For the first time in more than a quarter century, a trip to Chocolate Town won't be a goal for Pennsylvania's XC teams as the PIAA announced today (Jan. 14) that the state championships will be contested at Big Spring High School in rural Cumberland County starting in November.
The course change, approved by the PIAA Board of Directors, will be in effect for four years, covering the state championships through 2029. According to Lyndsay Barna, PIAA's director of communications and sport, Big Spring was the only site to respond to the PIAA's Request for Proposal (RFP) to host the next four state meets and submit a proposal by the Jan. 7 deadline.
"We had a long history at Parkview and are excited about the future (at Big Spring)," said Barna, who is the PIAA's tournament director for both cross country and track and field.
Barna highlighted the multiple layouts at the new state meet venue to accommodate high school and collegiate race distances and that the NCAA Division III national championships were at Big Spring in 2023.
"That says a lot about that facility," she added.
That Division III finale featured 32 full teams in both the men's and women's races over 8 kilometers and 6K, respectively, with just shy of 600 runners total competing that day. Meanwhile, the 2025 PIAA state meet featured six races and an average of 250 finishers per 5K finale.
Big Spring coach Robert Jumper said his current XC course came into being after their old layout fell victim to construction site needs for the new Big Spring High School, built in the early 2000s.
"I knew the guy who owned the wooded area (behind the high school) and he lived in Michigan," Jumper said of trying to find the acreage for a new course. "I asked him if we could put a cross-country course in what was woods and he told me I could."
In addition to hosting the NCAA national meet, the new state meet facility also has also been the site of six Mid-Atlantic regional meets for Division III, Jumper noted. The high school 5K course features the challenging and apparently aptly named Kill Hill in the third mile.
"I put that in there for a reason," said Jumper, who recently completed his 51st season as the Bulldogs' XC coach. "It separates the runners."
When asked to compare the past and future state courses, Jumper complimented both 5Ks. "I would say their course is a little tougher with the hills," the veteran coach said, adding that first-time spectators at Big Spring's course probably "will like that they can see more of the race" compared to Parkview.
Brian Fleckenstein, whose Norwin girls team was dominant in claiming the PIAA Class AAA title in November, said something will be lost and gained in the jump to the new course.
"I have mixed feelings about it moving away from Hershey," the Norwin coach said. "I think it will lose some of the allure of going to 'Chocolate Town.' I also understand what a big undertaking it is, so anybody who wants to take on that responsibility and is willing to do it, more power to them.
"Moving forward, I think the Big Spring course should be more spectator-friendly than Parkview and that will be a good thing for the parents and coaches. The bottom line is this: wherever the course is, it will still accomplish the same end goal, which is to crown the best team in the state of Pennsylvania and each classification and gender."
In addition to the collegiate regional and national events, the Big Spring course is the site of the PIAA District 3 championships. Caitlin Heller coached Annville-Cleona's boys team to Class A district and state titles in 2023 - the last District 3 team to win in Newville and then in Hershey - and gave her full support to the site switch for the fall state meet.
"I'm super excited about the change," Heller said. "Personally, I like the Big Spring course. It's a true cross-country course where it's difficult but not overly difficult.
"I feel like the Hershey course, where you were at the first mile, made or broke the rest of the race. I always struggled to coach from that; cross country is 3 miles. They are both great courses ... I do think Big Spring is more viewer friendly, you can get a good time and not make or break after that first mile."
Prior to a 20-year run at the Parkview course, the state XC finales were contested for five years across from Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey. Penn State was the site of the first PIAA state meet for boys in 1939 and many other XC finales over the years, with Lehigh and Bucknell universities and Fort Indiantown Gap also welcoming the state's top distance runners at least once.
The PIAA Foundation Invitational also apparently will be on the move to Big Spring as Jumper confirmed that hosting Foundation "was included in the bid."
The veteran coach stated that the winning proposal was the third attempt by Big Spring to host the PIAA finale. When asked if having the state championships on the course he created was a crowning achievement in his remarkable career at Big Spring, Jumper stated simply, "The last thing on my bucket list."