*800: The handoff from Sherman to Murphy, a graduate student from Providence, R.I., was less than flawless.
“Since there were so many teams [grouped together], I tried to get out early, and I went a little bit too early,” Murphy said, “and then when I initially went to grab [the baton], I just completely missed it. So I had to turn my hand upside down to get it back. It still went pretty smoothly. We didn’t lose any momentum really, but it was just kind of close to being dropped.”
Murphy quickly fell back into fourth place, behind Oregon, Oklahoma State and BYU, “and I was just hanging right on them basically for the entire first three laps,” he said. “Then the last lap was just kind of going all out, making sure I get the baton to Gary, moving at a decent pace so he can get off the line.”
Murphy ran the 800 in 1:47.50, and the Wahoos were in fifth place when he handed the baton to Martin.
Like Porter, Murphy has no outdoor eligibility left, so the DMR was his final race as a Cavalier. He used that as motivation.
“One hundred percent,” Murphy said. “The whole lead-up to it, that was the thought, just wanting to end on a high note and making sure I just left it all on the track for my last race in a Virginia uniform. And even during the race, that was constantly in my head, kind of just giving my all here, leave no regrets out there.”
*1600: In the ACC and at the national level, Martin’s chief rivals include UNC senior Ethan Strand.
On the final day of the NCAA indoor meet, Strand would edge Martin to win the 3000 meters in Virginia Beach. In the DMR, Virginia was in front of North Carolina when Martin took the baton. Still, it worried the other Cavaliers that they hadn’t provided Martin with more of a lead on Strand.
“That was who we thought was the biggest [threat], going into the final leg,” Porter said. “We were trying to give Gary a few seconds on him.”
A junior from Warminster, Pa., Martin said he and Strand have “a pretty good rivalry going on where I’ve got his number a couple times and he’s got me a few times. He’s a really good guy and we’re pretty friendly. So we’re rivals on the track, but I would say we get along pretty well off the track and are able to push each other.”
Once the DMR started, Martin had to wait nearly four minutes for his anchor leg to begin.
“It’s really nerve-wracking,” Martin said. “Obviously, you want to get the baton in the mix, but that…