coached,” he said. “Mentally, she’s even tougher this year as to what she wants to achieve. She never ever wants to give second best, whether in practice or in a meet.”

Murphy met with her physical therapist over the summer to formulate an exercise program.

“I’ve been doing a lot of strength exercises to help strengthen the muscles around my hip,” she said, noting that her physical therapy has included using stretch bands and medicine balls and performing lunges, mostly at home. “My doctor said if I strengthen the hips, that should eliminate the pain and that it’s definitely a possibility they could be pain-free by the end of the season.”

For now, the progress is slow-going.

“It’s getting a little bit better,” she said. “He said it would be a while before the pain decreases. I’m hoping to get stronger and stronger and peak by the end of the season.”

Besides running a decent amount of miles in practices and meets, Murphy has added cross training to her routine to keep the pounding off of her hips, riding an indoor stationary bicycle and swimming at the Altavista YMCA.

“She is doing an awful lot and she’s come a long way since last year,” Smith said. “Sarah cross-trains a lot, she’s a very strong swimmer and I think it helps her. She’s been very motivated in doing workouts on her own (and) she has made a lot of improvement in strengthening. She has trained extremely hard over the summertime and is optimistic it’s going to be a good season for her.”

Murphy didn’t run at the Sept. 6 Blue Demon Invitational at Christiansburg, but placed 31st out of 226 runners at the Sept. 13 Knights Crossing Invitational at Cave Spring. She was the overall winner against Nelson County and Gretna on Sept. 3 at Altavista’s first meet this fall at Frazier Farm, site of the Oct. 22 Dogwood District championships. She and the Colonels will run there again in a quad meet today at 5 p.m.

In the spring, Murphy competes in both outdoor track and softball. But cross country is her favorite sport by far.

“She enjoys the track, but cross country gives her an opportunity to push herself a little more,” Smith said. “She prefers the environment and the varied terrain.”

Murphy has taken the lead from former teammate Hannah Roller, who has continued her career at Campbell (N.C.) University, and served as an inspiration for current teammates such as Cara Haskins and Alix Hines. Together, they give the Colonels a strong chance of making it back to the podium at the state meet with a top-three team finish.