Cedar Crest’s Furmanski reflects on record-breaking cross country season

Six weeks later and Cedar Crest senior Travis Furmanski is still basking in the glow of an amazing fall cross country season.

For a wide variety of reasons, it was one of the finest scholastic cross-country seasons in the history of Lebanon County sports.

“I’d say it was a great one, I guess,” said Furmanski. “I could sort of see it coming, but it was better than I expected. I knew I’d be in the mix at all these meets, but I didn’t know I’d win states. I knew I’d be in there with the top packs.”

During the recently completed fall season, Furmanski, a senior at Cedar Crest, pretty much won everything he could, and at each event, he rose to the occasion when the chips were down.

On Nov. 1 at Hershey’s 3.1-mile Parkview Course, Furmanski captured the PIAA Class AAA championship by running a 15:34 that was 5 seconds faster than runner-up Nick Mazzeo of Lower Merion. Furmanski was part of the lead group for the entire race, before a strong kick vaulted him from third to the state title.

Four weeks later, Furmanski finished fourth at the Brooks Northeast Regional Cross Country Championships in Boston to qualify for the upcoming scholastic national championship meet.

With his triumph at Hershey, Furmanski became the first Cedar Crest cross country runner to earn a state championship since Nick MacFalls did it in 1990. Furmanski was also the first runner from the Lancaster-Lebanon League to capture a PIAA cross country title since 2005.

“I felt great going into it,” said Furmanski of states. “The favorite was in the box next to me. I figured I just had to stay next to him for as long as I could. I remember hanging on through the middle part of the race. When I saw the end, they (the other runners in the lead pack) slowed down, and I just took it.”

Furmanski will next compete at the Brooks Cross Country National Championships on Saturday, Dec. 13, in San Diego, California.

“It’s (the state championship is) the biggest thing I can do representing Cedar Crest,” he said. “There are bigger races and now I’ll be at nationals. But representing Cedar Crest makes it (the state title) more important.”

“Travis Furmanski is getting ready to finish the best season in Cedar Crest cross country history and quite possibly the best in Lebanon County history,” said Cedar Crest head coach Brandon Risser. “Travis is a fierce competitor who loves to race, and he has worked extremely hard to reach this level. I’m extremely thankful that I’ve had the opportunity to be a small part of this journey, and I am very excited to see where this journey takes him.”

In late October at Big Spring High School in Newville, Furmanski won the District Three Class AAA title in 15:23, some 17 seconds ahead of the field. Earlier, at the Lancaster-Lebanon League Championships, he finished first in 15:14 at South Hills Park in Lebanon.

“The hard work is how you become a good runner,” said Furmanski. “But the mental part motivates you to do the hard work. You also need that mindset when you’re racing. The team aspect is great because you’re training with teammates.”

“I just love it,” he added. “When you finish a workout, it’s amazing. It’s kind of calming just to run. Sometimes when I run with teammates, I talk with them and it’s fun.”

That proverbial light came on above Furmanski’s head at the Paul Short Run at Lehigh University in early October. On that day, everything came together for the Falcon 12^th-grader when he laid down a personal best time of 14:53 to finish first and beat some of the runners he would face in big meets later in the season.

“Going into it, I knew I was top five,” said Furmanski. “But the time was so much more than I expected. At that time, it was almost a 55-second P.R. (personal record). Winning that race after being 26^th the year before, it was like anything can happen. I realized these were the best kids in Pennsylvania.”

A year earlier as a junior, Furmanski had finished fourth at the league meet, sixth at districts and “around the 70s” during “a terrible race at states.”

“I ran so bad at states (in 2024),” said Furmanski. “After not running (competitively) for a while, it was sort of bottled up in me. It drove me. I took extra motivation into training, and I trained as hard as I could.”

That extra motivation produced a competitive fire and about 50 miles of training each week over the summer.

“That bad race was motivation,” said Furmanski. “Before that, I was hurt during all of my sophomore track season. I liked racing but I didn’t take it seriously. When I was hurt, I missed it. The adversity with the running injury and the bad race changed me a lot. But getting older and stronger definitely helped.”

Winning a cross-country state championship has forced Furmanski to re-assess his personal goals for the upcoming track and field season this spring. His best event is the 3200-meter run, but he is also highly competitive in the 1600- and 800-meter runs.

“I want to win states in the 3200,” he said. “I’m running against the same guys. But they’re great athletes, so it’s going to be tough. The school record in the 1600 is 4:13 and I’m hoping to get that one as well.

“Before winning states, the track goals were best-case scenarios. Now, it’s like 50-50. I know I have a good shot. It’s a real possibility, not a far-fetched dream.”

Furmanski, who attends Lebanon County Career and Technology Center, is active in Students for Christ at Cedar Crest, the National Honor Society, the 4H Club, his youth group at Lebanon Valley Bible Church and his church, Lives Changed By Christ.

He is seriously considering athletic grant-in-aid offers from Penn State, the University of Mississippi, and Pitt, where he could further his education in mechanical engineering or business fields.