Michael Love stories, Page 100

Sabrina Bowman won multiple WPIAL swimming championships during her days at St. Joseph. When she arrived at St. Francis (Pa.) in the summer of 2016, she set her sights on winning more gold. The decorated, Division-I performer immediately established herself and has made an impact at numerous meets and invitationals....

Kristin Womeldorf capped 2019 with one of the highest girls averages in all of the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League. The seasoned Apollo-Ridge senior produced a 211.83 score over 12 games through four weeks of play and upped it to 212.13 Wednesday after a 640 series, including a pair of...

Former McKeesport basketball standout Swin Cash-Canal, who went on to star in college at Connecticut, in the WNBA and for Team USA in the Olympics, is one of 12 finalists for induction into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. The list of finalists, announced Thursday evening during the ESPN broadcast...

Abbie Duncan sees the potential for a memorable final season with the South Fayette swim team. The Lions senior committed to swim in college at Ohio University, and she finalized her decision during the national letter of intent signing period in November. Now, with six weeks of preparation remaining until...

Isaac Griffith finished all alone at the top in the boys 100-yard butterfly at the West Allegheny Invitational on Dec. 28. The Indiana junior swam to a time of 53.22 seconds, a new pool record. He was five seconds clear of the rest of the field. The time also was...

The players selected for the PIHL all-star games Jan. 26 at the Robert Morris University’s Island Sports Center have been released. The selections for each of the four games — Class AAA, Class AA, Class A and Class B — feature 24 forwards, 12 defensemen and six goaltenders. The Class...

The Knoch and Freeport girls basketball teams took care of business in their respective Section 1-4A games Monday evening. Now, the rival Knights and Yellowjackets will clash for the first time this season with a lot on the line in the first cycle of section play. Thursday’s game is scheduled...

Kennedie Montue has not slowed down in the new year. In three games in 2020, the Plum junior forward scored an average of 25.7 points to help the Mustangs to victories over Armstrong, West Allegheny and Hampton. Plum finds itself 6-4 overall and 3-1 in Section 2-5A, and Montue said...

The Indiana University of Pennsylvania women’s basketball team moved up three spots to No. 8 in the latest Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Division II Top 25 poll released Tuesday afternoon, while Cal U slipped six spots to No. 15. The poll is the first released since Dec. 17 because of...

The Deer Lakes girls basketball team plays three Section 3-3A games this week, and the Lancers got off to a good start Monday with a 62-41 victory over East Allegheny. “I told the girls that it’s one game at a time at this point,” said Lancers coach Dave Petruska, who...

Lexi Schrecongost is hoping for an encore and more after a freshman swimming season that saw her earn four WPIAL medals, including an individual bronze in the girls Class AA 100-yard breaststroke. The Freeport sophomore said her motivation to come back and build on last year was strong in the...

Temperatures outside were cold Saturday, but inside at the Edinboro’s Sports and Recreation Center, competition quickly heated up as some of the top track and field athletes in the region gathered for the season’s first Tri-State Track Coaches Association meet. The meet involved participants from more than 60 schools, and...

Evan Whiteside has designs on competing at the PIAA wrestling championships in March. The Gateway senior came close to achieving that last year as he placed fifth at 113 pounds at the Class AAA WPIAL/Southwest Regional tournament at Canon-McMillan. But as exciting as the prospect is for Whiteside to finish...

Maddie Dorish has picked up where she left off last March for the Mt. Lebanon girls swim team. The senior breaststroke standout who has committed to swim in college at Division I Lehigh said she is encouraged by her performances so far this season. Dorish, a three-time WPIAL Class AAA...

Josh Galecki knows the feeling of winning gold in relay events at both the WPIAL and PIAA swimming championships. The North Allegheny senior freestyler helped the 400-yard free relay capture the WPIAL Class AAA crown the past two seasons. Last March, he joined the 200 free relay at states and...

Despite facing a 21-point deficit after three quarters of Thursday’s Section 1-4A contest at North Catholic, the Freeport girls basketball team didn’t wave the white flag. The Yellowjackets opened the final quarter with an 11-2 run to trim the Trojanette lead to 12. But the margin was too large to...

The defense is not resting for the Deer Lakes girls basketball team. The Lancers, 5-3 overall, lead Section 3-3A in scoring defense at 37.3 points per game. They limited Riverview and South Side Beaver to 39 and 29 points, respectively, last weekend in winning the St. Joseph Tournament. Deer Lakes...

As the sun sets on another year in local sports, it’s time to look back on the best stories of 2019 in the Alle-Kiski Valley. There were championship streaks, returns to glory and records broken. The final year in the second decade of the 2000s featured comeback victories, long playoff...

The Deer Lakes boys basketball tournament will begin Saturday evening after Friday’s first-day doubleheader was postponed because of water leakage in the high school gymnasium. Athletic director Chuck Bellisario said because of the warmer-than-usual temperatures for late December, the air conditioning system kicked on, causing condensation to fall to the...

Heather Gardner put pen to paper last month on the first day of the National Letter of Intent signing period for swimming and finalized her commitment to Division I Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. The Mt. Pleasant senior, last year’s PIAA runner-up in both the Class AA girls 50-yard freestyle...

Ian Shahan entered the 2019-20 high school swimming season as the hunted. The Belle Vernon standout set a gold standard at the close of his sophomore season in March with championships in both the 100-yard butterfly and 100 freestyle at the WPIAL championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool and the state...

In the latter stages of the third quarter of a at WPIAL power North Allegheny on Dec. 20, the Fox Chapel girls basketball team led the Class 6A No. 2 Tigers, 31-25, and had designs on finishing off a key early-season Section 1 victory. However, North Allegheny battled back and...