'Bulls’ Burke is Runner of the Year

West Boca runner makes states for fourth time

By Mario Sarmento
SPORTS EDITOR

Physically, it was a difficult year for Michael Burke.

The West Boca Raton High senior injured his heel in the swimming pool and missed two weeks of action, only to injure the ankle on his other foot the week before regionals.

Still, Burke was able to add to his accomplishments as the best runner in the Boca Raton/Delray Beach area.
Burke qualified for states for the fourth straight year, and for the first time, he was able to bring his teammates with him, as they qualified for the state meet by a single point for the first time ever.

It’s for these achievements that Burke is the Boca Raton News Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year in 2007, the third straight year he has been so honored.

“I’m happy with what happened,” Burke said. “Injury-wise it was a bit of a disappointment. But what I’ve done with the injuries, I think that’s a positive.”

Despite the injuries, Burke still managed to win the Class 3A conference, county, district and region titles.

He also recorded the fastest time in the county at the Nike Flarunners.com Invitational at Chain of Lakes Park in Titusville. He finished second with a season-best 16 minutes, 5 seconds for 3.1 miles.

But Burke’s best race was ultimately one of his last, at regionals.

There, he made up a 10-second deficit to Okeechobee’s Bryan Suarez to come from behind and win the race.

“I worked really hard to catch him at about the 2-mile, and with about 800 meters to go I just ran him down and won by a couple of seconds,” Burke said.

But by states, injuries and the comeback win had finally taken their toll, and Burke finished 19th.

\ “I don’t think he fully recovered from regionals,” Bulls coach Mark Bjorkland said. “He wasn’t able to walk, talk, breathe after regionals.”

For Burke, his biggest accomplishment this season was to help West Boca advance to the state meet as a team for the first time in school history, another first authored by Burke – still the only athlete at the school to win a state title.

“It was a relief almost,” he said. “I didn’t really have to prove myself anymore. I already got the team there. It would have been just been extra if I would have gotten the state title.”

Bjorkland said it was through Burke’s example that his teammates were able to qualify.

“He was always training,” Bjorkland said. “He would be really serious and try to get them to be serious.”

The biggest thing Bjorkland said he would miss about Burke was “the excitement of watching him run. I would be as nervous as him. He always had that kick he needs, that would get my heart rate going.”

Burke will now focus on the rest of the soccer season and his favorite sport, track, where he won his state title in the mile last year.

This year, Burke hopes to add the 2-mile to his list of honors, a race he’s finished second in the last two years. But he already realizes his role as one of the sports pioneers at a new school, and he relishes it.

“It’s been amazing what I’ve done at the school,” he said. “It feels great to put this school on the map. We’ve set standards that I don’t think could be accomplished again at West Boca.”

Burke has several college offers, but he said he would like to run at the University of Florida, which his sister now attends.