John Grupp stories, Page 5

The Hampton girls soccer team lost two all-WPIAL players to graduation and then lost another one to something nobody saw coming. Three-time all-WPIAL midfielder Madison Hurst will miss her senior season after suffering a torn ACL in November playing Cup soccer. With a recovery timeline of eight to nine months,...

Every time Northgate players walked into the weight room this offseason, they were confronted with the same reminders. Whether it was “75-19” or “69-20” or maybe “49-0” or “51-6,” there it was, day after day. “I’ve had all of the blowout scores up on the wall in the weight room...

The Hampton boys golf team is looking to turn experience into exultation. The senior-ladened Talbots return five of their top six golfers from a 6-11 team and entered the 2023 season with lofty expectations. The nine-player roster consists of eight seniors and one junior, making it the most seasoned group...

North Catholic first-year football coach Chris Rizzo traveled about 2,000 miles to take over a program that’s not too far from where it wants to be. “It was time to get back,” said the Bethel Park native, who spent the past four seasons as head coach at Glendale (Ariz.) Ironwood....

Something is catching on with Hampton football. The Talbots return a handful of starters on both sides of the ball, led by back-to-back 1,000-yard rusher Brock Borgo, in their bid to reach the WPIAL playoffs for the fourth consecutive season and further distance themselves from the disheartening days of 2016-19,...

The video replay revealed what Hampton’s Benny Haselrig already knew. The freshman wide receiver at Pitt had made the wrong read during an option route in the opening days of football training camp, and the film review didn’t lie. “You have to read the defense and decide which direction to...

When Hampton two-time all-state volleyball player Emmy Schrom began looking at colleges, proximity was a priority. “I just didn’t want to go that far away,” she said. “I feel like I owe it to my parents, and everyone else that has helped me, to be able to come and watch...

July 4 was Earth’s hottest day on record at the time, but something very cool happened to a family of runners from North Huntingdon. Five female members of the Dansak family — a mom, three daughters, and an aunt ranging in age from 11 to 48 — brought home a...

Mike Gavlik has formed a straightforward philosophy during his two decades as a high school athletic director. It’s all about the kids. “At the end of the day, the decisions that are made should be about the student-athletes,” Hampton’s new AD said. “I think that applies across the board. As...

Hampton’s Chris Belch put on a display on the Fourth of July. The 17-year-old won the 18th Hampton Rotary Firecracker 5K, holding off his older brother, Michael, in the 3.1-mile, 126-runner race. “That’s probably the biggest race that I’ve ever won,” the younger Belch said. “I had a lot of...

Making the 1,100-mile trek from Pittsburgh to Fargo, N.D., is becoming an annual summer trip for Hampton’s Isabella McNutt. McNutt placed fourth at the USA Wrestling Northeast Regional Championships in mid-May in Atlantic City, N.J., to punch a return ticket to the Junior Nationals on July 15-23, in Fargo, ND....

Construction of the new softball/multipurpose field at Hampton High School is rounding second and — slowly but surely — heading for home. Part of the district’s $17.4 million Phase One renovation, the field is expected to be ready for general multipurpose use in the summer of 2024 “at the earliest”...

Hampton graduates Casey and Cam Marshalwitz have played baseball for most of their lives, but they’ve never had a season like this one. For the first time, the brothers were full-time teammates, sharing the field at Division I Youngstown State. “It was fun,” said Casey, a senior relief pitcher at...

Hampton failed to reach the WPIAL girls lacrosse semifinals this season for the first time since 2015, but the journey was worth the while. “To get as far as we did for a predominantly young roster — only two seniors — is a great success in my opinion,” coach Kelsey...

So much for resting on your laurels. Coming off its best season in a decade, the Hampton boys basketball team is staying busy this summer. The Talbots went 5-1 and reached the championship game of the Northgate undergraduate league before beginning play in late May in the monthlong Pittsburgh Basketball...

Hampton track won WPIAL and PIAA gold medals in May with a relay team that got a late start and a miler who had a great finish. The girls 3,200 relay team of Kevyn Fish, Ava Vitiello, Teresa Grimm and Kathleen Milon, who ran together only twice prior to the...

Things looked bleak for the Hampton baseball team at midseason. A 10-6 nonsection loss at Montour on April 20 dropped the Talbots to 3-8 overall, and they had lost three consecutive Section 4-4A games to fall to 2-4. “It was not doing the little things,” senior ace left-haander Ryan Apaliski...

Hampton softball coach Ron Fedell, who celebrated his 200th career victory earlier this month, is stepping down after 23 seasons. Fedell, 68, said he and his wife Kathy have custody of their 4-year-old granddaughter, who is autistic. Fedell said his time and focus need to be on her. “It’s just...

Former Hampton three-sport standout Matt DeMatteo already owns the third-fastest 400-meter hurdle time in Duquesne track and field history. Imagine what will happen when he figures out what he’s doing. “I’ve always been a three-sport athlete and never really focused all of my time on track,” DeMatteo said. “So I’m...

There were many reasons why the Aquinas Academy girls lacrosse team missed the WPIAL playoffs this season for the first time since 2016. An inexperienced starting lineup, a season-costing ACL injury to one of its top players and an offseason realignment into a rugged section were the main culprits. But...

In Bella Henzler’s first game at James Madison, she hit a ball into the left-centerfield gap and raced around the bases for an inside-the-park home run. She hasn’t slowed down since. Henzler, a former Hampton all-state catcher, started all 46 regular-season games for the JMU softball team, batting clean-up for...

The Hampton boys tennis team finished 8-8 this year, but it sure felt like a winning season. The Talbots went 4-1 in Section 3-2A, reached the WPIAL quarterfinals for the first time in five years, brought home a section doubles crown for only the second time in two decades and...

The top of Hampton’s softball lineup is at the top of its game this season. The Talbots’ 1-2-3 hitters in the batting order — Charlotte Lomb, Mackenzie Reese and Addy Maguire — are powering the team’s march to the WPIAL playoffs for a fifth consecutive season. • Lomb, a junior...

Dick Groat long has been considered one of Western Pennsylvania’s greatest sports figures. Which sport depended on the generation, as the Swissvale native was a two-sport star at Duke, one of only 13 people to play in both the NBA and MLB and later spent four decades calling college basketball...

When Hampton’s Emi DiLiberto started playing lacrosse in fifth grade, she was petrified of the hard, rubber ball. “I was terrified,” she said. “I wanted nothing to do with it.” Now, she’s scary. DiLiberto, a senior midfielder, overcame her initial fear and has blossomed into one of the top scorers...