Murphy sets lofty goals again ahead of Fargo National Championships

Jun. 25—Work doesn't necessarily feel like work if you love what you do.

That's why Samuel Murphy is more than willing to treat wrestling as his full-time job.

"I love wrestling year-round," Murphy said Friday. "It's something I live for, and I love competing and traveling. Plus, I think putting in this type of work in the offseason is how you get an edge on everyone else in the winter.

"If you love wrestling and want to be the best, then why not do it as much as you can?"

The McDonald County grappler has already spent a considerable amount of time of the mat this summer in preparation for the 2022 USA Wrestling Greco-Roman and Freestyle National Championships, which will be held in Fargo, North Dakota, on July 16-22.

Murphy, coming off a third-place finish at the 220-pound weight class in the MSHSAA Class 3 State Wrestling Championships in February, is looking to become a double All-American in Fargo for a second consecutive summer. He placed seventh in freestyle and sixth in greco at the national 16-under tournament a year ago.

"My goal is to go out there and double All-American again," Murphy said. "Hopefully I can make the finals and win a national title. You have to set your goals high or you're not going to achieve great things."

Murphy kicked off his summer campaign in early June at the USA Wrestling Southern Plains Greco-Roman and Freestyle Regionals held at the Kansas Star Event Center in Mulvane, Kansas.

Competing at the 220-pound weight class of the junior division, Murphy placed runner-up in greco and first in freestyle while posting a 5-1 overall record in the two-day event.

Murphy's biggest triumph of the Southern Plains regional came in the semifinals of the freestyle tournament, where he claimed an 8-6 victory over Oklahoma's Oscar Williams, who is a former 16-under greco national champion. The win avenged a narrow setback that Murphy had suffered to Williams one day earlier in the greco tournament.

"Samuel had a tough bout with (Williams) in greco — I think it was maybe a three-point match," McDonald County coach Josh Factor said. "It was kind of a situation where Sam got called for an unnecessary roughness penalty in that match, and it ended up costing him.

"Sam came back the next day in freestyle and had a great tournament. He had a rematch with the Williams kid and actually ended up winning that one by a couple of points. So that was a great opponent to beat. Any time you beat a guy who's won a Fargo championship, that's a great confidence booster for any kid."

Murphy went on to claim a decisive 11-1 win by technical superiority in his championship match of the freestyle tournament.

Also competing in the Southern Plains regional for the Mustangs were Alex Bogart (195, 16-under division) and Blaine Ortiz (138, junior division). Bogart went 4-2 on the weekend and placed second in greco and second in freestyle, while Ortiz went 2-4.

Murphy most recently competed in the 2022 Junior National Duals in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last weekend. Representing Team Missouri, he went 4-2 in his greco matches and 7-1 in his freestyle bouts.

"He had a tough kid from Michigan (Caden Ferris) that he saw twice at the National Duals — kind of the same situation as the Williams kid at the Southern Plains regional," Factor said. "The Michigan kid beat him by technical superiority in greco, and then Samuel ended up avenging his loss in freestyle and beat him on criteria to pull that one off. So it was another impressive response made by Samuel."

"I don't like getting beat to begin with," Murphy said. "I avenged both of those losses in freestyle, and if I'm being honest, I'm probably better at freestyle even though I tend to like greco more. But again, I don't like getting beat by anyone, and I especially don't like getting beat twice."

Murphy, who will be a junior in the upcoming school year, said the offseason wrestling has boosted his college recruiting stock as he's been in contact with several collegiate coaches over the course of the summer.

"If I'm being honest, all of the college coaches I have talked with, they only talk to me about the things I've been doing in the offseason," Murphy said. "None of them have talked to me about what I've done in season. So I think that's a big factor."

Following the summer national championships in Fargo, Murphy aims to accomplish something that's eluded him through his first two prep seasons at McDonald County — win a high school state title. He's currently a two-time state placer, having finished fourth as a freshman and third as a sophomore.

Murphy went 4-1 in his third-place finish at the state tournament in February. His only loss was a 3-1 overtime setback to eventual state champion Jake Fernandez of Platte County in the semifinals.

Murphy's bout with Fernandez ended with a bit of controversy. After Murphy was rewarded a takedown in the first sudden-victory period — a takedown that would have clinched the win and advanced him to the finals — the two-point score was taken away by the officials after they convened with a MSHSAA wrestling representative about a new boundary rule that was implemented just ahead of the state tournament.

Fernandez went on to claim the win in the first tiebreaker period.

"I want to get done what I didn't do last season, which is win a state title," Murphy said. "I mean, I feel like I had it taken away from me this past season. I don't want to feel that feeling again."

Contact Jared Porter on Twitter at @JaredRyanPorter.