Corralling Liam Murphy is much like ghosthunting. When opponents recognize what he’s doing, he’s already made his second or third move. Arms grasp more air than flesh.
“I’d say I’m tough, aggressive, agile and fast,” said Murphy, an Ocean Lakes senior wrestler ranked No. 1 in Hampton Roads at 138 pounds.
Fast and funky if you ask Dolphins coach Chris Barnhart.
“He’s unorthodox at times,” Barnhart said. “Funky when he needs to be. He’s pretty athletic. He could be more consistent in some regular holds, but he’s better in scrambles than most people would think.”
Murphy has helped lead No. 7 Ocean Lakes (7-3) to a strong season, but as February nears and the postseason looms, Murphy aims for a return to the Class 6 state final that he wasn’t prepared for as a sophomore.
“I took it personally,” Murphy said of his 17-2 defeat in that championship bout. “I also feel like I wasn’t ready. The hype of the moment overtook me and I wasn’t really there.”
But in a flash, Murphy is back to smiling. Defeats don’t deject him like many other wrestlers.
“There’s very few kids you’ll get,” assistant coach Mike Mosley said, “who are smiling after losing a state semifinal match saying, ‘Did you see that? I almost had him!'”
Murphy’s happy-go-lucky attitude might stem from a lifetime of playfights with his older brother, Aidan, who starred for Ocean Lakes and graduated in 2017 before wrestling at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.
Liam Murphy is used to losing to Aidan but always wants a rematch.
“Our house was a roughhouse, for sure,” Liam Murphy said. “He was definitely beating up on me a little, but when I got bigger, our wrestling matches got a little closer.”
Indeed, Aidan Murphy has returned to his brotherly duties after recently graduating from college. He’s in Ocean Lakes’ wrestling room three to four times a week scrapping with Liam.
“I’d say he’s a lot tougher than I was,” Aidan Murphy said. “More mentally tough, too, not just wrestling. I think he’s coming into his own a little bit and he’s not as much little bro anymore. I think he’s a little bigger than me now, too.”
Their styles, however, couldn’t differ more.
“He’s a little more flow, take it as it comes,” Aidan Murphy said. “I was more trying to do just a couple moves and very stiff.”
Mentally, Aidan’s intelligence lured him into a tendency to overthink, while Liam “can make things tighter in a match than they should be because he’s wide open and just goes after it the whole time,” Barnhart said.
Still, Liam’s ears perk up when Aidan offers sound advice.
“At states things haven’t gone his way,” Aidan Murphy said. “I’ve felt the same, placing third and fourth my sophomore and junior year, so for him it’s more to stay diligent and be better the next time. Not everyone succeeds the first time they get to states.”
A final hand raise this season would be a deserving honor, but postseason perfection won’t define Liam Murphy.
“He enjoys the sport in a way that very few kids do,” Mosley said. “He likes wrestling win, lose or whatever. He just likes to go out there and scrap.”
Ray Nimmo, ray.nimmo@pilotonline.com
