BERKELEY - At 8 a.m. on a Wednesday morning, Ryan Murphy's life resembles that of a normal college student.

From the outside looking in, nothing in particular stands out as he settles into the front row of a Haas School of Business lecture hall, breakfast in one hand and Gatorade bottle in the other. The routine wouldn't pass for anything but usual in the life of an undergraduate attempting to earn a degree from one of the nation's most renowned business schools.

On this particular day and at this point in the school year, life is a little more relaxed for the Cal senior. With just a few weeks until the NCAA Championships will bring his four-year college career to a close, rest is more a priority than tough training sets and rigorous practice.

The respite is both well-earned and much-deserved.

In four years at Cal, Murphy has grown from an accomplished young swimmer to one of the sport's most recognizable faces. In the public eye, that growth manifested itself in the form of three gold medals and a world record at his first Olympics, the 2016 Rio Games.

For any normal human being, that would be enough to earn a spot in America's lexicon of sports legends.

For Murphy, that athletic success is only one piece of the journey.

In some ways, four years of working towards a degree in Business Administration might prove to be a bit of foreshadowing for an athlete who is about to make the jump into becoming a professional.
Once the NCAA Championships conclude, Murphy will make the transition from amateur to pro while continuing to work towards his degree. In many respects, life won't appear a whole lot different than it was in the weeks leading up to his final collegiate meet.

He'll still take a few classes to finish up school. He'll still report to Haas Pavilion to lift weights, Spieker Aquatics Complex or Legends Aquatic Center for practice.

Life, as they say, will go on.

But in the rearview mirror, Murphy will be able to see the spoils of four years filled with hard work and focus. Getting a degree from the Haas School of Business isn't an easy achievement for any student, but for one that has had to split his focus between a hyper-focused major and the pursuit of a lifelong dream, the accomplishment rings extra impressive.

In recognition of his work, the Pac-12 named Murphy its Scholar-Athlete of the Year for men's swimming. An award given to a senior who carries a high GPA while also achieving success in the athletic arena, the honor means just as much to him as the accolades gained in the pool.

"Any time you get a career achievement award, that's something that should be taken as pretty special," Murphy said. "For me, I do that as a four-year award. A lot of hard work went into that. Four years of grinding it out in the classroom, four years of grinding it out in the pool and doing those in good balance. That's the way I really view it, as a career achievement award, and that's why that meant a lot to me."



If his mornings are filled with business concepts and theory, Murphy's afternoons are rooted in much more tangible gains.

That starts in the weight room, and for all the recognition rightly given to Cal men's swimming coaches David Durden and Yuri Suguiyama, anyone currently involved in the program will also point to strength and conditioning coach Joel Smith as a driving force behind the success enjoyed by Cal swimmers.

So, while that time spent lifting weights might seem like a chance to kick back and relax, thanks to Smith and a motivated bunch of seniors, focus doesn't wane. Murphy moves from weights to the pool, and therein lies another chance to do what he does best – compete.

Practices at Cal are built around constant competition. A simple drill on the starting blocks turns into a test of who can get off quicker. Sets are measured against teammates, and racing isn't reserved for dual meets or invitationals.

It's a setting that has also provided room for growth. Murphy came to Cal as an accomplished and talented swimmer, but in four years his hard work in the pool has helped turn potential into NCAA and Olympic success.

"Any time you have an athlete at Ryan's caliber that finishes his collegiate career, that is a bittersweet moment," Durden said. "The bitter part is that's his last time to race with a group that he has trained with for the last four years and over the last year with our freshmen. That's the bitter part of it, that dynamic changes. The sweet part of it is he's going to continue on with his swimming career and it's not the last meet for Ryan Murphy as a California Golden Bear."



Once practice ends, it's back to the apartment for Murphy and his teammates. Whether discussion centers around homework, swimming or simply the world at large, the support system provided by his peers has played a large role in shaping the path of an Olympic champion.

It has also maintained a sense of normalcy within the college atmosphere. Hard as it might be to believe, what goes on in the pool isn't the only way to define Murphy as a person and the public persona he enjoys when on deck isn't a requisite during the rare down time he might enjoy.

The lack of a seeming dichotomy, the way in which he combines the traits of an elite athlete and high-achieving college student, stands as perhaps the greatest indication of just how the entire Berkeley experience has left its mark.

It also reflects the mark Murphy continues to leave on Cal.

"Right now, I would say we have the best training group in the world on the men's side. I think that's just going to continue to grow," Murphy said. "It really is a bunch of really motivated, competitive guys. I think those are the type of people that are going to be successful in the world and I'm happy to be friends with them. There are a lot of guys on our team that are going to do some pretty cool things and I think that's going to be exciting to see."