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Billerica Memorial High School Cross Country

Billerica Memorial High School Cross Country


Billerica Memorial High School Cross Country is the cross country program of Billerica Memorial High School, with boys' and girls' varsity teams running in the fall. Varsity cross country began in September 1959 under Roger Samson, who coached the boys for more than twenty years and also founded the school's spring track team. His teams won the Lowell Suburban League and then the Merrimack Valley League and Conference many times, went undefeated in eight seasons by 1972, and in the fall of 1976 won the Division I state championship meet in Boston, "a first from any harrier team from Billerica." A girls' team was organized in 1978 and won the Merrimack Valley title in 1980 and 1981. In 2024 and 2025 the girls won the MIAA Division 1C championship. Many of the program's coaches also coached the school's winter and spring teams in Billerica Memorial High School Track and Field.

"In September, 1959, varsity Cross-Country was introduced," the Warrior of 1960 reported, and the first team, coached by Samson, went 1-6, beating only Bedford. The team of 1960, "also a new sport for Billerica," won the Lowell Suburban League championship and lost only two of nine meets, and its top runner placed eighth of 115 at the state meet. The 1961 team went 9-1 by the yearbook's count (the athletic record printed in the town report gives 6-0 in the league and 9-0 overall) and stretched its unbeaten run in Lowell Suburban competition to fifteen meets. The 1962 team lost the Suburban title "for the first time since it was initiated four years ago" but placed fourth of 22 schools in the State Class C championship. The varsity went 10-3 in 1963, second in the Suburban championship race, and in 1964 it was undefeated, won both the Lowell Suburban championship and the league meet, and placed sixth of 29 schools in the state meet in Boston.

The 1965 team was undefeated for a second straight year, twenty wins without a loss and 37 straight meets over two seasons, won the Merrimack Valley League championship and the Merrimack Valley Championship Meet, and placed fourth of 31 schools in the Class C state meet. After a 7-3 season in 1967, the team of 1968 was the smallest since the sport began, "due to the split sessions at the Junior High," but it beat Chelmsford by one point to win the conference championship, and its coach wrote that its seventeen runners "were the most dedicated runners that I have ever coached in my nine years of coaching Cross Country." The teams of 1969 (11-0) and 1970 (10-0) were undefeated, ran the winning streak to 33 meets in three years, and won the league title and the championship meet both years. After a 7-2 season in 1971 the 1972 team went 9-0: "This is the eighth undefeated season and eighth championship since it was originated by Coach Samson 13 years ago."

The team of 1973 was mostly freshmen and sophomores, and its freshmen won the conference's new freshman division. After seasons of 6-4 in 1974 and 9-1 in 1975, the 1976 team, "the best team ever produced at Billerica in its 19 years of competition under Coach Roger Samson," won the Division I state championship in Boston, while the junior varsity went 9-0; that fall two girls were allowed to run on the junior varsity and placed fourth and sixth in the girls' Division I championship. In 1978 the boys won the Northern Area District Championship against 38 other schools, "the first time that Billerica High has ever won this meet," though Methuen took the Merrimack Valley title. The 1979 team went 9-0 in the league and won the Merrimack Valley championship: "This gave Billerica their tenth Merrimack Valley Championship since it was instituted in 1959." It won the Northern Area meet again and placed second of twenty teams in the All-State championship.

The girls' team was organized in the fall of 1978, the first in the school's history, and went 7-1 in its first season. In 1979, coached by Samson, it lost only to Methuen, by one point, and placed second in the Northern Area District Championships. The 1980 team went 6-0, won the West Division and then beat Haverhill, the East Division champion, 22 to 36 for the Merrimack Valley League title, and placed third in the Division I class championship; the team of 1981 went 8-0 and won the Merrimack Valley championship again, for a four-year record of "28 wins and 2 losses." The girls were third in the conference in 1982 and second in 1983. The boys went 5-1 in 1981, when their captain won the Division I Eastern Massachusetts title, and were fourth in the conference in 1982 and 1983.

Joe Bradford, a Billerica runner of the late 1960s, coached the girls in 1987 and the boys in 1988, when Patricia Tobin had the girls; she coached them until 1992 and was followed by Denise Elliott and John Doherty. The boys' team of 1990 went 7-3, its best record since 1982, but by 1991 it could barely field seven runners and went 1-9. In 1992 "Coach Granfield has returned to coaching duties after a hiatus of many years": Mike Granfield, the winter track coach of the 1970s and early 1980s, coached the boys until 2003, and his 1994 team won both the conference race and the championship title. In 1998 the boys opened "their new home course at Veteran's Park," the town's Vietnam Veterans Park on Treble Cove Road. Granfield's teams won the Merrimack Valley Conference Division II title in 2000, 2001 and 2002, and the league named him Division II Coach of the Year in 2001.

The girls went 6-3 in 1994 and placed tenth in the state meet, and in 1997, under their new coach Pat Murphy, they went 9-1 and won the conference large school title, "our most successful season in almost 15 years," with Murphy named Large-School Coach of the Year. "Having been a star runner during his days at BMHS, Joe Bradford took over the job of head coach" of the boys in 2004, and his 2006 team won the conference Division Two title. Cullen Hagan took over the girls in 2005 and was named Coach of the Year when they won the conference Division 2 small school title. His team of 2007 went 8-2, the best record to that time, and in 2008 the girls went 9-1, placed fourth in the Division 1 state championship and eighth in the All-State meet; "The Girls Cross Country team had its best season in school history." The team of 2009 was eighth in Division 1, its fifth straight top-ten finish. Catie Button coached the boys from 2008, TJ Curran in 2017 and Sydney Fitzpatrick in 2018, and Hagan coached both teams by 2019.

The girls were Merrimack Valley Conference champions in 2015. The team of 2022 went 10-0, was second in the Division 1C championship and seventh at the All-State meet, and the town report of 2023 listed a Billerica girl among the school's state champions as the individual Division 1C cross country champion. In 2024 the girls won Division 1C at Northfield Mountain with 36 points, and on November 8, 2025 they repeated at the Wrentham Development Center with 26 points to the 73 of Notre Dame Academy of Hingham, though their top runner was out with an injury. In October 2026 two Billerica boys broke the school's 5,000-meter record at the Bay State meet with the two fastest times in Massachusetts that fall. The other sports of the school include Billerica Memorial High School Football and Billerica Memorial High School Hockey.

Billerica cross country by season, from town reports, Warrior yearbooks and news reports. Seasons are fall seasons; records are as printed; blank cells are not known, and seasons with no surviving information are omitted.
SeasonTeamHead coachDual-meet recordLeague finishState/sectional resultsNotes
1959BoysRoger Samson1-6First varsity season
1960BoysRoger Samson7-2Lowell Suburban League champion
1961BoysRoger Samson9-1 (town report: 9-0, 6-0 in league)Lowell Suburban League championFifteen straight Suburban wins
1962BoysRoger SamsonLost the Suburban title4th of 22, State Class C championship
1963BoysRoger Samson10-32nd in the Suburban championship raceJunior varsity won the championship with a perfect score
1964BoysRoger Samson11-0Lowell Suburban League champion6th of 29, state meetAlso won the league championship meet
1965BoysRoger SamsonUndefeated (20-0)Merrimack Valley League champion4th of 31, Class C state meet37 straight wins over two seasons
1967BoysRoger Samson7-39th of 26, class championship
1968BoysRoger SamsonMerrimack Valley Conference championBeat Chelmsford by one point
1969BoysRoger Samson11-0Merrimack Valley League championAlso won the championship meet
1970BoysRoger Samson10-0Merrimack Valley League championWinning streak of 33 over three years
1971BoysRoger Samson7-2Tied 2nd; 2nd at the league meet7th of 32, State Class meet
1972BoysRoger Samson9-0ChampionState meet finals (one runner)Eighth undefeated season
1973BoysRoger SamsonFreshman team won the new freshman division
1974BoysRoger Samson6-4Tied 3rd
1975BoysRoger Samson9-1Won the Tewksbury Invitational
1976BoysRoger Samson8-1Division I state championJunior varsity 9-0; two girls ran on the junior varsity
1977BoysRoger Samson7-3
1978BoysRoger SamsonMethuen won the titleWon the Northern Area District ChampionshipFirst Northern Area title
1978Girls7-1First girls' team
1979BoysRoger Samson9-0 in leagueMerrimack Valley championWon the Northern Area meet; 2nd of 20 at the All-State championshipTenth Merrimack Valley championship
1979GirlsRoger Samson6-1 in league2nd (lost to Methuen by one point)2nd, Northern Area; 3rd, Division I All-Class meet
1980Boys6-28th of 25, Division I class championship
1980Girls6-0Merrimack Valley League champion3rd, Division I class championshipBeat East Division champion Haverhill for the title
1981BoysRoger Samson5-13rd of 39, Northern Area; 4th, Division I class championshipCaptain won the Division I Eastern Massachusetts title
1981GirlsRoger Samson8-0Merrimack Valley champion28-2 in its first four years
1982Boys5-34th
1982Girls6-23rd5th, Division 1 championship
1983Boys4-44th15th of 30, Division I Eastern Massachusetts
1983Girls7-12nd7th of 32, Division I Eastern Massachusetts
1984Boys2-6
1984Girls4-4
1986Boys6-4
1986Girls1-7
1987GirlsJoe Bradford4-4
1988BoysJoe Bradford5-55th, Northern Area meet
1988GirlsPatricia Tobin
1989Boys3-7
1989GirlsPatricia Tobin3-5
1990Boys7-34thBest record since 1982
1990Girls3-4
1991Boys1-9
1991GirlsPatricia Tobin5-4
1992BoysMike Granfield2-7-1Granfield back after many years
1992GirlsPatricia Tobin5-4
1993BoysMike Granfield5-5
1993GirlsDenise Elliott and John Doherty3-6
1994BoysMike GranfieldMerrimack Valley Conference championAlso won the league race
1994GirlsDenise Elliott6-310th, state meetFirst win over Chelmsford in over 14 years
1995BoysMike Granfield4-4-1State Class meet at Franklin Park
1996BoysMike Granfield7-2Tied 2nd17th, state meet
1997BoysMike Granfield6-3Assistant coach Don Fay
1997GirlsPat Murphy9-1Merrimack Valley Conference large school championMurphy named Large-School Coach of the Year
1998BoysMike Granfield5-45thNew home course at Vietnam Veterans Park
1998GirlsPat Murphy4-5
1999BoysMike Granfield4-5
2000BoysMike GranfieldMerrimack Valley Conference Division II champion
2000GirlsPat Murphy2-8
2001BoysMike GranfieldMerrimack Valley Conference Division II championGranfield named Division II Coach of the Year
2001GirlsPat Murphy1 win
2002BoysMike Granfield5-4 (4-0 in Division II)Merrimack Valley Conference Division II championThird straight Division II title
2003GirlsPat Murphy
2004BoysJoe BradfordFirst season under Bradford
2004Girls3-2 in the conference
2005BoysJoe Bradford4-6
2005GirlsCullen Hagan6-4Merrimack Valley Conference Division 2 small school champion4th, Eastern Massachusetts divisional championshipHagan named Coach of the Year
2006BoysJoe BradfordMerrimack Valley Conference Division Two champion
2006GirlsCullen Hagan5-55th at the conference meet8th, Division 1 state meet
2007Boys2-8
2007GirlsCullen Hagan8-23rd at the conference meet6th, Division 1 Eastern Massachusetts
2008BoysCatie Button
2008GirlsCullen Hagan9-12nd at the conference meet4th, Division 1 state championship; 8th, All-StateBest season in school history
2009BoysCatie Button
2009GirlsCullen Hagan7-32nd at the conference meet8th, Division 1 state championshipFifth straight top-ten state finish
2015GirlsMerrimack Valley Conference champion
2017BoysTJ Curran
2017GirlsSydney Fitzpatrick and Cullen Hagan
2018BoysSydney Fitzpatrick
2018GirlsCullen Hagan
2019BoysCullen Hagan
2019GirlsCullen Hagan
2022GirlsCullen Hagan10-02nd, Division 1C; 7th, All-State
2024GirlsCullen HaganMIAA Division 1C champion, 36 points
2025GirlsCullen HaganMIAA Division 1C champion, 26 pointsRepeat title
2026BoysCullen HaganSchool 5,000-meter record broken twice at the Bay State meet




References

  1. Billerica Town Report 1960, athletic program: R. Samson head coach of cross country and track
  2. Billerica Town Report 1961 (in the 1960 volume): all sport record, cross country 6-0 in the Lowell Suburban League, 9-0 overall, first
  3. Billerica Town Report 2016, BMHS athletics: girls cross country among the 2015-2016 Merrimack Valley Conference champions
  4. Billerica Town Report 2023, Town Meeting: a Division 1C cross country state champion among the BMHS champions honored
  5. Warrior 1960: varsity cross country introduced in September 1959
  6. Warrior 1961: cross country 1960 wins the Lowell Suburban League Championship
  7. Warrior 1962: cross country 1961 under Roger Samson, 9-1, unbeaten in Lowell Suburban competition
  8. Warrior 1963: cross country 1962, fourth in the State Class C Championship
  9. Warrior 1964: cross country 1963, 10-3, second in the Suburban Conference Championship Race
  10. Warrior 1965: cross country 1964 undefeated, Lowell Suburban champions, sixth in the State Meet
  11. Warrior 1966: cross country 1965 undefeated, Merrimack Valley League champions, 37 straight wins
  12. Warrior 1968: cross country 1967, 7-3
  13. Warrior 1969: cross country 1968 wins the championship by one point over Chelmsford
  14. Warrior 1970: cross country 1969 undefeated, 11-0, Merrimack Valley League champions
  15. Warrior 1971: cross country 1970 undefeated, 10-0, 33 straight wins
  16. Warrior 1972: cross country 1971, 7-2, seventh in the State Class Meet
  17. Warrior 1973: cross country 1972, 9-0, eighth undefeated season since Coach Samson began the sport
  18. Warrior 1974: cross country 1973; the freshman division championship
  19. Warrior 1975: cross country 1974, 6-4-0, tied for third
  20. Warrior 1976: cross country 1975, nine wins in ten meets
  21. Warrior 1977: cross country 1976 wins the Division I State Championship under Coach Roger Samson
  22. Warrior 1978: cross country 1977 rebuilding after the Division I championship, 7-3
  23. Warrior 1979: first Northern Area District Championship; the first girls cross country team
  24. Warrior 1980: boys cross country 1979, tenth Merrimack Valley Championship since 1959; girls in their second year
  25. Warrior 1981: boys and girls cross country 1980; girls win the Merrimack Valley League Championship
  26. Warrior 1982: girls cross country 1981, Merrimack Valley champions for the second year in a row
  27. Warrior 1982: boys cross country 1981, 5-1
  28. Warrior 1983: boys cross country 1982, 5-3, fourth in the conference
  29. Warrior 1983: girls cross country 1982, 6-2, third in the conference
  30. Warrior 1984: girls cross country 1983, 7-1, second in the conference
  31. Warrior 1984: boys cross country 1983, 4-4, fourth in the MVC
  32. Warrior 1987: boys cross country 6-4-0 and girls 1-7-0
  33. Warrior 1988: girls cross country coached by Mr. Bradford
  34. Warrior 1989: girls coached by Patricia Tobin, boys by Joe Bradford
  35. Warrior 1991: boys cross country 1990, 7-3, best record since 1982
  36. Warrior 1993: Coach Granfield returns to coaching boys cross country
  37. Warrior 1994: girls cross country 1993; Patricia Tobin replaced by Denise Elliott and John Doherty
  38. Warrior 1995: girls cross country 1994, 6-3 under Coach Elliot, tenth in the state meet
  39. Warrior 1995: boys cross country 1994 under Mike Granfield wins the MVC race and championship
  40. Warrior 1997: boys cross country 1996, 7-2, tied for second in the MVC
  41. Warrior 1998: girls cross country 1997, 9-1, MVC Large-School title, new coach Pat Murphy
  42. Warrior 1999: boys cross country 1998 opens its new home course at Veterans Park
  43. Warrior 2001: boys cross country 2000 wins the division two title
  44. Warrior 2002: boys cross country 2001 repeats as Merrimack Valley Division II champions
  45. Warrior 2003: boys cross country 2002, third straight MVC Division II title
  46. Warrior 2005: Joe Bradford takes over as head coach of boys cross country
  47. Warrior 2006: girls cross country 2005, MVC Division 2 small school champions under Coach of the Year Cullen Hagan
  48. Warrior 2007: boys cross country 2006 wins the MVC Division Two title under Joe Bradford
  49. Warrior 2008: girls cross country 2007, 8-2, the best record ever
  50. Warrior 2009: girls cross country 2008, best season in school history
  51. Warrior 2010: boys cross country 2009 under second-year head coach Catie Button
  52. Warrior 2010: girls cross country 2009, 7-3, eighth in the Division 1 State Championship
  53. Warrior 2018: boys cross country, coach TJ Curran
  54. Warrior 2018: girls cross country, coaches Sydney Fitzpatrick and Cullen Hagan
  55. Warrior 2019: boys cross country, coach Sydney Fitzpatrick
  56. Warrior 2020: boys cross country, coach Cullen Hagan
  57. Warrior 2020: girls cross country, coach Cullen Hagan
  58. Boston Globe, October 4, 2024: Billerica girls cross country under coach Cullen Hagan; second in Division 1C in 2022
  59. Boston Globe, November 9, 2024: Billerica girls take Division 1C with 36 points
  60. Boston Globe, November 8, 2025: Billerica girls win the Division 1C title at Wrentham
  61. MIAA: 2025 Division 1 cross country sectional championships; Billerica girls repeat as Division 1C champion
  62. Boston Globe, October 24, 2026: Billerica boys cross country and the school 5K record
  63. Wikipedia: List of Massachusetts state high school cross country champions
  64. Wikipedia: Merrimack Valley Conference