High School

Oklahoma high school hurdler places last at Nike Outdoor Nationals, beats 3-year battle with cancer

Harrison Murphy of Heritage Hall qualified for prestigious Oregon event by winning state 300-meter hurdles title, breaking school record, three years after finishing treatment for leukemia

Mitch Stephens

Harrison Murphy, who also is a wide receiver and defensive back on Heritage Hall's football team, won the Oklahoma 3A/4A 300-meter hurdles track title last month, three years after his final treatment for leukemia
Harrison Murphy, who also is a wide receiver and defensive back on Heritage Hall's football team, won the Oklahoma 3A/4A 300-meter hurdles track title last month, three years after his final treatment for leukemia / Photo courtesy of Heritage Hall Chargers

You finish last in a Nike Outdoor Nationals race and no one is handing you a medal, maneuvering for a photo or requesting an interview. 

But Harrison Murphy is different. He already won. 

No, not the Oklahoma state 3A/4A 300-meter hurdles race he finished first at May 9 in 39.63 seconds — indeed the highlight of his young athletic life as a junior at Heritage Hall High School in Oklahoma City. 

It’s just that he already won the biggest race  — a three-year battle with cancer. 

In this terrific story by Owen Murray at gottrackdownusa, Murphy was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic leukemia in 2019, had his first treatment in February of 2019. 

Facing many more perilous hurdles than he currently does on the track, Murphy battled through the chemotherapy and the pandemic “day-by-day and just tried to keep my head up,” he told Murray. “You can’t really be negative in that situation. You’ve gotta stay positive.” 

He got through treatment, spent the next two years in recovery and by 2024 he was back on the track ready to compete. 

He didn’t pick the sport’s easiest event. Some say the 300 hurdles is its most grueling. 

According to records on athletic.net, his first 300 hurdles time was 46.58 at the Ed Forester Bethan Invitational on April 6, 2024. It was the 14th best mark of the meet. 

But by the end of the season, he improved almost three seconds to 43.82. Frankly, who cares, he was alive and deemed cancer free. 

But Murphy wanted more. 

'I'm going to get it'

He gained strength, sprouted to 6-foot-1 in height and trained like a banshee. His first big meet as a junior in 2025, Murphy placed second at the Cashion Wildcat Relays in 42.60. The following week he lowered that time to 41.19. 

At the regional finals he broke 41 seconds and placed third which was fantastic. But he wanted to break the school record. It was his goal since he started back on the track. 

In the state finals, he got everything he wished and trained for. 

Murphy told himself during the race “I’m going to get it. I need it. I’m going to get it.”

He won in 39.63, which vaulted him last week to Eugene for the Nike Outdoor Nationals for an even more grueling race, the 400 hurdles. 

The extra 10 meters and competition got the better of him. Murphy also hit a hurdle, causing a gash on the inside of his right knee. His ninth-place finish in 1:00.52, along with the cut, didn’t feel the best. 

But with another season in front of him — he's also a wide receiver and defensive back on the Chargers' football team — Murphy has nothing but blue skies and optimism ahead. 

And perspective.

Published
Mitch Stephens
MITCH STEPHENS

Mitch Stephens is a senior editor at SBLive Sports for California, a state he's covered high school sports since 1984. He won multiple CNPA and CPSWA writing awards with the Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle and MaxPreps.com before joining the SBLive staff in 2022. He's covered the beat nationally since 2007, profiling such athletes as Derrick Henry, Paige Bueckers, Patrick Mahomes, Sabrina Ionescu, Jayson Tatum, Chiney Ogwumike, Jeremy Lin and Najee Harris as preps. You can reach him at mitch@scorebooklive.com.

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