Mt. Lebanon boys 13th at state cross country meet despite squad-wide illness
The Mt. Lebanon boys’ cross country team placed 13th in Class AAA at the PIAA championships yesterday. Jared Pollock led the Blue Devils with a time of 17:11, and the pack time spread was 0:38.
The part that you don’t know is how sick the team had been the week before.
A few days before the Mt. Lebanon boys’ cross country team went to the WPIAL meet, a couple of them were sniffling.
“I thought it was, like, seasonal allergies,” said head coach Mike Agostinella. By the time the Blue Devils were running at the WPIAL Championship meet, some of them had head colds and others had chest colds.
“My guys were so sick at the WPIAL meet,” summarized Agostinella.
Likewise, the PIAA championship became about redemption for Mt. Lebanon. The team sought to finish the season with the results it could get as its non-infected incarnation. So, the Blue Devils did two things.
The first was the obligatory “rest and fluids.” The second was to examine a breakdown of qualifying teams they already knew they could beat.
Agostinella went through the PIAA’s list of qualifying Class AAA teams. Of the qualifying teams, he found the ones that Mt. Lebanon had defeated in the September 22, 2012 PIAA foundation race. Teams like Lower Dauphin, Governor Mifflin, Hazleton Area, and La Salle College were ones Agostinella talked to his boys about before they traveled to Hershey. He even talked about the team from Pennsbury, which beat Mt. Lebanon at the Foundation meet but did not qualify as a team for the PIAA Championship.
In a nutshell, the Mt. Lebanon boys’ team regained its health while taking the surprises out of the competition.
Complete results for the Mt. Lebanon boys’ cross country team (as well as all other PIAA meet teams and runners) can be found at runhigh.com.
The part that you don’t know is how sick the team had been the week before.
A few days before the Mt. Lebanon boys’ cross country team went to the WPIAL meet, a couple of them were sniffling.
“I thought it was, like, seasonal allergies,” said head coach Mike Agostinella. By the time the Blue Devils were running at the WPIAL Championship meet, some of them had head colds and others had chest colds.
“My guys were so sick at the WPIAL meet,” summarized Agostinella.
Likewise, the PIAA championship became about redemption for Mt. Lebanon. The team sought to finish the season with the results it could get as its non-infected incarnation. So, the Blue Devils did two things.
The first was the obligatory “rest and fluids.” The second was to examine a breakdown of qualifying teams they already knew they could beat.
Agostinella went through the PIAA’s list of qualifying Class AAA teams. Of the qualifying teams, he found the ones that Mt. Lebanon had defeated in the September 22, 2012 PIAA foundation race. Teams like Lower Dauphin, Governor Mifflin, Hazleton Area, and La Salle College were ones Agostinella talked to his boys about before they traveled to Hershey. He even talked about the team from Pennsbury, which beat Mt. Lebanon at the Foundation meet but did not qualify as a team for the PIAA Championship.
In a nutshell, the Mt. Lebanon boys’ team regained its health while taking the surprises out of the competition.
Complete results for the Mt. Lebanon boys’ cross country team (as well as all other PIAA meet teams and runners) can be found at runhigh.com.
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