Ray Fisher stories, Page 27
Bethel Park ready to defend back-to-back PIAA baseball championships
The players on the Bethel Park baseball team have had big shoes to fill this season. The Black Hawks are two-time defending state champions and are coming off back-to-back 20-win campaigns. “Our goals are the same as every year,” coach Pat Zehnder said, “to win section, WPIAL and state championships....
With rebuilt roster, Sewickley Academy softball eyes improvement
Small steps. “The program is building up again as our roster has increased from nine to 13 players this year,” said Win Palmer, who is coaching the Sewickley Academy softball team this season. “Bob Sirko, a familiar name to Beaver County softball and who coached at Carlow College, has joined...
4 Quaker Valley volleyball players headed to national tournaments
Quaker Valley’s girls volleyball program is receiving national attention. Four members of the girls varsity team — Annica Kagle, Molly MacDonald, Vanessa Pickett and Nora Hammond — will be competing in the USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championships this summer. The tournament will take place June 28 to July 6...
Sewickley Valley YMCA swimmers cut times, advance to state meet
Three members of the Sewickley Valley YMCA Sea Dragons swim team advanced to the state meet this season after qualifying at the district championships. All three swimmers — Amelia Suhayda, Logan Monyok and Luke Monyok — are 12 years old. “All three had amazing swims at districts and cut a...
With deep group of returning lettermen, Sewickley Academy baseball poised for success
Sewickley Academy’s baseball home opener could not have gone any smoother. The Panthers socked visiting Bishop Canevin, 10-1, on junior Jordan Smith’s two-hit, complete-game performance. It proved to be a close game until Sewickley erupted for four runs in the fourth and five in the fifth. “The varsity team is...
Quaker Valley girls wrestlers making statewide splash in youth competition
Quaker Valley Wrestling Association was well-represented at the Keystone State youth championships this past season. In fact, three QV girls — Dublin Parnell, Ireland Parnell and Abby Hillman — finished as medalists in the statewide competition. “Dublin, Ireland and Abby’s performances were truly outstanding as all three wrestled the top...
Freshmen provide spark for growth of Quaker Valley softball
Quaker Valley football coach Jason Cappa doubles his duties as coach of the Quakers softball team. “Coaching a softball team compared to coaching a football team is not any different in the way of preparation and coaching,” Cappa said. “We will always work on fundamentals, athletic growth in terms of...
Before buzzer-beating finish, Quaker Valley girls basketball season filled with highlights
A last-second buzzer beater. That’s how the Quaker Valley girls basketball team’s 2022-23 season came to a crashing end. Quaker Valley lost a 40-37 decision to Harbor Creek in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A tournament as Georgia Weber hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the Huskies,...
Sewickley Academy grad coming into her own with Swarthmore lacrosse team
The Swarthmore College women’s lacrosse team was on spring break recently in Clearwater, Fla. The Garnet took anything but a break, however, from their hot start to the 2023 season. And one of the team leaders for Swarthmore is Sewickley Academy graduate Elizabeth Zack, a 5-foot-7 sophomore attacker. In the...
Thomas Jefferson junior dives headfirst into 2-sport winter schedule
Addison Arndt literally dives headfirst into her winter athletic schedule at Thomas Jefferson. Arndt, a junior, competes as a diver on the TJ girls swim team and as an advanced gymnast as a member of the gymnastics team. She qualified for the PIAA finals in both sports, placing fourth in...
Quaker Valley hockey players to play in national championships
Many of the skaters in the PIHL maintain their time on the ice as members of local club teams. Five Quaker Valley hockey players — four freshmen and one middle schooler — are on club squads that have advanced to the USA Hockey national championships to be held March 30...
Optimism abounds for Quaker Valley hockey after playoff season
The PIHL regular season is a long grind, beginning in October and running into February. Quaker Valley, competing in the Varsity A Gold division, finished fourth behind North Hills, McDowell and North Catholic with a 14-5-0-1 record. The Quakers started out 2-2 then skated to wins in nine of their...
New-look Quaker Valley lineup aims to bring aggressiveness, hard work to diamond
Quaker Valley’s baseball team suffered massive graduation losses last year. Eight of the nine starters in 2022 were seniors, leaving only shortstop Hunter Doherty as the lone returning starter in 2023. Doherty started at second base last season. “We will be competitive,” said Rich Garbee, QV’s first-year coach. “We will...
Hurdler, distance runner among returning standouts for Gateway track team
One of the leading returning competitors in the Gateway track and field program this season is junior hurdler Kierra Pitts. A two-time WPIAL qualifier, Pitts, who is known as Kiki, placed eighth in 17:18 in the girls 100-meter hurdles at last year’s WPIAL Class 3A finals. She also competed in...
Relay team leads Gateway swimmers at WPIAL, PIAA meets
The Gateway girls 400-yard freestyle relay team was handed the fifth seed at the PIAA Class 2A swim championships at Bucknell. As it turned out, the Gators finished fifth with a time of 3:38.79, beating their prelim time (3:41.65) by more than three seconds. The medal-winning relay team consisted of...
Sports luminaries highlight long-awaited West Jefferson Hills Hall of Fame inductions
West Jefferson Hills announced it was starting the Hall of Fame program during the 2019-20 school year, but the first class never was recognized due to the covid-19 pandemic. The district relaunched its program last fall and re-opened the nomination process. On March 4, WJHSD inducted the members into the...
Baldwin’s Abby Rexrode remains 2nd to none in WPIAL gymnastics
Baldwin’s Abby Rexrode has made an indelible imprint on WPIAL gymnastics. Rexrode won her second consecutive all-around title in the advanced division at the WPIAL championships Feb. 11 at Moon. By doing so, the 16-year-old sophomore held firm as the WPIAL’s top gymnast. “Abby had a strong all-around performance. She...
Bethel Park assistant AD headed to WPIAL Hall of Fame for storied Serra Catholic basketball career
Laura Grimm is a relatively new face in the Bethel Park athletic department. She was hired as assistant athletic director in September 2021 and is serving in that capacity this school year as well. Grimm, however, is a well-known figure on the Serra Catholic campus as well as around the...
Bethel Park swimmers hit lifetime bests, collect medals at WPIAL meet
He’s only a sophomore, but he stood out as a team leader for Bethel Park. Trent Powell was a medalist in two relays and two individual events at the WPIAL Class 3A boys swim championships March 2-3 at North Allegheny. “Trent had a breakthrough year,” said Kathy Strock, who coaches...
‘Emotional leader’ Gavin Moul caps Bethel Park career with Big 33 appearance
Gavin Moul’s high school football career is not over just yet. The Bethel Park senior was chosen to play on the Pennsylvania squad in this year’s Big 33 Football Classic. The prestigious all-star game will take place at 7 p.m. May 28, at Bishop McDevitt’s Rocco Ortenzio Stadium in Harrisburg....
Gateway players disappointed in finish but relish ‘amazing performance’ throughout season
It’s not the way the Gateway boys basketball team wanted to end the season. After winning their first two WPIAL Class 5A playoff games against Woodland Hills and McKeesport, the Gators ended the year with three consecutive playoff losses. Gateway dropped a 62-55 decision to Peters Township in the WPIAL...
Quaker Valley sees pair of wrestlers hit 100-win milestone
It doesn’t often happen that a high school wrestling team has two 100-win grapplers in one season. Quaker Valley is not your average wrestling program. Two QV grapplers racked up their 100th career wins this season, giving the Quakers six wrestlers to reach the century mark in the seven seasons...
Quaker Valley boys will bring plenty back after 2nd straight section title
Quaker Valley’s boys basketball team has a chance to make a little history in 2023-24. QV has won 10 section championships in school history, but the Quakers have never won three in a row. Next year’s team will have the opportunity to do just that. “We really do not look...
Crew of returning starters ready to lead Plum softball to success in Section 1-5A
It was termed as an up-and-down season for the Mustangs. Plum’s softball team advanced to the WPIAL playoffs for the third consecutive year in 2022, but the Mustangs could muster no better than a 7-12 record by season’s end. “I don’t know if I ever thought of it as a...
Girls relay teams push pace for Quaker Valley swimmers
The stars of the show for the Quaker Valley swim program were the girls relay teams. All three relay units were medalists at the WPIAL Class 2A championships March 3-4 at Pitt’s Trees Pool. The 200-yard freestyle relay team, consisting of senior Ella Fuener, sophomores Kwilai Karto and Paige Juliano...
