Generously written at my request by Larry Mangan, as I could not make an appearance this year.
A Day At The Races
So
why would someone with no relatives competing attend the PA State XC
meet? It has nothing to do with the proximity of the Hollywood Casino
at Penn National Racecourse to the Parkview XC course.
It
had everything, however, to do with the number of celebrities in
attendance at said PIAA meet (and to see if there would be any drones
flying overhead – disappointingly, none). Starting with Greg Green,
Head Coach of perennial District 1 AA girls, 3 time PIAA state champion
powerhouse (ok, he was my ride) St. Basil Academy (who had the good
sense to hire as his Assistant Coach one Olivia Mangan [SBA ’10, PSU
’14), who was rumored to having placed a couple of bets on a few ponies,
and ending with a walk by wave to Marcus O’Sullivan, Villanova head
coach, it was a star studded day.
In
between, we got the chance to see Mark Haywood, XC coach at Camp Hill
HS, and Mark Sanden in the Camp Hill tent which bordered the starting
field at Parkview. Across the way was the Maroon tent of State College
High, with Rebecca Donahue and Artie Gilkes in attendance and in
command. Coach Dave Felice was in the area (I spotted him running
toward the hills between the mile and 2 mile marks at one point), as
well. State College HS alum Brian Mount, now Head XC Coach at
Gettysburg HS, was also sighted in the company of Sue Baskwill (sister
of the famous herder of cats and website idiot extraordinaire). It was
also nice to see two runners from Seton-LaSalle HS (WPIAL District 7),
one of my other alma maters, competing after a long absence from the
State meet.
In
addition to the Villanova coaching presence, Gerry O’Reilly (who did
have a child running for District 12 Bishop Shanahan), a former Wildcat
runner who, along with the aforementioned O’Sullivan (back from his
Men’s squads Big East win), was probably responsible for the denial of
more than a few Penn Relays watches (I’m still not bitter 30+ years
later, really am not. Really.). My former AW teammate, and Auburn
alum, Chris Fox, now Head Coach at Syracuse was also wandering to and
fro while the 6 races wore on throughout the day, looking for prospects
to add to his healthy stable of prize harriers (Syracuse dominated the
ACC Championship on Friday). Of course, our alma mater was well
represented by Assistant Coach Ryan Foster, who was minding the home
front while Coach Gondak was traveling with the Women’s and Men’s XC
squads to engage those hordes from the Midwest (and NJ and Maryland….).
The men finished 3rd (tied for all-time best B1G finish) and the women 7th. Next up is the Regional meet on November 14th. How many celebrity sightings will be had at that event?
Oh,
probably 1,000 runners also competed on Saturday. Got to see some
pretty impressive performances by teams and individuals. There are a
million websites that display the gory details and splits so I’ll only
comment on the AAA boys race, which was won by a Junior in a course
record 15:24 – amazing time for that course (the bozo who designed it
deserves to be dealt with thusly - who puts a really steep hill within 250 meters of the finish…someone who can’t run under 50 for 400, that’s who).
LTM
Addendum from Skwilli: Bill Kvashay SCAHS and PSU Alum was there coaching the Boys AA winner also. Sweet. And thanks to Larry for the excellent post. I have entered it as a Performance of the Year, along with the Mens B1G finish!
It was great to see you at States, too, Larry ! Hope to see you in State College at regionals on Nov 14. I haven't attended a XC meet at PSU in over 20 years (I know, shame on me), but I am planning to be there on Nov 14.
ReplyDeleteHaywood