Patrick Murray is in his fourth season as an assistant coach with the Loyola Chicago track & field and cross country programs. Murray arrived in Rogers Park following a six-year stint on the coaching staff at Binghamton University. Murray played an integral role in the sweep of the 2022 and 2023 Atlantic 10 Cross Country Championships.
Loyola opened the 2024 cross country season with another dominant performance, as the women’s team claimed its third straight Atlantic 10 championship behind four top-seven finishes. The men followed with a strong showing of their own, finishing second overall with two runners in the top seven. At the NCAA Midwest Regional, James Lawrence and Grace Kuhn earned All-Region recognition—Lawrence placed 14th in the men’s 10K to lead Loyola to a fifth-place team finish, while Kuhn’s 23rd-place effort in the women’s 6K helped the Ramblers take ninth. In the classroom, Loyola continued to shine, with the men’s team earning a 3.43 GPA and the women’s team leading the way with a 3.69 during the fall semester.
The momentum continued indoors at the 2025 Atlantic 10 Championships, where Lawrence was named Most Outstanding Track Performer after winning both the 3,000- and 5,000-meter titles. His time of 8:03.53 in the 3K set a new conference meet record, and he later lowered the program’s indoor 3K mark to 7:52.32. On the women’s side, Emma Watcke set new school records in both the mile (4:39.66) and the 3K (9:14.85). Lawrence and teammate Gabe Smit were honored for their academic and athletic excellence with spots on the A-10 Indoor All-Academic Team.
The outdoor season brought even more highlights. Lawrence, Watcke, and Roisin Treacy each captured Atlantic 10 titles—Lawrence and Watcke in the 5,000 meters, and Treacy in the 3,000-meter steeplechase—while three other Ramblers also reached the podium. All four athletes qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary Round. At the Stanford Invitational, Lawrence recorded the 13th-fastest 10K in the nation with a time of 27:54.62, shattering the school record by more than 45 seconds.
Following the season, Lawrence, Smit, Watcke, and Treacy were each named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team. Both the men’s and women’s squads once again earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors, with Lawrence, Watcke, and Treacy also receiving individual recognition. Academically, Loyola remained strong through the spring semester, with the men’s team achieving a 3.44 GPA and the women’s team close behind at 3.67.
To close out an outstanding year, Jason Clayton made history in the summer by breaking the school’s outdoor 3,000-meter record. His time of 7:53.12 at the Cork City Sports meet in Ireland eclipsed the previous mark by 27 seconds. In total, Loyola athletes set eight new school records and earned eight Atlantic 10 Track Performer of the Week honors during a standout year.
Through the 2023-24 season, Loyola Chicago found success in many facets. The cross country programs defeated three ranked foes en route to defending their league titles. Chris Devaney, who repeated as the men's individual A-10 cross country champion, garnered All-American status after placing 31st at the 2023 NCAA Cross Country Championships.
The Ramblers had seven student-athletes represented across the three All-A-10 Teams (All-Rookie, All-Conference, and All-Academic), while three Rambler men earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors.
In 2023-24 indoor action, four individuals, plus the men's DMR, won league titles. Jayla Johnson, who won the 60m hurdle event and was personally coached by Murray, broke the program's indoor 60m hurdle and outdoor 100m hurdle records five times. Francois Guilhot was named to the All-Academic Team, while Cael Mulholland and Julia Isham earned All-Rookie nods in two events each.
The 2024 outdoor season saw two Ramblers win league titles, including Devaney winning the men's 10k and Jason Clayton taking first in the men's 5k. The duo, along with Emma Watcke, earned bids to compete at the NCAA West Preliminary Round in Fayetteville, Ark., where Clayton advanced to the west region's quarterfinal round. Meanwhile, Eileen Seebon and Nate Boutin landed on the A-10's All-Rookie Team, while Devaney was named to the All-Academic Team and the CSC Academic All-District Team.
The cross country program named its first All-American since 1991 (Ryan Martins), 11 Ramblers earned All-Conference honors, two All-Rookie, two All-Region accolades, and several academic awards from the league and USTFCCCA in 2022.
The 2022 title sweep marked the first time both programs won the title since 2012. The men also claimed the individual title with Devaney crossing the finish line first. He took home the A-10 Most Outstanding Male Performer honors.
In addition to Devaney’s success, Ryan Martins and Blake Buysse placed in the top-10 with second and ninth place respectively. On the women’s side, Nora Wollen (5
th), Lilian Mataway (6
th), and Claire Hengesbaugh (8
th) landed in the top-10. Mataway was tabbed the A10 Most Outstanding Rookie Performer. Loyola raked in a total of nine All-Atlantic 10 nods and two All-Rookie selections following the A10 Championship.
The Ramblers continued rewriting history at the NCAA Regionals. The men soared to a fourth-place finish at the regional, marking the highest finish in program history. The women’s eighth-place finish was the third best in program history. Martins and Devaney were tabbed All-Region by UTSFCCCA. Martins also became the first male to qualify for the NCAA Championship since 2014. At the championship, he placed 29
th with a personal best time (29:28.8), which is the second highest finish by a Rambler in program history.
Momentum carried over into the indoor track & field season starting with the shattering of Jim Westphal’s 30-year-old school record. Martins was 23-seconds faster in the men’s 5k to make history, stopping the clock at 13:33.45. The indoor season was capped with the success of three freshmen earning A10 All-Rookie honors. Woody Jerome and Ali Gillooly ran the fastest times in the men’s and women’s 3,000m, respectively, while Mataway held the fastest rookie time in the women’s 5k.
In all, the Ramblers posted 10 top-10 times during the indoor campaign, including five on each the men’s and women’s side. The teams combined for 41 personal records over nine meets.
The outdoor track season garnered similar success, including the program’s first ever Atlantic 10 individual champion in the men’s 10k, 81 PRs, and 22 program top-10 times.
Outdoors, Devaney and Martins broke Jim Westphal’s 31-year-old program record in the event at Stanford in the early season, claiming first and second on the all-time list, with times of 28:40.40 & 28:45.46 respectively. Buysse was on their tails with a time of 29:05.99 that landed him fifth all-time. The trio eventually became part of an event squad ranked fifth in the nation by USTFCCAA.
Martins and Devaney went on to qualify in the 10k for the NCAA West Preliminaries. They ran in the NCAA semifinals out in California and were joined by teammate Jason Clayton. Clayton qualified for the men’s 1,500m, where he advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time in his career, running 3:41.76.
The Ramblers also excelled in the classroom. Kathleen Simms was tabbed the A10’s Post Graduate Award winner following her dedication to academics and athletics. Devaney and Martins earned USTFCCCA and A10 All-Academic Team honors during the cross country season, while both teams earned team recognition.
Murray enjoyed a terrific stint as an assistant coach on the southern edge of New York, helping guide the Binghamton Bearcats’ distance program to multiple successful seasons. On the cross country course, he has assisted in the development of six All-America East Conference (AEC) honorees, highlighted by Emily Mackay, who took home individual medalist honors at the 2020 AEC Championship before earning United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-America honors following a 14
th-place finish at the NCAA Championships.
Additionally, Eric Holt recorded a mile time of 4:00.65 and earned the title of 2017 America East Indoor Mile Champion and 2018 America East Indoor 1000 Champion. Dan Schaffer secured the 2021 America East Cross Country Champion title, placed third in the 2017 USATF Junior Championships 5k, second in the 2018 America East Cross Country Championships, and 23rd in the 2018 NCAA Northeast Regional Championships – All Region. He holds the school record in the 5k (13:57) and earned the titles of 2019 America East Outdoor Champion (1500) and 2020 America East Indoor Champion (Mile). He was also a two-time NCAA First Round Qualifier (5k, 1500) and achieved a sub 4-minute mile (3:58).
Aziza Chigatayeva placed third in the 2018 America East Cross Country Championships and secured the title of 2019 and 2021 America East Steeplechase Champion. She was a two-time NCAA East First Round Qualifier (Steeple – 10:15) and holds the 3k record (9:52 – freshman year).
On the track, Binghamton student-athletes captured 10 conference titles. Three runners earned bids to the NCAA East Preliminary, with Mackay going on to earn USTFCCCA All-America honors in the 5,000m run at this past spring’s NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Prior to his arrival in The Empire State, Murray spent three seasons at Florida State University, where he also served as an assistant coach. During his time in Tallahassee, Fla., the Seminoles’ women’s cross country program recorded a pair of top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships, while the men’s side captured the team title at the NCAA South Regional in 2015.
At FSU, Colleen Quigley achieved the 2015 NCAA Steeplechase Champion title and was a World Championship Qualifier, securing the ACC 1500m Champion title. She holds conference and school records in steeplechase. Additionally, Linden Hall earned the title of 2015 All-American in the 1500m. Otniel Teixeira achieved fourth place in the ACC Indoor Championships 800m, third in the ACC Outdoor Championships, and qualified for the NCAA East Prelims in the 800. Zak Seddon earned the title of 2016 ACC Runner-Up Steeplechase and achieved sixth place as an All-American at the NCAA Outdoor Championship. Additionally, Jake Burton secured second place in the 2016 ACC 800m, 14th at the NCAA Indoor Championships, third in the ACC Outdoor Championships 800m, and qualified for the 2016 NCAA East Prelims in the 800.
Murray broke into the coaching ranks in 2011-12 as a volunteer assistant coach at Syracuse University, where he was a four-year letterwinner with the track & field and cross country programs. He was part of a staff that helped the Orange to a sweep of the team titles at the NCAA Northeast Regional before earning a pair of top-20 finishes in the team race at the NCAA Championships.
A native of Rhinebeck, N.Y., Murray received his bachelor’s degree in physical education from Syracuse in 2012 before earning his master’s in sports management during his time at Florida State.
