NEW YORK—Villanova men's track & field and cross country standout Liam Murphy was named the BIG EAST Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year in an announcement by the league office on Wednesday morning. The prestigious accolade is the highest academic honor bestowed by the conference for individual student-athletes. Murphy is the Wildcats first men's winner of the award in 10 years and the seventh overall. The Scholar-Athlete of the Year award comes with a $4,000 scholarship which may be applied to graduate or professional studies. Selections are made by the Conference's Academic Affairs Committee.
 
Villanova has had seven student-athletes named the Men's Scholar-Athlete of the Year, including three from the track & field and cross country program. Previous winners include Drew Eckman (2006-07) and Sam McEntee (2014-15). In all, the Wildcats have earned 17 Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards from the BIG EAST. Villanova has had four Female Student-Athletes of the Year, five Men's Basketball Scholar-Athletes of the Year and one Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year in previous seasons.
 
Murphy's collegiate career was one for the ages, and the record books. He wrapped up his collegiate eligibility with the 2025 outdoor collegiate season and put an exclamation point on his career by setting the all-time NCAA record in the 1500 meters with a lifetime best mark of 3:33.02 on March 27 at a race in Raleigh, N.C. Murphy tied the Villanova men's records for career All-America honors (nine) and career BIG EAST titles (12) during the outdoor season and concluded the year by qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the 1500 meters for the third straight year.
 
The collegiate record in the 1500 meters is just one of several records that Murphy set during his collegiate career. He is the Wildcats absolute record holder in the 3000 meters (7:35.47) and the 5000 meters (13:10.42), with those marks each being recorded during the 2024-25 indoor campaign. He is also Villanova's indoor school record holder in the mile (3:53.85) and ran on school record relays in the distance medley relay (9:20.44) and the 4xMile relay (15:51.91). The latter race came at the 2024 Penn Relays where Murphy anchored a 4xMile lineup which posted the second-fastest time in world history and set the Penn Relays, Franklin Field, collegiate and Villanova records.
 
Murphy owns the fastest time in school history on a 10,000 meter cross country course – 28:55.7 – which he recorded this past year with a ninth place finish at the NCAA Championships. He is the Villanova Stadium record holder in the 1500 meters (3:39.00), the 5000 meters (13:43.32) and the 4x800 meter relay (7:17.96).
 
In addition to the school records he set this past indoor season, Murphy won BIG EAST titles in the 3000 meters and the distance medley relay. It was the third straight year that he won the 3K in addition to anchoring a champion DMR squad. He went on to earn first team All-America honors in the 3K and second team All-America status in the 5000 meters at the indoor NCAA Championships.
 
Murphy graduated from Villanova in 2024 with a major in Economics and minor in Communication. He enrolled in graduate school during his final year of athletic eligibility in 2024-25 to pursue his MBA from the Villanova School of Business. Murphy was the winner of the BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award in men's cross country for the 2023-24 academic year and he has been a three-time member of the BIG EAST All-Academic Team. He was named the Villanova Male Senior Student-Athlete of the Year in 2023-24 and is a five-time member of the Athletic Director's Honor Roll for having a semester GPA of 3.2 or higher.
 
The Conference also announced the male and female winners of the 2024-25 BIG EAST Institutional Scholar-Athlete Scholarships. Each institutional winner receives $2,000 toward graduate studies. Murphy is the Wildcats male winner of the award, while women's track & field star Roschell Clayton is Villanova's female winner for 2024-25.
 
Clayton wrapped up a record-breaking collegiate career in March by winning her fourth career BIG EAST title in the high jump. She was named the Outstanding Field Performer at the BIG EAST Championships and graduates as the Villanova record holder in the high jump both indoors (1.88m) and outdoors (1.87m). Clayton is the Wildcats first athlete ever to be a four-time BIG EAST high jump champion and she demonstrated her elite ability on a national level with three career All-America honors. Her top finishes at the NCAA Championships include a tie for fifth place at the 2024 outdoor championships and a tie for sixth place at the 2024 indoor national meet.
 
The academic accomplishments for Clayton during her collegiate career are equally impressive to what she achieved in athletic competition. She graduated from Villanova a semester early in December 2023 with a major in Communication and went on to enroll in graduate school and pursue her MBA from the Villanova School of Business during her final three semesters of athletic eligibility. Clayton was named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll for having a GPA of 3.2 or higher in all 10 of her semesters on campus. She was named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team five straight years from 2020-21 through 2024-25 and has also been a member of the BIG EAST All-Academic Team every year of her collegiate career.
 
Clayton won the BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award for women's outdoor track & field in 2024 and was named the PhillySIDA Academic All-Area Performer of the Year in women's track & field the same year. She is a two-time member of the PhillySIDA Academic All-Area Team and earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-District recognition this year.