Lucille Murphy Aims for a Triple Crown

Lucille Murphy is on the hunt for the Triple Crown, but not the one that pops into most peoples’ heads who hail from the Spa City. Rather, it is the USA Weightlifting (USAW) Masters Triple Crown. Murphy, who currently serves as the treasurer for Saratoga Springs School District, started Olympic weightlifting in 2023. 

An athlete all her life, she played soccer and competed with the Saratoga Rowing Association in her youth. However, a dislocated disk from rowing in college sidelined her from athletics for a time.

“Then I met my now husband, and he started getting into CrossFit. He said, ‘you have to come try this crazy thing,’” Murphy recalled. “I really just liked the lifting. I said to my husband, ‘I kind of want to pursue this and see where it can take me.’”

So, Murphy joined Gryphon Strength Barbell and began specializing in Olympic lifts. 

Quickly, she realized she had the capacity to compete with the country’s best lifters. 

In her first year of competition, she finished 9th at a national competition. Then after a back injury which kept her out of competition in 2024, she returned in 2025 with a gold medal at the Master’s Nationals Championship. 

This year she has her sights set on a USAW Masters Tripple Crown, which requires her to win three national competitions in a calendar year – of which, she has already captured two. 

In March she won the VIRUS Weightlifting Seres 1 in Columbus, Ohio, by lifting a total of 174 kg, a New York State Record. Then in April she defended her title at the Masters National Championship in Salt Lake City. 

Murphy has been aiming for the USAW Masters Triple Crown since its inception in 2023. This year she has her best shot yet, possibly due in part to her daughter Della joining her as a fellow competitor.

“My daughter was always wondering how she would stack up against Emily (a youth lifter with Gryphon Strength Barbell). She had seen Emily at meets before and I said, ‘it’s time you prove it to yourself, do the work and see how you land,’” Murphy told her daughter. 

On September 26, 2026, Lucille and Della traveled to Binghamton for the New York State Weightlifting Championship. Lucille won the NYS Championship for her division, lifting a 70kg snatch and 91kg clean and jerk.  

Della, in her second lifting meet, was the state runner up in her division. Additionally, she was awarded the youth award for the best female lifter in her division. 

For the mother-daughter team, their next competition will be The VIRUS Weightlifting Finals in Pleasanton, California in December – the final leg of the Triple Crown for Lucille.

In the meantime, the Saratoga Springs Treasurer is known to train in the high school weight room, often engaging in friendly competition with the football team to push each other to new heights. The team will be sure to cheer her on in December.