#TheJourneytoCompete, Interview #5: Liam Murphy, Swoosh Track Club, A miler who loves cross country!

Liam Murphy is blessed with serious middle distance speed.

In March 2025, Liam Murphy ran the fastest EVER 1,500 meters for an NCAA athlete, breaking the NCAA record of 3:33:71 by Eliud Kipsang and the 3:33:41 run indoors by Gary Marathon: Liam ran 3:33;02!

#TheJourneytoCompete, Interview #6: Woody Kincaid, Swoosh Track Club, explains how to be better at cross-country !

#TheJourneytoCompete, Interview #4: Drew Bosley, Swoosh Track Club, explains it all, racing indoors, racing cross-country, Drew Bosley, former NAU star, talks cross-country!

The Brooks Run Guide Interviews, Julian Florez, Assistant Coach, Brooks Beasts Track Club, Episode 9

LIam Murphy, coached by the great Marcus O’Sullivan at Villanova, just broke 4 minutes for the mile in 2023. In 2024, Liam took his 1,500 meters down to 3:36, and then, in the fall, placed 9th in the NCAA Cross Country Championships!

Liam Murphy told RunBlogRun that he liked cross country and was planning to race the USA Cross Country Championships in Portland, Oregon on December 6, 2025.

Liam Murphy is now competing for the new NIKE club, Swoosh Track Club and is based in Flagstaff, Arizona. His training partners include Woody Kincaid, Liam Murphy, Maggi Congdon, Parker Wolfe, Elise Stearns, Ethan Strand and Yusuf Bizimani ! The coaching team of Mike and Rachel Smith are coacing the Swoosh TC Flagstaff team.

We asked LIam, with his experience from the 1,500 meters to 10,000m cross-country (Liam went to high school in Allentown, PA, a town over from where I lived in the 1980s), was a good one to ask about advice for burgeoning cross country runners.

Here is the advice the Liam Murphy gave to RunBlogRun on November 22, 2025 at the NXR Southwest in Mesa, Arizona:

#IntheMixedZone, Liam Murphy is NCAA record holder at 1,500m, 3:30.33, now a member of Nike #SwooshTC. Liam gave us a tip on #howtobeabettercrosscountryrunner, #thejourneytocompete, #NXRSouthwest, #nike, #nikerunning , #LiamMurphy, #crosscountry, pic.twitter.com/tuvPPRi17V

— RunBlogRun (@RunBlogRun) November 23, 2025

Author

Larry Eder

Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys.

Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."

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