John Grupp stories, Page 17
Hampton baseball turns focus to next season after up-and-down year
The final out of Hampton’s 2021 baseball season was a deep drive against West Allegheny in the WPIAL Class 5A playoff opener. Senior Brock Mattiuz hit the ball “as far as I’ve ever seen the kid hit it,” coach Kellen Wheeler said, but West Allegheny’s outfielder tracked down the bases-loaded...
Joy, pain for Hampton track team at WPIAL meet
Two Hampton seniors showed at the WPIAL Class AAA track and field championships that a fraction of an inch or a hundredth of a second can be the difference between elation and heartache. Gage Galuska shocked Butler star Guinness Brown to win the 400-meter title by one-hundredth of a second,...
Power-hitting Hampton softball squad cools down at inopportune time
The most prolific home run-hitting Hampton softball team in at least two decades picked a lousy time to go quiet. The Talbots, who this season hit a “mind-boggling” number of home runs, struggled down the stretch and saw their year end with a 10-0 five-inning loss to top-seeded Penn-Trafford (15-4)...
Hampton boys lacrosse surges into postseason
Hampton senior defender Gus Wolf hopes history repeats itself in the WPIAL Class AA boys lacrosse playoffs. But only some of it. “Obviously, our big goal is to be able to see Mars again in the WPIAL championship,” Wolf said. “That would be ideal.” They just want the outcome to...
Hampton athletes sprint toward WPIAL track championship meet
The Hampton boys track and field team last month won its first section title in 36 years. Next up for the Talbots is the chance for some individual accolades. Hampton heads into the WPIAL Class AAA track and field championships May 19 at Slippery Rock with a number of highly...
Tape-measure homer shows Hampton softball slugger’s eye-popping power
Hampton’s Hannah Bradfield hit six home runs in a four-game stretch in late April, but only one of them left nearly everybody shocked. When the senior shortstop drove a ball over the 10-foot outfield fence 225 feet from home plate during a 9-3 senior night victory over visiting Knoch on...
Hampton’s Stennett returns to girls lacrosse after missing month with concussion
April Fool’s Day was no joke for Hampton lacrosse player Jillian Stennett. The senior midfielder suffered a concussion when she fell to the frozen turf and hit the back of her head in the Talbots’ second game of the season, a 17-6 victory at Butler in an April 1 snowstorm....
Hampton tennis reaches WPIAL playoffs thanks to unexpected help from section foe Indiana
The pizza and cupcakes started to taste a little bit better to the Hampton boys tennis team. The Talbots were holding a post-match birthday celebration for senior teammate Coray Bennett on April 23 at their home tennis court when they received a text from coach Grant McKinney. The players learned...
Talbots baseball armed for another WPIAL playoff bid behind Kosko, Marshalwitz
A pair of lefties have the Hampton baseball team on the right side of the WPIAL playoff picture. Senior Michael Kosko and junior Cam Marshalwitz are a steady 1-2 punch for the Talbots, who sit on the verge of a fourth consecutive WPIAL postseason berth for the first time in...
Hampton product Bischke roams to Oklahoma juco
Former Hampton infielder Tyler Bischke took the long way to end up “in the middle of nowhere.” After playing an abbreviated season at Division I Kent State, the 2019 Hampton graduate has found a new home following a transfer to Murray State, a tiny junior college in Southeastern Oklahoma. Bischke...
Division I-bound catcher Bella Henzler is big hit for Hampton
The first time Hampton coach Ron Fedell saw star catcher Bella Henzler playing softball he wondered if the diminutive seventh-grader had a future behind the plate. “I thought, ‘I don’t know about catcher, but maybe we can move her somewhere else,’ ” Fedell said. “I’m thinking she’s so small. But...
Hampton girls track team off to quick start behind versatile senior jumper
Hampton senior Hannah Schepner still is unsure about her best event in track and field. She finished seventh in the high jump in the WPIAL Class AAA championships as a sophomore. Then, the first time she tried long jump this spring, she came within six inches of matching the school’s...
Hampton football players give boost to boys track and field team
If the Hampton boys track and field team can reach the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs for only the second time in a decade, it will have another Hampton team to thank. Roughly half of the athletes on the track squad also played for the Talbots football team, which last fall...
Loaded senior class has Hampton girls lacrosse seeking 3rd WPIAL title since ’17
On the eve of each home section game, the Hampton girls lacrosse players gather after practice for a team dinner. On game day, all eyes are on the Cook. Hampton midfielder Megan Cook is one of the most exciting players in Western Pennsylvania and is a key reason why the...
Hampton eyes another run to WPIAL boys lacrosse finals
The Hampton boys lacrosse team waited 667 days between matches. But after a 12-0 victory over North Hills in the 2021 season opener March 29, all appears well for the perennial WPIAL title contender. “It’s just good to be back on the field,” coach Jim Vollberg said after an energetic...
Hampton tennis off to quick start in return to Class AA
The Hampton boys tennis team is hoping to make a racket this season. After playing in a loaded Class AAA section for most of the past decade, the Talbots are competing in Class AA as part of the enrollment-based realignment. Four-time defending WPIAL Class AAA champion Fox Chapel, perennial power...
Hampton hockey rolls with punches
The youthful Hampton hockey team endured a lot of growing pains this season. The Talbots finished 4-14 in a season that started one month late because of the pandemic. They were shut down for two weeks in mid-February when a player tested positive after a practice, and two key players...
Silver lining, record finish for Hampton swimmer Donato
The Hampton 100-yard breaststroke record stood for 25 years until senior Richie Donato broke it March 6. It lasted about two weeks. Donato topped his own record in the event on the way to a second-place finish at the PIAA Class AA swimming championships March 19 at Cumberland Valley High...
Hampton softball has ‘a lot of games to win’ after coach’s covid scare
They were simple get-well cards. Some were store-bought, some caringly drawn by hand. But when Hampton softball coach Ron Fedell returned home in mid-January after a frightening two-week hospital stay with complications from covid-19, the stack of well-wishes meant the world to him. “Some of these kids sent me cards,”...
Hampton baseball deals with numbers crunch
Turns out the pandemic isn’t finished with the Hampton baseball team. A year after covid-19 canceled all spring sports, the Talbots had only 27 players try out this spring, by far the lowest number in third-year coach Kellen Wheeler’s 12 seasons associated with the Hampton baseball program. “I usually have...
Hampton middle schoolers stick with lacrosse
Draven Malcolm is proof that mom knows best. When the Hampton 13-year-old was in fourth grade, his mother, Dawn, suggested he give lacrosse a try. Draven’s passion was dek hockey, and he wasn’t thrilled with the proposal. “My mom kind of said I had to,” he said. “I pretty much...
Hampton wrestler Hart rebounds from cracked ribs to earn PIAA silver
In mid-January, Hampton senior Justin Hart couldn’t laugh without it hurting. One month later, he was smiling with no pain at all. Hart fought back from multiple cracked ribs that sidelined him for nearly three weeks to win the WPIAL Class AAA wrestling title at 189 pounds. He followed that...
Relay win sparks Hampton boys to 1st WPIAL team swim title since 1999
The Hampton boys swimming team needed 1 minute, 36 seconds to set into motion something that hadn’t happened in 22 years. The Talbots won the 200 medley relay in the opening event of the WPIAL Class AA swimming championships March 6 and used the record-setting race as a springboard to...
Hampton reflects on breakthrough season after playoff run ends
After the final horn sounded on her senior season, Hampton guard Liv Bianco slowly walked off the court and placed the basketball on the scorer’s table. Behind her, on her home court, Latrobe players celebrated their 53-48 win over the No. 3-seed Talbots in the WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinals March...
Hampton grad Rachel Hornung recovers from knee injury, finds routine with WVU gymnastics
Things finally are getting back to normal for Hampton graduate Rachel Hornung. Normal means doing aerial cartwheels on a 4-inch wide balance beam and performing midair straddles and flips on uneven bars 8 feet off the ground. A junior on the West Virginia women’s gymnastics team, Hornung is returning to...
