Elizabeth Murphy enters her third year as the SMU Track and Field Throws Coach. This is Murphy's first step into coaching after competing as a thrower as a graduate student at SMU and three years prior at Grand Valley State University.
Last season, Murphy guided Tochi Nlemchi to a personal-best mark in the weight throw with a toss of 59 feet, 11 inches (18.26m), which was the sixth-best throw in school history. Three Mustangs placed in the shot put at the American Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships. Nlemchi finished fourth, while Jacquetta Cannon placed seventh, followed by Daniella Murchison eighth-place finish.
In 2016, Murphy coached Nlemchi to an indoor conference meet record en route to winning the shot put at the American Athletic Conference Championship with a personal best toss of 16.32m. She also guided Nlemchi to an outdoor conference meet and stadium record after recording a 16.76m toss in the shot put to win the event. Murphy led Nlemchi to second-team All-American honors after a ninth-place finish in the shot put with a personal-best throw of 16.77m at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Murphy returned to the Hilltop after competing in the Weight Throw and Hammer Throw for SMU in 2012-13, winning the Conference USA Outdoor Championship in the Hammer Throw and coming in third at the C-USA Indoor Championships in the Weight Throw. Those results along with a 16th place finish at the NCAA Championships earned her All-American status in her only year at SMU.
Prior to her time at SMU, Murphy was a two-time Hammer Throw Champion and six-time All-American at the Division II level while at Grand Valley State. She also holds the record at the D-II level in the Weight Throw for indoor track and field.
