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Last updated at 6:03 p.m. First published at 11:13 a.m.

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FRAMINGHAM – Framingham High junior Sam Burgess won the MIAA Division 1 Cross-Country Championship meet today, November 13.

His time was 15:05 minutes. This was a personal best for Burgess, and the best time in Massachusetts in 2021 season.

The previous best time in the Commonwealth this season was James Donahue at 15:09.8 minutes at the ISL Cross-Country Championships on November 5. Donahue is a Belmont Hill student.

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Earlier this month, Burgess won the Bay State League Championship in 15:27.9. This was Burgess previous season best time until today.

The top time in the country this season is sophomore Joshua Bell from California in 14.29 minutes at the Pather Invite 5K on Oct 16.

Burgess’ time of 15.05 minutes puts him in the top 100 runners in the country.

“15:05 was an improvement upon my personal best of 15:27 from the Bay State Championships.  Between the two meets I haven’t really done anything all that different to prepare.  I’ve just been pushing workouts and staying faithful to the training plan my coach and I have,” said Burgess.

“This was my second time racing Wrentham this year.  The conditions today were great;  It was warm, the course was dry and there was minimal wind.  I think the biggest difference today was the competition.  I haven’t had a field this competitive to push me in a while, so it was nice to have people pushing me,” said Burgess, who set a course record today.

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“I benefited by having the experience of having raced competitively both with my running club and with Framingham High School. This has helped me a lot by giving me enough experience to not make races bigger than they are. This helps me remain calm and not psych myself out before big races like the one today,” said Burgess, who said some of his favorite runners are Galen Rupp, Eliud Kipchoge, Grant Fisher, and Kenenisa Bekele.

Burgess comes from a running family, and started out with local 5K races. He said he “didn’t start running competitively until middle school, and then took another jump in how seriously I took running when I joined the team at Framingham High School.”

Burgess said he likes to run because he loves to “compete with others as well as myself, and running allows me to clear my head as well as test my limits.”

The Framingham High senior says his favorite subject is math.

SOURCE asked him to tell readers something about himself that has nothing to do with running. His response – “I have a dog named Meeka and a cat named Mayson.”

Next up for Burgess is the all states meet.

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Photo by Lisa Burgess

By editor

Susan Petroni is the former editor for SOURCE. She is the founder of the former news site, which as of May 1, 2023, is now a self-publishing community bulletin board. The website no longer has a journalist but a webmaster.