High School category, Page 307
Latrobe’s Luke Willochell claims 3rd WPIAL title; Hempfield’s Eli Carr his 2nd
No one said winning a title would be easy, but Latrobe junior Luke Willochell found a way Saturday at the WPIAL Class 3A wrestling championships at Canon-McMillan. Willochell (38-1) claimed his third by defeating Franklin Regional senior Tyler Kapusta, 1-0, to win the 121-pound title. Now his focus turns to...
73 WPIAL boys, girls basketball teams seeded for PIAA play
With the Path to the Pete now history, the focus turns to the Road to Hershey and the start of the 2024 PIAA basketball postseason. The state playoffs begin with first round action on Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9. Here is a final list of the WPIAL teams...
Upper St. Clair ends Baldwin’s WPIAL run with resounding victory in Class 6A final
“Let’s go dance,” Upper St. Clair coach Danny Holzer told his players, guiding them back to their Petersen Events Center locker room where they bounced and sang along to “Y-M-C-A.” There might be some debate about whether they’re the best dancers in the WPIAL, but the Panthers left Pitt’s arena...
Canon-McMillan dominates girls 2A wrestling regional; Norwin advances 4
In the first PIAA girls Western Regional championships, held at Canon-McMillan High School, schools from around the WPIAL had solid representation in the final matches. No school had more of a presence than the host. The Big Macs had three wrestlers win gold in their respective weight classes and had...
Gateway tops rival Franklin Regional for regional boys bowling title
Gateway turned in a dominant performance at the Western Pennsylvania Regional boys team tournament Saturday at AMF Noble Manor Lanes, finishing atop the field in qualifying and going undefeated in the step-ladder finals en route to the title. The Gators faced neighborhood rival Franklin Regional in the finals and swept...
Westmoreland high school athletes of the week for the week ending March 3, 2024: Kendall Berger and David Mutter
Kendall Berger School: Norwin Class: Junior Sport: Basketball Claim to fame: Berger helped lead Norwin to the WPIAL Class 6A championship with an impressive performance in the semifinals. She scored 18 of her game and playoff career-high 22 points in the second half as Norwin pulled away for a 63-47...
South Fayette beats Armstrong to complete 3-peat in WPIAL Class 5AVideo
Experience matters for the South Fayette girls basketball team. The sixth-seeded Lions weren’t expected to return to the Petersen Events Center for the WPIAL Class 5A girls basketball title game this season. But once South Fayette got there, what the Lions had witnessed in previous years helped them win their...
After WPIAL title, Deer Lakes boys set sights on run to state championship
The Deer Lakes boys basketball team had three goals at the beginning of the season: win a section title, repeat as WPIAL champs and get back to Hershey for the state finals. After Friday’s 55-49 win over Alle-Kiski Valley rival Burrell in the WPIAL Class 3A championship, the Lancers can...
North Catholic gets past Blackhawk in OT to win WPIAL title for 3rd straight seasonVideo
North Catholic took home its third WPIAL title in a row and seventh in the past eight years with a 40-37 win over Blackhawk in overtime in a championship rematch in the Class 4A finals Saturday at Petersen Events Center. The Trojanettes were spearheaded by Alayna Rocco, who tallied 26...
Latrobe’s Luke Willochell survives scare, stays on track for 3rd WPIAL title
It wasn’t easy, but Latrobe junior Luke Willochell survived a scare in the WPIAL Class 3A wrestling semifinals Saturday at Canon-McMillan. Willochell gave up an early takedown and rallied in the third period to defeat Canon-McMillan sophomore Cooper Hartman, 8-4, to advance to the 121-pound finals for the third consecutive...
WPIAL champion Norwin girls ‘refused to be outworked’ on title run
Songs, desserts, family. They all came up in conversation during a postgame news conference Friday night at Petersen Events Center as coach Brian Brozeski and eight of his Norwin girls basketball player shared some playful banter with reporters. It was a light and telling session with the newly crowned WPIAL...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Freeport’s Kira Schrecongost, Deer Lakes’ Wayne Love
Kira Schrecongost School: Freeport Class: Junior Sport: Swimming Report card: Schrecongost won the WPIAL Class 2A girls 100-yard butterfly title for the second time Thursday. She edged rival Katie Jackovic, a senior from South Park, by 58 one-hundredths of a second, winning in 55.37 seconds at Pitt’s Trees Pool. She...
Union girls fend off challenge from St. Joseph to defend WPIAL title in OTVideo
Winning a WPIAL basketball championship is hard enough. Two in a row seems improbable. Add in a double-digit deficit early in the game, and the difficulty level increases even more. But the top-seeded Union girls pulled it off Saturday, coming up clutch in overtime and securing back-to-back titles with a...
Shane Bartha, Apollo-Ridge’s all-time leading scorer, to join A-K Valley Sports Hall of Fame
Shane Bartha’s playing days at Apollo-Ridge featured plenty of memorable basketball victories, most notably the Vikings’ 54-51 win over Brentwood in the 1991 WPIAL Class AA girls final. But it’s the lone loss of Bartha’s senior season that still weighs on her mind. The Vikings dropped a tough 51-49 decision...
Westmoreland County high school notebook: 9 county basketball teams in PIAA field
The PIAA basketball playoff field is set. State first-round games will begin March 8-9. Boys qualifiers from Westmoreland County are Franklin Regional in Class 5A, Derry and Burrell in 3A, Greensburg Central Catholic and Jeannette in 2A and Monessen in Class A. For the girls, it’s Norwin in 6A, Greensburg...
Aquinas Academy boys show they’re no one-man team
Aquinas Academy entered this season with a lot of uncertainty after losing WPIAL all-time leading scorer Vinnie Cugini to graduation. But instead of taking a step backward, the new-look Crusaders proved themselves by recording 15 wins and earning a WPIAL playoff victory for only the second time in program history....
Disciplined lifestyle leads Norwin senior to Navy wrestling team
The military lifestyle appears to suit Nate Campbell. Discipline is nothing new to the Norwin senior wrestler. “I don’t drink or do drugs. I get eight hours of sleep a night. I prioritize academics as well as work out and wrestle every day,” Campbell said. “I put good foods in...
Fox Chapel wrestlers battle through adversity to send 10 to WPIAL meet
The Fox Chapel wrestling team battled some sickness during the section tournament, but that didn’t slow the Foxes from sending a large contingent of wrestlers to the WPIAL Class 3A championships. Fox Chapel had 10 wrestlers move on. While the Foxes didn’t produce a champion, Landon Funk (114 pounds), Alexander...
Fox Chapel track standouts pick up medals at indoor state meet
Fox Chapel track coach Tom Moul felt it was fitting for the Foxes to wrap up the indoor season by having three athletes medal at the PTFCA Indoor State Championship at Penn State. The Foxes have spent all season piling up accolades. Fox Chapel set seven school records during the...
North Allegheny notebook: Wren Kucler, Jack Bertram win gold at indoor state meet
North Allegheny junior runners Wren Kucler and Jack Bertram capped off the indoor track and field season in style by winning gold medals at the Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association state championships Feb. 24, at Penn State. Kucler won the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9 minutes, 51.56...
North Allegheny divers follow different routes to WPIAL success
A gymnastics background can certainly help, but North Allegheny diving coach Patti McClure says she’s first looking for a kid with a “kamikaze” attitude. “I look at my divers and say, ‘Find me a friend who doesn’t care how they land in the water,’” McClure said with a laugh. “It’s...
Franklin Regional’s Juliano Marion keeps hot streak going, wins section title
When Franklin Regional senior Juliano Marion lost to Ringgold junior Jake Conroy on Jan. 3, he used it as a learning experience. Marion (39-5) had lost three consecutive matches, including two in the Powerade Tournament, but he wasn’t concerned. Now he’s one of the hotter wrestlers in the WPIAL and...
Defense made difference for Franklin Regional in run to WPIAL finals
Franklin Regional boys basketball coach Jesse Reed played in a lot of high-stakes games in his career. From WPIAL and PIAA finals at Greensburg Central Catholic to the NCAA Tournament with American University to professional-level games in Luxembourg, he felt the heat lamps. But facing a WPIAL semifinal as a...
Hampton wrestlers march ahead in postseason tournaments
The Hampton wrestlers had such a memorable season as a team, they decided to keep it going as individuals. The Talbots, who won a WPIAL playoff match for the first time since 2018, fared well in the ensuing sectional and WPIAL individual tournaments. “We walked away very proud of their...
Aliquippa dominates Greensburg Central Catholic to win record-tying 14th WPIAL titleVideo
The term competitive balance has grown attached to Aliquippa in football. There wasn’t much of it in the WPIAL Class 2A basketball championship either. The top-seeded Quips rode scorching-hot shooting and a career day from sophomore Josh Pratt to a one-sided title repeat Saturday afternoon, brushing aside No. 2 Greensburg...
