Clayton Murphy

Weight:
null
Class:
Junior
Hometown:
New Paris, Ohio
High School:
Tri-Village Local School

Honors

2015 800-meter Gold Medalist at Pan American Games

2015 800-meter Silver Medalist at NACAC Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica

Advanced to semifinals in 800 meters at IAAF World Championships (Aug. 2015 in Beijing, China) and was top American finisher

2016 Bowerman Award Watch List Honoree

13x MAC Champion: 800 meters (2016 Outdoor, 2016 Indoor, 2015 Outdoor, 2015 Indoor), Mile (2016, 2015 and 2014 Indoor), 1,500m (2016, 2015 and 2014 Outdoor), 4x400 Relay (2016 Outdoor, 2016 Indoor), DMR Relay (2016 Indoor)

17xAll-MAC: First Team (2016 Outdoor 800 Meters, 2016 Outdoor 1,500 Meters, 2016 Outdoor 4x400 Relay, 2016 Indoor 800 Meters, 2016 Indoor Mile, 2016 Indoor 4x400 Relay, 2016 Indoor DMR Relay, 2015 Cross Country, 2015 Outdoor 800 Meters, 2015 Outdoor 1,500 Meters, 2015 Indoor 800 Meters, 2015 Indoor Mile, 2014 Cross Country, 2014 Indoor Mile, 2014 Outdoor 1,500m), Second Team (2013 Cross Country, 2014 Indoor 3K)

3xUSTFCCCA First-Team All-American (800 meters-2016 Indoor; 800 meters-2015 Indoor; 800 Meters-2015 Outdoor)

USTFCCCA Academic All-America (Outdoor-2014)

Ranked 19th in the World in the 800 meters (as of May 2016)

2015-16: Outdoor: Is unbeaten this spring having competed in the 800, 1,500 and 3,000 meters, respectively, as well as the 4x400 relay...captured a trio of championships at the Mid-American Conference Championships earning his 11th, 12th and 13th career league titles winning individual titles in the 800 meters (1:55.39) and 1,500 meters (3:45.83), as well as anchoring the victorious 4x400 relay squad (3:09.16)...Murphy added another impressive chapter to his growing resume capturing the elite 800-meter title at the Drake Relays on April 30...competing as the lone collegian in a stacked 800-meter field that included Boris Berian (2016 World Indoor 800m Champion/No. 6 World Ranking), Erik Sowinski (2016 World Indoor 800m Bronze Medalist/No. 13 World Ranking), Ryan Martin (2015 Pan American Games Bronze Medalist/No. 33 World Ranking) and Edward Kemboi (2015 NCAA 800m Indoor and Outdoor Champion), Murphy turned in an impressive showing capturing the championship in a season-best time of 1:46.71...won the 1,500-meter title at the LSU Alumni Invitational in 3:44.21...opened his spring season winning the 1,500 meters in 3:44.57 at the Raleigh Relays on March 25 before taking the title in the 800-meter invitational at the Texas Relays in 1:47.38 on March 31...anchored the 4x400 relay team at the Texas Relays on April 2 and set an outdoor program-record time of 8:19.09 to win the 3,000 meters at the Northeast Ohio Quad on April 16...2015-16: Indoor: Garnered first-team All-America honors for the third time on the strength of becoming the first-ever NCAA Champion in a running event for Akron winning the 800-meter title in 1:46.68 on March 12 in Birmingham, Ala….captured individual championships in the 800 meters (1:48.65) and mile (4:07.19), while anchoring the winning 4x400 and distance medley relay squads at the Mid-American Conference Indoor Championships, en route to being named the MAC's Most Outstanding Track Performer for the second-straight year…anchored winning 4x400 relay which set a program-record time of 3:07.58, while also running final leg of distance medley relay which established a conference-meet record time of 9:45.38…was unbeaten in the mile during the indoor campaign, including set a school record at the Akron Invitational (Feb. 5), running the first-ever sub-four-minute mile (3:57.11)…member of DMR relay which set a school-record time of 9:42.42 en route to placing fifth at the Penn State National (Jan. 29)…won five of six races in the 800 meters, including turning in a school-record time of 1:46.11 to capture the title at the Iowa State Classic (Feb. 13), where he bested former Iowa State standout Edward Kemboi, who captured NCAA titles in the 800 meters at the 2015 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, by .66 of a second…twice named MAC Athlete of the Week (Feb. 9 and Feb. 16)…chosen as MAC Scholar-Athlete of the Week (Feb. 10)...Cross Country: Ran in four races for the Zips and was Akron’s top finisher in his final three races…registered the best 8K time in program history at the NCAA Pre-Nationals crossing the line in 24:03.90 to finish 59th…garnered first-team All-MAC honor finishing a team-best fourth at the league championships with a time of 24:32.86…earned All-Great Lakes accolades finishing 20th in 31:13.5...named a MAC Distinguished Scholar recipient in addition to earning first-team Academic All-MAC honors.

2014-15: Outdoor: Captured first-team All-America accolades for the second time this season placing third at the NCAA Championship in the 800 meters in 1:49.52 on June 12...won Mid-American Conference titles in the 800 and 1,500 meters, respectively, in 1:50.51 (May 15) and 3:46.77 (May 16) to earn first-team All-MAC accolades in both races...ran second-fastest time in school history in the 800 meters (1:47.16) to finish second at NCAA East Regional (May 29)...registered second-best 5,000-meter time (14:15.61) at the Raleigh Relays on March 27...member of school-record setting 4x400 relay that narrowly missed qualifying for NCAA Championship at NCAA East Regional (May 30)...set school record in the 1,500 meters in 3:40.69 to win at Longhorn Invitational (May 2)...unbeaten in the 1,500 meters capturing titles at MAC Championship (May 16), Longhorn Invitational (May 2) and Mt. Sac Relays (April 17)…won 800-meter title at Drake Relays (April 25/1:47.81) and Northeast Ohio Quad (April 2/1:56.13), while finishing sixth in invitational 800 at Mt. Sac Relays (April 18/1:47.98)...named MAC Athlete of the Week on three occasions (April 21, April 28 and May 6)...Indoor: Garnered first-team All-America honors after finishing third in the 800 meters at the NCAA Championship (March 14) in a school-record time of 1:47.06…won the 800 meters and mile at the Mid-American Conference Championship (Feb. 28) in times of 1:53.10 and 4:09.09, respectively, en route to being named Outstanding Track Athlete of the Meet…unbeaten in the mile on the season…finished first on four occasions in the 800 meters, including at the Kent State Dual (Jan. 16), Tyson Invitational (Feb. 14), Zips Invitational (Feb. 20) and the Mid-American Conference Championship…registered a school-record time of 4:00.39 in winning the mile at the Akron Invitational (Feb. 7)…competed as a member of the 4x400 relay team which finished first at the Penn State Invitational (Jan 31) and the Akron Invitational (Feb 7)…named MAC Track Athlete of the Week (Feb. 10, Feb. 17 and Feb. 25)...Cross Country: Led the way for the Zips in the 10K race at the Great Lakes Regional (Nov. 14) turning in a 23rd-place showing in a time of 30:43...garnered first-team All-MAC honors after crossing the line in a time of 24:22 to finish in fourth place at the MAC Championship (Nov. 1)...placed fifth at All-Ohio Championship in 24:58.06 on Oct. 3.

2013-14: Cross Country: All-MAC Second Team honoree ... was the Zips' top runner in each of his first three collegiate meets ... placed third overall at the Tommy Evans Invitational (Sept. 5) with a 4-mile time of 20:28, took 176th at the Bluegrass Invitational (Sept. 14) with an 8K time of 24:40.05 and finished fourth overall at the All-Ohio Championships (Oct. 4) after crossing the line in 25:19.13 ... was also UA's second runner at the Great Lakes Regional, finishing the 10K in 43rd place with a time of 31:32 ... was the Zips' third runner at the MAC Championships (Nov. 2), placing 13th with a mark of 25:29.37 ... Indoor: MAC Champion in the mile, running a time of 4:08.69 at the league meet (March 1) ... broke the school record three times, running 4:10.87 at the Penn State National (Feb. 1), 4:05.18 at the Akron Invitational (Feb. 8) and 4:02.04 at the SPIRE D1 Invitational (Feb. 15) ... also medaled in the 3K at the MAC Championships, placing runner-up with a time of 8:20.93 ... Outdoor: NCAA preliminary qualifer in the 1,500m ... MAC Champion in the 1,500m, using a late push to take the title with a time of 4:02.38 at the league championships (May 17) ... won the Olympic Development Elite division of the 1,500m at the Mt. SAC Relays (Apr. 18) with a time of 3:44.53, which was the second-fastest mark in Zips history and a split second faster than former World Youth Champion Johan Rogestedt of Sweden's runner-up mark of 3:44.87 ... followed that up by running the program's fourth-fastest 800m time the following day in a third-place finish at the Beach Invitational (Apr. 19) ... crossed the finish line in 1:50.03 ... won the 5,000m at the All-Ohio Championships (Apr. 12) with a time of 14:42.06 ... also captured the event win in the 800m at the Northeast Ohio Quad (Apr. 4), clocking a time of 1:52.60 ... Summer: advanced to the finals in the 1,500m at the USA Junior Championships (July 6), placing 11th with a time of 3:59.13.

at Tri-Village Local School: Three-time, All-Ohio cross country runner, placing third at the state meet as a senior (15:32) ... three-time, track & field state qualifier and the state champion in the 1,600-meters (4:11.72) ... school record holder in seven events, including the 400m, 800m, 1,600m, 3,200m, 5K, 4x200 and 4x400 ... also competed in the 800m and 4x400 at the state meet ... also posted personal-record times of 11.84 in the 100m, 49.31 in the 400m and 1:54.19 in the 800m.

Personal: Born Feb. 26, 1995 ... parents are Mark and Melinda Murphy.