A Visit To The PIAA XC Championships By Our Chief Laundry and Morale Officer

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 3^rd (tied for all-time best B1G finish) and the women 7^th.  Next up is the Regional meet on November 14^th.  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!