2008 Woodie Awards
Cross country freshman concludes storybook year
By Alexis Burton
Rocket Staff Writer
Issue date: 12/2/05 Section: Sports
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The rookie runner took a stunning third place finish under second place senior finisher from Western State, Kelly Christensen, and first place sophomore runner and native Kenyan, from Abilene Christian, Nicodemus Naimadu.
"We were pleasantly pleased with Jeff's performance," coach John Papa said. "As a freshman, especially, it's extremely rare to place that high. This was definitely Jeff's best performance of the season."
Weiss has had an outstanding season, claiming the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, NCAA Division II Eastern Regional and All-American titles. As if that wasn't enough, he was named "Athlete of the Week" twice and now, as a result of his performance at nationals, he has been named Athlete of the Year.
"I really worked hard this season," Weiss said. "I upped my training over the summer and continued to push hard all season. I feel that if you work hard for something then you deserve to win, and I definitely worked hard."
Part of this hard work consisted of two runs a day outside, along with advice from his coach John Papa, who told him to continue doing what he has done all year. Papa also warned him to run a conservative race, due to the almost 200 people running and the heat, to which he wasn't accustomed.
In the almost 85 degree heat, Weiss finished with a time 31:18.2. The course had no major hills, but there was no road crossing, some rolling hills, dust and soft footing that the runners had to deal with. At the one mile mark, Jeff was running in 30th place. With about two miles left, Papa recalled that Jeff was running in a pack of six who were competing for second place.
"He ran a very smart race," Papa said. "It was truly a great performance, and is by far one of the top memories I have in either track or cross country programs."
"From the beginning, my goal was to just run hard," Weiss said. "I realistically only thought I would place in the top 15, maybe top 10, but third place really shocked me."
In the coming months, Jeff will be competing in one or two indoor track meets, and conditioning vigorously in preparation for the spring and fall seasons.
"I'm just going to run hard and see what happens," Weiss said of the upcoming season. "Nobody can say what's going to happen. Things could change in an instant, but until than I'm just going to continue doing what I've been doing."
