Murray selected as SDHSSA female Senior Scholar-Athlete for FHS

The San Diego High School Sports Association annually honors one male student-athlete and one female student-athlete from each CIF San Diego Section school. This year, Erin Murray was Fallbrook High School’s recognized female Senior Scholar-Athlete.

“I feel super honored and blessed to have the opportunity to receive this award,” Murray said.

The SDHSSA allows athletic directors and coaches to pick the honorees from each school and notes that the student-athletes should have excelled both on and off the field.

“They would be highly representative of what they’re doing as a student-athlete in the classroom,” Patrick Walker, athletic director of Fallbrook High School, said.

Murray compiled a 4.31 GPA while at Fallbrook High School.

“That speaks for itself,” Walker said.

“There were definitely times when it was challenging to manage playing sports and keeping up with my studies, but I learned to manage my time well enough to keep up my grades,” Murray said.

Walker noted that the desire to excel on the field often produces an attitude which leads to academic success.

“The work ethic is a big translation,” he said.

Murray was on Fallbrook’s varsity field hockey team for four years and on the Warriors’ track and field varsity for four years. She did not compete in the Warriors’ only 2020 track and field meet due to a hamstring pull. She was a team captain for the field hockey team as a junior and senior and was also a track and field team captain for her junior and senior years.

The Valley League field hockey coaches gave Murray all-league recognition for all four of her high school seasons, and she was on the all-CIF second team as a senior.

All-league track and field honors are determined by positions at the league championship meet; Murray won the 400-meter race at the Valley League meet all three years and also won the 200-meter dash as a junior and, in 2019, Murray was also part of Fallbrook’s 4x100-meter relay team which won the league race. The Valley League coaches named Murray the league’s girls track and field athlete of the year for 2019.

“She’s highly motivated as a student-athlete,” Walker said. “You can really see her desire on the field and her leadership.”

St. Louis University in Missouri gave Murray a track and field scholarship.

“She would not be getting that if she did not take care of business in the classroom,” Walker said.

Murray will also be receiving academic scholarship assistance while at St. Louis University.

“I would just like to thank my parents, my coaches and especially my teammates,” Murray said of her SDHSSA award.

The SDHSSA normally has a student-athlete breakfast to recognize the honorees. This year a virtual ceremony will honor each designated scholar-athlete. Pictures will be displayed during the roll call, and the ceremony will be posted on http://www.sdhsaa.net. The event program will still be produced and mailed to each recipient along with the SDHSSA certificate of recognition.

Fallbrook High School usually recognizes the SDHSSA award recipients at the Associated Student Body’s year-end senior banquet and at the senior breakfast; however, the shutdown due to the coronavirus outbreak will limit current school honors to certificates only.

A makeup ceremony for the Fallbrook student-athletes may be possible, potentially including when the 2021 seniors are honored.

“There are no promises of that, but I think the recognition ceremony is a big deal,” Walker said.

“It’s a huge bummer that us senior athletes weren’t able to finish out our spring sports season, but I’m super grateful for the memories these past four years,” Murray said.