"Murphy didn't look bad till the last 1-3/4 mile," McCurdy said. "I've never seen Murph look so tired and pale as he did with half-a-mile to go--and that was when he started to make his move."

Murphy began to peel men off with his kick, gaining four places to finish eighth overall and second among the Crimson in 24:53--a mere second behind the seventh place runner from Yale.

Stinger

"I have a stinger and there was no way with people in front of me that I wouldn't use it," Murphy said. "At that point, it had nothing to do with my tendon."

Despite Murphy's all-out effort, the Crimson fell to Princeton, 19-42, and Yale, 26-29. But Murphy did not consider his try wasted; in fact, he said it taught him a great deal.

"Most of what running means to me is to be part of the team effort in a competitive situation," Murphy said. "I was pleased to find that my motivation for running is I like doing it--I don't have to win."

It's still too early to determine the effect that Friday's race will have on Murphy's ankle, although he said he hoped to run in the NCAA's qualifying meet in three weeks.

In a sport where so much emphasis is put on training to build endurance, Murphy's performance seems all the more remarkable. As the Princeton coach said after the race, "Not bad for a guy who hasn't been running--it's not easy to do something like that by memory."

As Murphy learned Friday, when it comes down to competition, physical strength becomes secondary to mental endurance.

"There was no physical way that I should have been able to run that race," Murphy said. "I guess when you get into a meet, the race doesn't go to the swiftest and strongest but to the guy who wants it most."