Pat Murray
EAST LANSING – Pat Murray wasn’t working with a full deck entering his 12th season as the East Lansing boys track coach.
Coming in, Murray expected to get contributions from some athletes that, by the start of the season, didn’t end up on the team. But the Trojans still found a way to make a splash, and it caught Murray by surprise.
After winning the CAAC Blue title and conference meet, East Lansing went on to place second at the Division 1 regional in May. It was the team’s best finish since it won the Division 2 state championship in 2011.
“I was really shocked,” said Murray, whose team tied for 14th place at the state meet. “We were short. We were putting together relays with people that I hadn’t planned on putting in the relays.
“I knew how good Rockford was and I knew how good Okemos was. … I had to convince them that second place at that regional was pretty impressive.”
Near the midway point of the season, Murray ended up tinkering with his 400-meter relay team and that, along with the emergence of one of his runners in the 1,600-meter relay, helped strengthen his belief in his team.
He told his athletes that he saw the potential after they lost a duel meet to Okemos during the season. He was hoping to get them in the right mindset for the conference meet, which they ended up edging the Chiefs by 13 points.
“I kept telling my guys that we had a chance,” he said. “I don’t know how much I believed in it, but, in track, you never know. There’s so many ups and downs.
“(Getting second at regionals) and winning the conference meet were big deals for us.”
The Trojans will lose more than a handful of key pieces from this year’s team, but return Kentre Patterson, who went on to win the state championship in the 110-meter hurdles. Murray said watching Patterson reaching his goal, after he was sidelined with mononucleosis as a sophomore, was one of the shining moments of his season.
Murray hopes the recent success of his program attracts more athletes in the near future.
“I thought if we were going to have a shot at winning the conference meet that it would be this year,” he said. “You always hope that you can convince kids to come out and be a part of a winning program. It’s a lot easier to sell a successful program.”
Contact James L. Edwards III at jledwards@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @JLEdwardsIII.