LITTLE ROCK, AR – A Dollarway High School standout has been named the 2014-15 Gatorade Arkansas Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year.
The honor goes to Henri Murphy.
The Gatorade Company announced Murphy’s selection in a news release issued Friday. He is the first from his high school to be chosen for the distinction.
This is Gatorade’s 30th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the track, distinguishes Murphy as Arkansas’s best high school boys track & field athlete.
The 5’11”, 175-pound senior sprinter captured two individual titles and anchored the winning 4×100 relay quartet at the Class 4A state meet this spring. Murphy broke the tape in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.91 and the 200 in 22.25. The winning 4×100 clocking was 42.35. The 2015 All-Arkansas Prep Male Track Athlete of the Year, he also earned Meet of Champions victories in the 100, crossing the line in 10.66, and the 200 in 21.47 to cap an undefeated season in the sprints this spring.
Murphy has maintained a B average in the classroom. He has volunteered on behalf of an area food bank and served as the vice president of the local chapter of the 4-H Club.
“Henri Murphy’s natural speed, quickness and instincts gives him the ability to do things that you just can’t coach,” said Dollarway head coach Darrin Kidd. “He is always ready to perform at a high level that separates him from his competitors. The dedication and hard work he puts in at practice is second to none.”
Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year award to be announced in June, Murphy joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Ryan Hall (1999-01, Big Bear HS, Calif.), Meb Keflezighi (1993-94, San Diego HS, Calif.), Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.) and Lolo Jones (1997-98, Roosevelt HS, Ia.).
Murphy has signed a National Letter of Intent to play football on scholarship at Henderson State University this fall.
Murphy joins recent Gatorade Arkansas Boys Track & Field Athletes of the Year Brandon Workman (2013-14, Rogers High School), Mark Guffin (2012-13, Little Rock Christian Academy), Chase Lamers (2011-12, Rogers High School), Andrew Irwin (2010–11 & 2009-10, Mt. Ida High School), Caleb Cross (2008–09, Newport), Jason Pelletier (2007-08, Bryant), and Spencer McCorkel (2006-07, Bryant) among the state’s list of former award winners.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
