Sam Burgess, Ava Criniti, Ryan Connolly run to cross country victories in Wrentham

WRENTHAM — With a loaded field swollen with talent, there were whispers that multiple runners could dip under 15 minutes in the Div. 1A championship race Friday at the Wrentham Developmental Center’s 3.1-mile layout.

At the finish, it was a familiar face that crossed the line with a new course record.

Harvard-bound Sam Burgess of Framingham put the frustrating injury that sidelined him for all but three meets this season further in the rearview as he answered every surge Westford Academy’s Paul Bergeron threw at him to finish in a blistering 14 minutes, 38.9 seconds. Both Burgess and runner-up Bergeron (14:43.8) broke the 14:47 course record set last fall by Uxbridge’s Aidan Ross.

“It was hard early,” said Burgess, who defended his title. “I’ve never been out that fast. It was a hard effort.”

It was Bergeron who put the hammer down through a 4:42 opening mile with Burgess, Nathan Lopez of St. John’s Prep (third, 15:08.1) and teammate Jack Graffeo (15:16.2) in tow. He surged shortly after and by two miles (9:24) he dropped everyone but Burgess. The Flyer harrier switched gears shortly after and kept pushing to the finish line.

A whopping 17 runners broke 16 minutes.

Burgess was confident the pace wasn’t going to slow, despite the very fast start.

“He’s (Bergeron) a phenomenal runner,” Burgess said. “He was good as a sophomore and now he’s even better as a junior. When we came to the mile, Paul surged and I knew, ‘Yeah, we’re going to fly.’ ”

Brookline’s squad averaged a swift 15:57 to capture the team title with 80 points. Kailas Ciatto paced the Warriors with his eighth-place finish in 15:42.4.

The harriers benefitted from warm conditions and virtually no wind to make for a fast day of racing.

Lexington’s Ava Criniti scored a mild upset in the 1A race, using her kick over the final 400 meters to edge Newton South’s Amelia Everett in a personal-best 17:50.9. Everett was less than a second back in 17:51.4 and Needham’s Greta Hammer took the bronze medal in 17:51.8.  Andover’s Molly Kiley (17:57.2) and Cambridge’s Aoife Shovlin (17:58.9) also broke the 18-minute barrier.

Criniti, who will attend Northwestern, was content to sit in the tight pack early before making a hard move on the final teardrop loop.

“I was definitely nervous,” she said. “I knew there were a lot of talented girls in my race. This course was a lot less hilly than I’ve been running.”

Like the boys, Brookline earned the team victory in 1A. Led by Jordan Liss-Riordan and Camille Jordan in sixth and seventh, the Warriors put up 64 points for an easy win.

Charlotte Tuxbury of Wellesley had a career day as she shattered her personal best with a time of 18:18 to capture the 1B race. She paced the Raiders to the team title with 56 points. Tuxbury was at the front through splits of 5:50 and 11:49 at two miles before making the push for home.

“I felt good on the last lap and decided to just go for it,” she said. “This race will give us confidence going into All-States.”

Look for Ryan Connolly of North Andover to be in the lead pack of next Saturday’s All-States after blazing his way to a 15:12.7 win in the 1B event, a personal best by 25 seconds.

“I know the Division 1A race is going to be stacked and I wanted to see how I stacked up against them,” he said.

Six runners ran under 16 minutes and North Andover (106 points) edged Wellesley (116 points) in the team competition.

Ryan Sarney of Oliver Ames, just the fourth runner to run under 15 minutes at Wrentham, led the Tigers to a 1-2-3 finish in the 1C race. Sarnery checked in with a quick 15:10.2, while teammates Brendan Thomas and Aidan Dupil also broke 15:30 in 15:20.8 and 15:27.9, respectively. Marblehead just edged out Oliver Ames with 76 points. The Tigers finished with 78 points.

UMass-bound Anna McElhinney of Billerica dominated the 1C race with a winning time of 18:10.6. That put her well ahead of Marblehead’s Marri O’Connell (18:35.2) and Plymouth North’s Macey Shriner (18:55.7­). McElhinney previously clocked an 18:36 at Wrentham to capture the Merrimack Valley Conference title.

“I knew there’d be really good competition, but I knew I’d be up there,” said McElhinney, who has a personal best of 5:09 mile and relies heavily on her finishing kick.

Oliver Ames finished with 73 points to capture the team competition. Billerica took second with 82 points and Central Catholic rounded out the top three with 110 points.