Injury keeps Mancini from facing difficult decision on eligibility

Monday, the NCAA Division I Council granted an extra year of eligibility to all spring sports athletes who lost their seasons in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

As fate would have it, La Salle’s Grace Mancini does not have to take advantage of that ruling. The senior distance runner from Cardinal O’Hara was already planning to come back for a fifth year to run indoor and outdoor track due to injury.

“I definitely got lucky that I wasn’t one of these people who had to way and pray to see if I was going to get my season back,” Mancini said by phone from her home in Media. “I already knew I was going to be able to come back next year. But I have a lot of teammates who were going to have their senior season this year so now they have a chance to come back next year and don’t have to have their careers end like that.

“It worked out for me that I was already planning to come back or I would have had to make that hard decision. Do I put my life on hold and come back to run one more season or do I go ahead and get a job and start working?”

Mancini’s decision to return for a fifth year was health-related, starting long before coronavirus became a worldwide pandemic. She battled tendinitis in her Achilles tendon throughout the cross country season.

The Cardinal O’Hara grad still managed to finish third at the Atlantic 10 championships to earn all-conference honors for the third year in a row and lead the Explorers to their first title since 2011. She then placed 36th at the Mid-Atlantic Regional before shutting it down for the indoor and outdoor seasons because of the tendinitis.

“I figured it was best to let that rest up and heal during track and take my time before I came back,” Mancini said. “Let that recover fully before I started training hard for indoor and outdoor track, Mancini said.”

It’s not uncommon for track/cross country athletes to stretch their careers over five years, taking one or even two seasons off. Training for three sports takes a toll on the body, and the time off is a welcome respite.

Mancini said she underwent extensive rehab and is feeling “100 percent.” She is back training fully, along with her younger sisters Eleanor and Elizabeth, who are sophomores at La Salle, and Christine, a freshman.

“We’re all still running,” the elder Mancini said, “training on our own so we’re doing well.”

Grace Mancini will graduate in May with degrees in computer science and mathematics. She will use the extra year on a one-year master’s program in cyber security.

“I’m super excited about that,” she said. “It’s really going to help me on my career path to get that master’s degree.”

Mancini will have one more season in indoor and outdoor track, where the four-time All-Delco and the 2014 Daily Times female cross country Runner of the Year has had great success, especially in 2019.

During the indoor season she won Atlantic 10 indoor 3,000 meters. At the outdoor conference meet, she was first in the 5,000 and second in the

3,000-meter steeplechase. She holds the school record in the steeplechase

(10:07.47) and was part of the recordsetting distance medley relay that ran

11:38.62 at the 2018 Penn Relays.

The best part is she gets two more seasons to run with her sisters.

“I’m excited to go back next year and run with them again,” Grace Mancini said.

• • •

Losing her senior season because of the coronavirus pandemic was bad enough for Vanderbilt women’s lacrosse player Emily Mathewson.

Celebrating a birthday with stayat-home orders in place was is just as tough. Mathewson, though, did not spend her special day alone when the

2016 Daily Times girls lacrosse Player of the Year turned 22 on March 22.

Her teammates saw to that while adhering to social distancing guidelines.

“It was a Zoom party,” Mathewson said. “My teammates logged on and sang for me and did all that, which was nice. You don’t want to turn 22 in your parent’s basement.”

• • •

Delaware County was well represented on the Inside Lacrosse Media All-America teams.

Penn State senior attackman Grant Ament (Haverford School) and Villanova senior midfielder Connor Kirst were named to the first team on the men’s side.

Matt Moore, a junior attack from Virginia by way of Garnet Valley, Saint Joseph’s faceoff specialist Zach Cole and Villanova defender Pat Kennedy earned second-team honors. Virginia’s Dox Aitken (Haverford School) and Penn’s Mark Evanchick were named to the third team. Penn’s Sean Lulley and Kyle Gallagher and Mike Adler from Saint Joseph’s received honorable mention.

On the women’s side, Loyola sophomore Katie Detwiler (Archbishop Carroll) was named to the first team. Penn’s Abby Bosco earned third-team honors and James Madison sophomore Rachel Matey (Archbishop Carroll) received honorable mention.

• • •

Lower Merion grad Jack Forrest is coming home. The 6-5 guard announced that he is transferring from Columbia to Saint Joseph’s.

“Can’t wait to be part of one of the greatest traditions in college basketball and continue my academic and athletic career on Hawk Hill,” Forrest wrote on Twitter.

Forrest will sit out next season under the NCAA’s transfer rules but has three years of eligibility remaining.

The 2019 Central League MVP played in 31 games for the Lions and averaged

8.9 points and 3.3 rebounds while shooting 37.7 percent from the field and 35.2 percent from 3-point range.