IUPUI senior and former Warsaw standout Robert Murphy earned a spot in the NCAA Track Championships Friday night (Photo courtesy of IUPUI Athletics Twitter)

LEXINGTON  – A year removed from just missing the program’s first-ever trip to the NCAA Track Championships, senior Robert Murphy made amends on Friday night.

Murphy, a former track and cross country star at Warsaw, became the first runner in IUPUI program history to earn a national appearance.

Murphy spun a personal best time of 8:44.91 in the 3,000m steeplechase to finish third in his heat, earning an automatic berth to Eugene, Ore.

“Words can’t really describe it, honestly,” Murphy said. “As I finished, I realized I got third, so I was satisfied. I was hearing that announcer saying ‘Robert Murphy is going to Nats’, so that was the complete satisfactory right there.”

Running the third and final heat on the heels of an extremely fast and competitive second heat, Murphy put himself in prime position from the opening gun. After intially moving to the front of the pack, a group of five settled in to a rhythm, vying for the three automatic berths. A slower, even keeled middle of the race set the tone for a frenetic finish.

Murphy began making his move with just more than two laps to go, moving up as high as second as Ole Miss senior MJ Erb had established himself as the clear leader. The Warsaw-native ultimately succumbed to Eastern Michigan senior Willie Fink, but used a late kick to stave off fading Michigan State junior Max Benoit by nearly two seconds. Murphy was clean over the final water jump and final hurdle before almost nonchalantly making his way across the finish line where he was greeted by his coaches and a number of family members in attendance.

“Instincts came into me,” Murphy said. “I thought, I’ll just push it (with 800m to go) and see what happens. My instincts helped me get there.

“I didn’t feel like I was all that aggressive the last two laps – or as aggressive as I should have been. I didn’t feel like I was going that fast, like I should’ve been, but I felt like I was going pretty smooth.”

“I figured he might be running out of gas because that’s the fastest I’ve ever seen him start,” said Head Coach Chuck Koeppen, who was positioned outside the track, roughly 60m from the finish line. “He hung tough.”

The always understated veteran gave a brief point to the sky in celebration before gazing to the large scoreboard across the track to his left to confirm his third-place finish. Murphy ultimately placed tenth of the 48 runners among the three heats and had a fast enough time to earn a wild card spot, if necessary. After missing a trip to nationals by less than a second last year in Jacksonville, Murphy was determined to earn a top-three finish in his heat.

In doing so, he cleared his previous fastest time by four seconds, lowering his own school record in the event.

“It was pretty awesome,” Koeppen said. “He hadn’t really run a time quite that fast this year and we were kind of wondering what he’d do tonight. I was never so happy in my life. It’s been a great night.”

The NCAA Championships will be held at legendary Hayward Field in Eugene on June 7-10. Murphy will run the semifinals on Wednesday, June 7 with hopes of advancing to Friday’s national championship.

“I’m very, very happy to go (to Eugene), but I don’t want it to end there,” Koeppen said. “I want him to run another school record time and do the best he possibly can. Whatever happens beyond that is fine. If he places and he’s an All-American, that’s wonderful.”