Murphy Named Women’s Cross Country Head Coach
BUZZARDS BAY, Mass – Following the resignation of former women's cross country head coach, Anna Clark, at the end of the 2018 season, Athletics Director Mike Kelley wasted little time finding the next woman for the job. Friday morning it was announced that 2018 Massachusetts Maritime Academy graduate and former Buccaneer cross country runner and softball player, Kaylene Murphy has been named the next head coach of women's cross country.
Following her graduation in June of 2018 with her Bachelor's Degree in Emergency Management, Kaylene remained at the Academy in the athletic department as a women's recruiter along with 2018 graduate and former Regimental Commander, Mikayla Correia, to increase the enrollment of female student athletes at Mass Maritime. She also joined Kathleen L'Abbe's softball coaching staff as an assistant coach for the upcoming 2019 season. Now, just months in to her post-grad life she has been named the head women's cross country coach.
"I am very excited to be named head coach of a program that gave me so much. Cross country taught me a lot about life." Said Murphy. "It taught me to take risks and that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. As head coach I hope to instill these same lessons in our runners and show them that they are capable of so much more than they think they are. Go Bucs!"
Murphy takes over a team that ran in seven events in the fall of 2018 including a win at the Maritime hosted Travis Fuller Invitational with freshman Lily Hakkarainen (Chesterfield, N.H.) taking a second place finish on her 18th birthday and subsequently winning MASCAC Rookie of the Week honors. The team finished in fifth place in the MASCAC Championships hosted by MCLA. Coach Murphy and her team will look to repeat at the Fuller Invitational and improve on their conference finish from 2018.
"We are excited to have Kaylene even more involved in the Mass Maritime athletics department. She brings so muh knowledge and passion to the department every day and we know that she will have the same passion out on every course the team runs." Said AD Mike Kelley. "Kaylene works hard and we know she is the right person to lead this team."
The Randolph, Mass native currently resides in Buzzards Bay, Mass and is one of two Murphy's to graduate from the Academy.