
Athlete: Sam Russ
School: Lincoln Academy
Year of Graduation: 2019
2016 State Meet Finish: 79th in Class B 18:44.09
Last year Sam Russ led the upstart Lincoln Academy Eagles to a KVAC Class B title, and sixth place finish in the Class B State meet. Along the way Russ finished second individually in the KVAC Class B meet, and then a fourth place effort in the Northern Maine regional.
At the state meet he had a disappointing 79th place finish. "Last year was a perfect example of when someone is physically ready to race, but not mentally," Russ said of his race. "Throughout indoor and outdoor track last year, my main focus was to become a stronger racer mentally as well as physically."
During the indoor season Russ make progress as he finished as the Class B state runner-up in the Mile, and then nabbed a third place in the 2 mile. He continued that success at the state meet outdoor with a third place effort in the Class B 1600m, where he ran a lifetime best 4:35.68.
Sam showed his summer fitness as he won the second annual Beach to Beacon Mile in a time of 4:42.9. He followed that up the next day with a time of 35:34 in the 10k, good for third fastest Maine high school runner.
The junior is off to a great start in 2017. He started the year off with a third place effort at Maranacook, where he wasn't going all out. Sam has followed that up with a pair of wins, one at Belfast, and this past week at Medomak Valley where he clocked a new personal best 16:24.06. That time was the fastest in the state last week.
We caught up Sam to ask him a few questions about his season, as well as a few others to get to know him better.
- 800m - 2:11.14
- 1600m - 4:35.68
- 1 Mile (in) - 4:47.13
- 3200m - 10:17.30
- 2 Mile (xc) - 11:19.00
- 2 Mile (in) - 10:32.06
- 5K (xc) - 16:24.06

Athlete: Sam Russ
School: Lincoln Academy