By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Conor Murtagh maintained a busy schedule during his time as a student-athlete at Bridgewater State University.

He would report to campus at the end of summer to train with the men's soccer team, and once that season ended, would get ready for the start of the indoor track & field schedule.

When spring arrived in late March, Murtagh would take part in the outdoor track & field season.

That hectic athletic agenda came after a full day of academics for the finance major from Walpole.

"It was nice because soccer kept me in shape for track," said Murtagh. "I'd go into track and be in much better shape than everybody else and then I'd go right into soccer the next year. It kind of worked out pretty well for me.

"It wasn't as difficult as you'd think. Brendan (Adams, the men's soccer coach) was always a big advocate for making sure everything was going well with school. If you're not doing well in school, you're not going to be able to play. Plus I was always a little bit of a nerd for finance, which was my major."

Not only did Murtagh manage to balance all that was going on, he excelled.

Murtagh earned NCAA Division 3 All-America honors five times as a hurdler while in soccer, he was a two-time MASCAC player of the year and made the All-New England first team.

There was never any doubt that Murtagh would be taking his place in the Bridgewater State University Athletics Hall of Fame, and that will helping on Friday night, Oct. 20 during Homecoming Weekend.

"It's a great honor," said Murtagh, a 2017 BSU graduate who lives in Holbrook and works in the financial sector. "It's obviously a big award for me. A lot of people helped me along the way.

"Brendan almost cut me sophomore year. I just needed kind of a little boost of confidence and I just needed to get things moving. He worked with me a ton. The track coaches worked with me a ton. Everybody in the athletic department always helped me out with everything because I was like an idiot freshman.

"It wasn't just me. It was a bunch of people helping me out along the way."

Murtagh thought he was going to just play soccer when he arrived at college, but then decided to add track & field as well.

"I originally was just going to do soccer, but I ran into somebody in the freshman dorm and they said, 'You were pretty good at track, why don't you do it?'" he said. "I was like, 'It'll keep me in shape, why not?' All of a sudden I got pretty good at it and said, "I've got to keep doing this.'"

After a slow start in soccer, Murtag finished with 32 goals and 10 assists in 60 career games to rank second at BSU in goals and points.

BSU went 23-4-4 in MASCAC games in his final three seasons and he was the MASCAC player of the year as a junior and senior while receiving all-conference first team honors.

A two-time most valuable player of the conference tournament, Murtagh set the BSU record with 44 points in a season and tied the school mark with 18 goals in a season.

In track & field, Murtagh earned All-America status in the 60-meter hurdles at the 2015 and 2016 indoor meets and the 110-meter hurdles at the outdoor meets in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

"With soccer, I always loved the team aspect," said Murtagh, who earned his Master's degree at the University of Ireland in Cork. "You're kind of like in the trenches with everybody. With track, there was a lot more progression I could make on my own. You do things on your own in track. The camaraderie of soccer, that's what I loved about soccer."

It may have been a hectic stay for Murtagh at Bridgewater State, but he made it all work.

"I saw my parents (John and Marie) work really hard every single day," said Murtagh. "They gave me that hard-working attitude."