Quad strain can't slow Mager
CRANBERRY TWP — A quad strain can mean potential destruction of a season for a track and field runner.
Unless your name is Sam Mager.
For him, it meant next to nothing.
The North Catholic senior sprinter and Cranberry Township resident strained his quad in late March.
“It just made it more difficult for me to practice my runs,” Mager said. “It hurts a lot when I really run hard ... It's been a bit of a hinderance.”
Mager even took two weeks off in the middle of the season to give the injury some time to heal. He's still feeling the effects of it.
But the quad strain hasn't affected his production on the track. He was section champ in the 400 meters, second in the 200, and helped the Trojans' 4x100 and 4x400 relays to section titles.
Mager wound up qualifying for the WPIAL Champonships in five events — a school record —as he qualified in the 100, 200 and 400 meters, 4x100 and 4x400 relays.
Because the WPIAL allows an athlete to compete in a maximum of four events at a meet, Mager dropped the 100.
“Sam just keeps going,” North Catholic track and field coach Stacy Kopchak said. “Even with that injury ... At times you wouldn't even know he was hurting, the way he was running.”
Mager dropped the 100 for the WPIAL Championships. He qualified for this weekend's PIAA Class 2A Championships at Shippensburg University in the 400 meters and 4x100 relay.
He placed third in the WPIAL meet with a 400 time of 51.39 seconds. He joined Tyree Brown, Joe Kearney and John Sommers in placing third in 4x100 with a time of 43.72 seconds.Mager placed eighth in the 200 at the WPIAL meet, running that event in 22.83 seconds.“The 200 is run late in the meet and I definitely wasn't 100 percent for that race,” he admitted.Mager underwent two knee surgeries earlier in his high school career. He tore his ACL during the final soccer scrimmage his sophomore season, forcing him to miss that entire academic year athletically.Late in his junior soccer season, Mager tore his meniscus, the second surgery limiting him to an abbreviated junior track season. He still qualified for the WPIAL meet in the 400 and 4x100 relay last year.“I decided not to play soccer my senior year because I didn't want to risk getting hurt again and missing my final track season,” Mager said. “I want to go out as successfully as I can.”By the time Mager hits the track Fiday in Shippensburg, he will have had eight days off from competition.“That's going to help him,” Kopchak said of the layoff. “His leg should be stronger and the adrenaline rush is going to help him as well.”Mager ran cross country in junior high and still holds the Shaler Cross Country Invitational record. He led the Trojans' soccer team in goals scored his freshman year.Now that he is focusing on track, he is uncertain as to whether he will compete in college. Mager carries a grade point average above 4.0 and is headed to Belmont University to major in engineering.“If I decide to compete, it will be as a walk-on,” he said. “Right now, my focus is on the state meet. My goal is to medal. It's all about the competition. I love it.”
