High School category, Page 1180
Shady Side Academy track logs medal-worthy PIAA appearance
The Shady Side Academy girls track team ended its season at the PIAA championships last month. “It was a very exciting season,” coach Paul Bodnarchuk said. “Especially in the WPIAL and PIAA championships.” With the help of captains Sophia McMahon, Gabby White and Aya Youssef, the team finished the dual-meet...
St. Joseph basketball players adjust to new coach, system during summer workouts
When longtime St. Joseph boys basketball coach Kelly Robinson resigned in April after 21 seasons at the helm, the search began in earnest to find his replacement. A little less than a month later, the Spartans had their man in Hart Coleman, who led the Plum boys team the past...
West Mifflin standout Nahki Johnson among 2 ruled ineligible by WPIAL
West Mifflin’s Nahki Johnson and Gateway’s Diego Bledsoe played football together last season at Steel Valley before each transferred elsewhere. In separate hearings Thursday, the WPIAL declared both ineligible for next football season, ruling that their transfers were motivated at least partially by athletics, WPIAL executive director Tim O’Malley said....
WPIAL awards playoff eligibility to Kiski, Gateway football transfers
The WPIAL ruled Kiski Area’s Kenneth Blake and Gateway’s Shane Thrift fully eligible to play football this fall following separate hearings Thursday at the league office in Green Tree. Blake transferred from Central Catholic. Thrift transferred from Seton LaSalle. Both are rising juniors. The WPIAL had previously ruled them eligible...
Shaler Area’s Mbalo seeks to challenge himself, improve high jump
Finding a way atop the medal stand in the WPIAL Class AAA triple jump wasn’t the end of the story for Shaler Area’s Cam Mbalo. A junior season full of strong performances earned Mbalo a full schedule for the summer. When Mbalo went to North Carolina A&T on June 15,...
‘Mentally sound’ France finishes Hampton career on high note
Most high-performing scholar athletes don’t peak during their senior year of high school. They compete in college. But that’s not the case with Campbell France, and she’s just fine with that. The senior reached the podium at WPIALs (third) and PIAA championships (eighth) at Shippensburg in the 800-meter run to...
Hampton players hope to jump-start new Allegheny lacrosse program
Jake Schwarzbach was on varsity lacrosse for four years and emerged as one of the team’s better faceoff players. Alex Winklosky always was on his wing during those faceoffs. That might happen for four years more because both committed to Allegheny. “We’ve been playing with each other ever since freshman...
Visit to father’s former stomping grounds sold North Catholic’s Myers on Duquesne
Tess Myers’ connection with basketball runs deep within her family. By choosing Duquesne, North Catholic’s 5-foot-10 incoming senior guard and Lower Burrell resident chose to follow in her father’s legacy. Joe Myers played in 103 games for the Dukes in the early 1980s and scored more than 1,000 points. Myers’...
Marino hired as Plum boys basketball coach
When Mark Marino joined the men’s basketball coaching staff at Lycoming College in 2008, his first task as a high school talent evaluator was to observe Plum standout Andrew Cressler as Cressler was going into his senior season with the Mustangs. “I sat down, watched him play and took notes...
WPIAL golfers invited to national high school tournament
Several of the top WPIAL golfers from the fall 2018 season will compete at the National High School Golf Association’s inaugural High School Golf National Invitational on June 27-28 at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The boys and girls fields for the invitation-only tournament were...
George Guido: Public/private legislation stirs controversy
It didn’t take long for State House Bill 1600 to get into committee and to generate controversy. HB 1600 was offered last week by state Rep. Aaron Bernstine (R-Beaver/Butler/Lawrence). The bill would create separate PIAA playoffs for public and private high school teams. Besides holding separate playoffs, the bill would...
A-K Valley athletes honored at Positive Athlete Awards
When Gregory Guzzo was 13, he was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect, and open-heart surgery was needed to correct the issue. The recent Valley graduate was given a renewed opportunity at life, and he didn’t want to waste it. Guzzo was told he couldn’t take part in contact sports,...
QB Kyle Silk looking for ‘fresh start’ after transferring to Ligonier Valley
Ligonier Valley might have a new quarterback to play behind its massive and college-coveted offensive line this fall. Incoming senior Kyle Silk has transferred to Ligonier Valley and is on the Rams’ roster. Silk was a Class A all-state second-team selection last year as an athlete at United. Silk (6-foot-2,...
WPIAL declares Belle Vernon multi-sport standout Devin Whitlock ineligible
Multi-sport standout Devin Whitlock, who transferred from Monessen to Belle Vernon after his freshman year, was ruled ineligible by the WPIAL. The WPIAL made its decision Monday based solely on the transfer paperwork, which Monessen’s administration did not approve, said WPIAL executive director Tim O’Malley. Whitlock can request an eligibility...
Positive Athlete Pittsburgh honors student-athletes with scholarships, awards
The Sen. John Heinz History Center and Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum provided the setting Monday evening for the eighth annual Positive High School Athlete Awards. Student-athletes representing 30 boys and girls high school sports from throughout western Pennsylvania, along with two coaches and North Allegheny High School, were recognized and...
Trib HSSN Softball Player of the Week lifts team to state title
The final Trib HSSN Softball Player of the Week for the 2019 season is Frazier junior Logan Hartman, who was the winning pitcher and contributed offensively as the Commodores won their first PIAA softball championship. “Words can not describe this feeling,” said Don Hartman, Frazier coach and Logan’s father. “The...
Trib HSSN Baseball Player of the Week shines in PIAA playoffs
The Trib HSSN Baseball Player of the Week is Serra Catholic freshman Nico Eremic, who contributed from the clean-up spot in a PIAA semifinal win and a championship game loss. “Wow, this year was a Cinderella story,” Serra Catholic coach Brian Dzurenda said. “The whole team philosophy changed from past...
North Catholic’s Tess Myers follows family tradition, commits to Duquesne
Four decades after her father committed to Duquesne, North Catholic’s Tess Myers committed Monday to play basketball for the Dukes. The 5-foot-10 guard from Lower Burrell, who ranks among the WPIAL’s top 2020 girls basketball recruits, chose Duquesne from more than a dozen offers, including Colorado, Temple, St. Joseph’s and...
Kiski Area’s Hepler tests mettle against nation’s top freshmen throwers
C.J. Hepler emerged this spring as one to watch for the future of throwing events in the WPIAL and beyond. The Kiski Area rising sophomore was the lone freshman to compete in the discus at the WPIAL Class AAA championships last month at Slippery Rock, and he placed 12th overall...
Moon’s Donovan Johnson remains ineligible after WPIAL denies waiver request
The WPIAL denied Donovan Johnson’s waiver request Monday, leaving the Moon basketball star ineligible for his senior season. PIAA eligibility rules limit students to six seasons of a sport after sixth grade. The WPIAL decided previously that Johnson already had reached that limit because he repeated the eighth grade and...
Final Trib HSSN state softball rankings for 2019 season
Six softball teams were crowned state champions last week at Penn State, leaving them at the head of the class in the final edition of the Trib HSSN state softball rankings. Three WPIAL traveled to State College in search of a PIAA title, and two returned with gold. While Elizabeth...
Final Trib HSSN state baseball rankings for 2019 season
State champions have been crowned as another season comes to an end with the final edition of the Trib HSSN PIAA baseball rankings. No WPIAL teams won a state title as Beaver and Serra Catholic finished as runners-up. Teams from six different district won state titles in 2019 as Souderton...
Final Trib HSSN baseball, softball power rankings for 2019
The 2019 WPIAL baseball and softball seasons are in the books, but not before a final edition of the weekly Trib HSSN Power Rankings. Pine-Richland is your top team in baseball, and Elizabeth Forward ends the season at No. 1 in softball. Only two district teams won PIAA championships this...
Mars’ Michael Carmody, WPIAL’s top-ranked football recruit, commits to Notre Dame
Almost two years to the day that Robby Carmody committed to Notre Dame basketball, his younger brother Michael committed Sunday to play football for the Fighting Irish. Mars lineman Michael Carmody chose Notre Dame from more than two dozen offers including Pitt, Penn State and West Virginia, along with Auburn,...
Westmoreland high school notebook: First-time softball champions come up big defensively
Penn-Trafford and Frazier softball teams had a lot in common when they won PIAA softball titles on Friday at Penn State’s Beard Field. Not only were they the school’s first state titles, they did it by making big plays on defense. Penn-Trafford won the Class 5A title, a 5-3 win...
