When Sports Were Played: McGuffey’s Weiss is king of the hills
In this “When Sports Were Played,” we go back to Nov. 6, 2004, when, on a windy day in central Pennsylvania, McGuffey’s Jeff Weiss ran away from the competition and won the PIAA Class AA cross country championship.
HERSHEY – The hill leading to McGuffey High School is approximately 200 meters long. Scaling it takes a combination of endurance, strength, speed and effort.
Jeff Weiss has sprinted up that hill countless times, whether on a personal mission or at the urging of his coaches. The climb helped Weiss evolve from a freshman with a 6:20 split in the mile to a WPIAL champion his senior year.
Most runners, including Weiss, aren’t fond of the 3.1-mile course at Hersheypark Stadium White Field. There’s concrete at the starting line, narrow lanes and, worse yet, several hills. Throw in strong winds and White Field can prove too much for a strong cross country runner with hopes of medaling at the PIAA Championships.
Weiss is not one of those runners. He’s too fast, too strong and too good. And now he’s the PIAA Class AA champion after dominating the field Saturday with a time of 15:45. No one came close to challenging Weiss.
“This was a goal of mine from the beginning of the season,” Weiss said.
The first state cross country champion from Washington County since Melvin Boyd of Ringgold in 1972, Weiss was supposed to be challenged by Jed Christiansen of Greenville. He wasn’t. Christiansen placed second with a time of 16:16.
“Yeah, I was surprised by that,” Weiss said. “I thought he’d be closer. He must not of had his best day.”
Time-wise, neither did Weiss, though only one other runner (Lewisburg’s Chris Spooner in 2002) won the gold medal with a better time this decade. The wind certainly had an impact. After most races, Weiss isn’t winded. After he crossed the finish line, Weiss needed a quick breather, even a little assistance from an official as he garnered congratulations from nearly every passer-by.
“It’s states. I had to go all out,” he said.
Weiss didn’t need much time to move ahead of a crowded field. Not surprisingly, he started to distance himself on the hills.
“On the uphill drives, he continued to push. He didn’t back off,” McGuffey cross country coach Larry R. Baker said. “He’s strong enough to accelerate up the hills.”
By Baker’s estimation, Weiss gained six to eight seconds on the field on the first hill. The second hill added another 10 seconds to his lead. By that point, the race belonged to Weiss.
“A lot of people draw back on hills,” Baker said. “He gained five to 10 seconds on every hill.”
And no competitor gained on Weiss, who placed fourth in last year’s Class AAA championships. Had he run at that level this year, Weiss would have won by nine seconds.
“I’m happy just to get a decent time in this wind. I can’t complain,” Weiss said. “But I don’t want people to say that I was just the double-A champion and I couldn’t stand up in that race. I hope my time would at least be in the top three.”
Turns out, it was even better.
And with the looming Foot Locker Regionals and the possibility of college scholarships, there’s still hills to climb.
“This was one of my top goals,” he said. “We’ll see how I do at regionals.”