Instead of waiting three more years to watch the Summer Olympics, just walk down to the Mt. Lebanon High School stadium track next year in late May. At Lebolympics, children ages 5 to 14 compete in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dash, the standing long jump and the tennis/softball throw. High school track coach Oscar Shutt and his team of volunteer athletes run the annual meet, while the recreation department handles promotion, registration and awards.
Beginning in the 1970s, the meet was called Hershey Track and Field and served as a qualifier for larger national meets. “Hershey ran the event annually until 2015 when the name of the event was changed. At that time the Mt. Lebanon Recreation Department continued to offer the event but changed the name to Lebolympics,” said Zach Wolling, the recreation program manager.
Children are classed by two-year increments, from ages 5-6 up to 13-14. This allows younger children to run the shorter 50-meter dash, while teenagers can run the 1,600-meter. Competitors finishing in the top six of any event receive medals or ribbons, and all children ages 5 to 8 earn a participation ribbon. The recreation department keeps track of records dating back to 2007. Many of those records fell
in 2025.
In the girls ages 5-6 class, Paula Carnevale tied Mae Kiley’s old record of 45 feet in the tennis ball throw. For girls 7-8, Mae Kiley, in the softball throw, set a new record of 78 feet. In the same age group, Savannah Rentschler tied the long jump record of 6 feet, also owned by Mary McElhattan, Isla Henderson and Jeea Prinzo. Charlie Walker, in boys 5-6, ran the 200-meter in 40.15 seconds, just edging out James Winschell’s old mark by half a second. In boys 7-8 long jump, Levi Mayer set a new record at 6 feet 4 inches.