Chris Harlan stories, Page 100

Breaking a WPIAL record made M.J. Devonshire smile, but what he liked most was that he’d supplanted a fellow Quips great. “Another Aliquippa guy does it again,” said Devonshire, who won the 100 meters in 10.67 seconds at the WPIAL Class AA track and field championship Thursday at Slippery Rock...

Waynesburg hurdler Daniel Layton tried not to think about his stressful week when standing at the starting line. “I tried to block it out as much as I could,” Layton said, “but honestly it gave me a little bit more energy because now I had something to prove.” Layton, who...

A clerical error will not prevent Waynesburg’s Daniel Layton from defending his WPIAL title in the 110-meter hurdles, the PIAA decided Wednesday. A PIAA appeals panel voted 5-0 to overturn a WPIAL decision and allow Layton to compete in the event at Thursday’s WPIAL championships even though his coach had...

Hours after earning all-state player of the year honors, Moon’s Donovan Johnson received a scholarship offer from North Carolina. The Tar Heels offered Johnson on Tuesday, said his father Gil. The 6-foot-7 junior already held offers from Pitt Arizona, Ohio State, TCU, Xavier and others. What makes North Carolina more...

Moon’s Donovan Johnson was named as the state’s Class 5A boys basketball player of the year Tuesday and Adam Kaufman was named coach of the year after leading the Tigers to a PIAA title in March. Johnson averaged 22.6 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 1.5 blocks per game as...

The WPIAL board voted Monday to schedule hearings for two basketball programs facing recruiting allegations. The board wants to hear from Central Catholic boys basketball coach Brian Urso, McKeesport assistant girls coach Troy Blackwell and athletic administrators from both schools, said WPIAL executive director Tim O’Malley. Information was presented to...

Waynesburg’s Daniel Layton won’t be able to defend his WPIAL hurdles title unless the PIAA intervenes. The senior was accidentally scratched from the 110-meter hurdles by his father/coach Rick Layton, a clerical error that Waynesburg asked the WPIAL to fix before the district championships arrive Thursday. But the WPIAL board...

Football season is still months away, but USA Today released its “Way-Too-Early” high school rankings this week. Defending PIAA Class 6A champion St. Joseph’s Prep was the only Pennsylvania team ranked in the Top 25. The Hawks were ranked No. 21. St. Joseph’s defeated defeated Pine-Richland in the state semifinals...

One of the WPIAL’s smallest schools features one of the WPIAL’s biggest sophomores. Union’s Aaron Gunn, a 6-foot-4, 305-pound lineman, announced his second Power 5 conference offer from West Virginia. The Mountaineers join Kentucky, which offered Gunn his first Division 1 scholarship last summer. He was named as a first-team...

Class 6A Favorite: Penn-Trafford has never won a WPIAL baseball title, but the Warriors enter this year’s playoffs as the No. 1 seed. Section 2 champion P-T owns early-season wins over North Allegheny (6-5) and Pine-Richland (13-2). Senior Mario Disso leads with a .351 average. Challengers: Pine-Richland won Section 1...

Oakland Catholic and Upper St. Clair earned the No. 1 seeds in the WPIAL girls lacrosse brackets revealed Friday. USC claimed the top spot in Class 3A followed by Shady Side Academy, Fox Chapel and Bethel Park. In Class 2A, Quaker Valley was seeded second, Hampton was third and Seton...

Penn-Trafford, West Allegheny, Greensburg Salem, Freeport, Shenango and California received No. 1 seeds Friday when the WPIAL revealed baseball playoff brackets. Play begins Wednesday and Thursday. The championships are May 28-29 at Wild Things Park in Washington. Class 6A Thursday’s games No. 1 Penn-Trafford – bye No. 8 Upper St....

The WPIAL doesn’t produce an abundance of major-college men’s basketball recruits, but it has seen its share of three- and four-star prospects in recent years. The latest to pick a college, Butler junior Ethan Morton, committed Thursday night to Purdue. Rivals ranks the 6-foot-5 guard as a four-star recruit. He...

Rarely does the WPIAL have a basketball star whose recruitment stretches nearly coast to coast. Butler’s Ethan Morton had options nationwide and chose somewhere in the middle. The 6-foot-5 junior guard committed to Purdue on Thursday night, making his college announcement on Twitter. He had nearly two dozen scholarship offers...

North Allegheny, Penn-Trafford, Mt. Pleasant, Avonworth, Chartiers-Houston and West Greene received No. 1 seeds Thursday when the WPIAL revealed softball playoff brackets. The playoffs start Tuesday for Class 5A, 3A and A. The other three classifications begin play Wednesday. The championships are May 29-30 at Peterswood Park in Peters Township....

North Allegheny and Mars received the top seeds Thursday when the WPIAL revealed brackets for the boys lacrosse playoffs. The playoffs begin Monday for Class 3A and Tuesday for Class 2A. The championships are May 24 at Robert Morris. Defending champion Mars earned the top seed in Class 2A followed...

Former Northgate, Deer Lakes and Penn-Trafford football coach T.J. Wiley is headed to Bishop Canevin. Canevin announced Wiley’s hire Wednesday on Twitter. He replaces Chris Lucas, who left Canevin for West Allegheny after one season as the Crusaders’ head coach. “Of the 14 candidates interviewed and many more considered, Coach...

Two weeks after defeating section-leading Hopewell, Beaver Falls gave the victory back. Beaver Falls became the third WPIAL baseball team to forfeit a victory this season after violating pitch-count rules, the teams announced Tuesday. The PIAA upped the single-game limit to 105 pitches this season but only for the playoffs...

Butler basketball star Ethan Morton holds nearly two dozen scholarship offers, having added one after another since Cleveland State gave him his first three summers ago. Now, it’s time to choose. The 6-foot-5 junior will announce his college choice Thursday night from a long list that includes regional schools Pitt,...

A week-long recruiting shutdown starts Monday for NCAA women’s basketball coaches, but North Catholic teammates Tess Myers and Kylee Lewandowski each pulled in an offer just before the deadline. Myers announced an offer Saturday from Temple, and Lewandowski added Fairfield on Friday. They rank among the WPIAL’s top juniors. A...

Public school advocates are planning another statewide summit this summer to further their campaign to create separate PIAA playoffs. In an email Sunday to supporters, the Pennsylvania Athletics Equity Committee announced that it will hold a summit July 30 at a site to be determined. The group organized the PA...