Photo Gallery from 10/23 Tri-State Coaches Association meet @ Slippery Rock
Photo Gallery by James K. Wood from 10/23 Tri-State Coaches Association meet @ Slippery Rock
McGuffey senior Jeff Weiss says he didn't do anything special over the summer other than train hard. Something's different, though. He's smoking the courses and competition in western PA, and as a AA school for the first time in his high school career, he's looking like the runner to beat at States as well. At the biggest Tri-State Coaches Association meet ever - on what is arguably the best XC course in the state - Weiss ran the fastest time ever on the course that hosts the Slippery Rock Invitational, Tri-States and WPIAL's year after year. His 15:30 broke the course record set last year by Mt. Lebanon's Jim O'Toole by six seconds. And it's only the 3rd performance ever under 16. He gets a chance to lower it even more in a week at the district meet. "I wanted to break 16 today. And the weather was perfect. So I'll take 15:30." Splitting 4:50, 9:46, Weiss pulled away from North Hills senior Josh Eddy after the half mile. Eddy's 16:26 2nd place is one of the top 20 all-time performances on the course, and it helped him lead his team to a 104-125 win over Pittsburgh Central Catholic. The two AAA girls' teams who battle it out every year were in another close one. North Allegheny held off Mount Lebanon 124-143 behind a 19:57 7th place by junior Kelley O'Brien. Penn Trafford junior Maranie Staab used the twisting hills of the final 3/4 mile to build some separation on West Allegheny junior Kaycee Shaffer, winning by ten seconds in 19:04.
Josh Eddy (in foreground), passing 2.5 miles in second place. Weiss is in the distance. Eddy's run was an all-time top 20 performance for the course.
Penn Trafford junior Maranie Staab ran 19:04 for the win.
