Friendship fuels humble hurdlers

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For the Hillsdale Chargers, watching the hurdles is always exciting. Unlike other events, in which Hillsdale has a dominant athlete, the hurdles event is closely contended between Juniors Elliot Murphy and Matt Raffin.

Despite the competition between the athletes, a rivalry rife with animosity does not exist between them. Instead, their mutual respect allows them not only to be teammates, but also friends.

“When they compete, it seems like they are intertwined,” head women’s coach Andrew Towne said.

Both hurdlers are captains of the sprinting team, elected by their teammates. Usually, the votes are split between athletes of different events.

“People are confident that we can work well together,” Raffin said.

Towne said that the competitive nature between the two athletes developed organically. Both men attended Hillsdale College after competing in hurdles in high school. Towne, however, left during the men’s first year to coach at Miami University.

When he returned, he learned that Raffin had a successful novice season. Murphy, however, had struggled to transition to college and Towne did not learn about him right away.

“The first day of practice Elliot asked me if he should practice with the hurdlers,” Towne said. “I asked him, ‘You hurdle?”

During the fall of Raffin and Murphy’s sophomore year, however, Towne noticed Murphy had potential to compete as a top hurdler. He also noticed that chemistry existed between Raffin and Murphy.

Hurdlers rotate between two types of training. In the first, they work on clearing the hurdle. For the second, athletes work on the rhythm necessary for the event.

In the second type of training, Towne saw that if Murphy would take the first hurdle well, Raffin would take the second hurdle better. Soon, the two athletes would run and jump in sync.

“They feed off each other,” Towne said.

The men acknowledge that their symmetry is unexpected because they are different types of athletes. Murphy admits that he struggles with losing control during the race. Raffin quickly follows his teammate’s humility pointing out that Murphy has a better body-type for hurdles and explodes at the start. Murphy counters that Raffin has better technical skill.

“We push each other,” Raffin said. “If one of us is having a good day, it makes the other want to be better.”

Sometimes Raffin’s skill set helps him beat Murphy, but other times Murphy has the advantage over Raffin. Despite the continual competition, no matter who wins after the race, no awkwardness exists between the runners.

“Any personal animosity that might come up in competition isn’t worth it in the long run,” Murphy said. “Personal relationships are more important than any time that you run.”

Despite the athletes’ physical differences, they have a similar demeanor and calmness. Men’s head oach Jeff Forino will sometimes mix their names, even announcing Murphy at an awards banquet as Elliot Raffin.

In predicting who will win at the GLIAC Conference Championships, Raffin decided that Murphy would win the 110-meter hurdles. Murphy countered and said that Raffin would definitely win the 400-meter.

Both athletes appreciate their competition, but know that it makes them better.

“We have track in the proper prospective,” Raffin said. “Three or four years from now, no one will remember who won.”