Westmoreland County campus clippings: Greensburg Salem grad wins 1st cross country title

Cal (Pa.) senior Malia Anderson (Greensburg Salem) picked up her first individual cross country title by winning the Carnegie Mellon Invitational at Schenley Park.

Anderson won the 5K in a time of 18 minutes, 36.1 seconds. She had two runner-up finishes in her career before her victory.

Women’s cross country

Duquesne: Freshman Cydney Blahovec (Hempfield) was named the Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of the Week after she took ninth out of 77 runners with a time of 20 minutes, 10.7 seconds at the Carnegie Mellon Invitational at Schenley Park.

Point Park: Senior Allison Plassio (Norwin) ran a career-best time of 19 minutes, 16 seconds to finish fifth at the Carnegie Mellon Invitational.

Saint Vincent: Sophomore Kristen Price was named the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Runner of the Week after she won the Thiel Rumble in a time of 23 minutes, 31 seconds.

Women’s volleyball

Carlow: Sophomore outside hitter Rebecca Hess (Greensburg Central Catholic) produced 20 kills, 16 digs and five service aces for an impressive performance, but the Celtics fell to Salem, 3-2. Other county players on the roster include freshman Giovanna Jones (Latrobe), freshman Elliott Althof (Greensburg Central Catholic), sophomore Gabby Serrao (Belle Vernon) and senior Meghan Alexander (Penn-Trafford).

Saint Vincent: Senior outside hitter Luciana Polk was named the PAC Offensive Player of the Week. She had 25 kills, 30 digs and six aces across a pair of wins.

Seton Hill: Junior Paige Cole posted 21 kills, junior Abby Oesterling added 28 assists and freshman Kendall Wagner delivered 21 digs as the Griffins (8-10, 2-4 PSAC) edged Cal (Pa.), 3-2.

Waynesburg: Junior Jordan Stein (Norwin) registered a team-high 19 digs in a 3-1 loss to Grove City in the PAC opener.

Men’s golf

Fairmont State: Junior Alex Turowski (Penn-Trafford) finished third at the Mountain East Conference Tournament at Avalon Lakes Golf Course in Ohio. The performance earned him All-MEC honors. Turowski made eight birdies in the 54-hole event, posting rounds of 76, 70 and 75.

Pitt-Greensburg: Freshman Ashton Beighley (Derry) was named AMCC Golfer of the Week. Beighley finished fourth at the La Roche Redhawk Invitational, shooting a 6-over-par 78 at Wildwood Country Club in Allison Park.

Pitt-Johnstown: The Mountain Cats’ roster is heavy with Westmoreland County talent this season. Players include senior Mario Battaglia (Latrobe), junior Sal Cerilli (Norwin) and sophomore Tyler Mocello (Belle Vernon). Battaglia, playing as an individual, tied for 16th at 225 (73, 77, 75) at the West Liberty Fall Tournament in Steubenville, Ohio.

Waynesburg: Junior Tyler Rollinson (Southmoreland) teamed with Matthew Karpeal for a 5 and 4 win in a dual match against Hiram at Greene County Country Club. The teams played five four-ball matches with two-man teams. Waynesburg won, 4-1.

Westmoreland County Community College: Freshmen Carson McCully and Conner Iarussi (Hempfield) earned All-WPCC honors at the conference championships, played at The Links at Spring Church near Apollo.

Women’s golf

Washington & Jefferson: Junior Angelika Dewicki (Greensburg Central Catholic) tied for fifth with an 83 and the Presidents took second at the Westminster Invitational in New Castle.

Westmoreland County Community College: Sophomore Kylie Kadas won the WPCC Championship at The Links at Spring Church. She shot 101 and 95 to win the event by 27 shots.

Men’s cross country

Pitt-Greensburg: Sophomore Ethan Barrick was named the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Runner of the Week for the third time this season. Barrick won his second race of the season, taking the Mountie Invitational in 17 minutes, 17.3 seconds — more than 50 seconds ahead of second place. He went on to break the school 8K record at the Carnegie Mellon Invitational with a time of 27:29. He finished 25th.

Saint Vincent: Junior Tim Patterson was named the PAC Runner of the Week. He took second place out of 371 runners at the Paul Short Run at Lehigh, crossing the finish line in 25:39.

Women’s tennis

Pitt-Greensburg: Sophomore Eden Richey (Valley) was named the AMCC Player of the Week after she rallied for 4-6, 7-6, 10-2 win over Caitlin Blessel in UPG’s 5-0 win over Penn State Altoona. Richey lost the first set and trailed 5-0 in the second before she came back to post the win and help the Bobcats secure a fourth consecutive AMCC regular-season title.

Men’s swimming

Westminster: Freshman Gino Piraino (Franklin Regional) won the 1-meter, 5-dive voluntary competition in a 198-90 loss to John Carroll. Piraino had 143.18 points. Piraino also runs for the cross country team.

Honors

Saint Vincent: Four new inductees joined the Bearcats’ Athletic Hall of Fame.

The late Brian Smith (Class of 1980, soccer), Chad Dickman (2002, basketball), Dr. Christopher Williams (2003, basketball), and Taylor Guido (2012, volleyball) were honored Saturday during SVC’s homecoming weekend.

Smith was a four-time All-Western Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Soccer Conference player and graduated as the program’s all-time career leader in assists.

He won two division championships. Dickman scored 1,279 career points playing for legendary coach Bernie Matthews, averaging 10.5 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists over 122 games.

He helped SVC to two American Mideast Conference championships and two trips to the NAIA national tournament.

He is the head coach at Hood College. The Bearcats also won two AMC titles and made a pair of NAIA Tournament appearances with Williams, who scored 1,231 points, reaching the Elite Eight when he was a junior.

Guido is the only local inductee of the group. She graduated from Greensburg Salem.

Guido was a four-year starter and collected 1,261 kills, 1,355 digs and 206 blocks in her career. She was a two-time All-PAC selection and helped SVC to 94 wins.

The Bearcats reached the ECAC South Championship Tournament final twice with Guido in the lineup.

She was the 2012 recipient of the Kristen Zawacki Award.