Alexander Murfee '15 Recruiting Profile

            My name is Alex Murfee, and I will graduate from Woodward Academy in 2015.  My current Cross Country PR in the 5k is 15:25, placing myself in the MileSplit US 1st Team Elite.  In track, I have run a 4:23 in the 1600m.  My senior Cross Country season, I was state champion in the AAAA classification, improving my state time from the previous year by 56 seconds.

             I have been running since third grade but began training seriously beginning in sixth grade.  In 8th grade I won the state title with a 2 mile time of 11:01, leading my team to take the team state title as well. Subsequently, I was ranked 4th in the nation for my middle school 2 mile time in 2010.  As a Freshman, I ran in the Georgia State meet helping my team place 4th for 3A Schools. I also qualified for the Georgia Elite Team, ranking 10th in the state among all other Freshmen. As a sophomore, my season best was 16:33 which again placed me on the Georgia Elite Team. By placing in the top 10 at the Region 6-AAA Championships, I helped our team place 1st at the regional meet and continue on to place 2nd at the Georgia State Meet.  This past Junior Cross Country season, I placed 6th in the region and helped my team to state runner-up.  During my Junior year track season, I placed 5th in the state in both the 1600m and 3200m.

               My current track personal records in the 3200m and 1600m are 9:42 and 4:23 respectively.  For my senior year track season, I am trying to run 9:15 and 4:15.  I think these are realistic goals given my commitment to continue improving my running.

               In addition to Cross Country and track, I enjoy running longer races.  My current 10k PR on a USATF certified course is a 34:13.  I also hold the Georgia state record in the ½ marathon for ages 15 and under, having run a 1:18:30 on a USATF certified course.  In the past winter seasons I have been on the varsity swim team as well as the varsity diving team.  However, this year I chose to join the varsity wrestling team instead.  Additionally, I enjoy racing in sprint distance triathlons.  I feel I am a strong endurance athlete and am able to mentally and physically work through obstacles. I look forward to running in college because the distance races are longer than in high school.  In addition to the longer races, however, I am also interested in running the 3000m steeplechase in college during the track season.

               Academically, I am very strong in math and science.  I would like to attend a college that has a strong engineering program and multiple opportunities for undergraduate research.  As a high school freshman, I placed 2nd in my class in the American Mathematics Competition and earned the Maximus Cum Laude award on the National Latin Exam. As a sophomore I earned a perfect score (32) on the math portion of the PLAN (mock ACT) exam and earned the Summa Cum Laude on the National Latin Exam. I also have been a member of the Junior Classical League (JCL) both years, which requires straight A’s in Latin for membership.  I am enrolled in Honor’s courses and AP courses and will have taken 9 AP courses by the time I graduate in 2015.