Chris Harlan stories, Page 115

Track season ended Saturday for Aliquippa’s M.J. Devonshire, who won state titles in the 100- and 200-meter dashes at the PIAA championship. Now, it’s football season again. The Kentucky recruit will trade track shoes for football cleats and join his Pennsylvania teammates to compete against Maryland all-stars Monday in the...

Track and field At Shippensburg University Friday-Saturday results Top 3 finishers and local results Boys Class AAA 100: 1. Shawn Brown, CD East, 10.89; 2. Luke Benson, CB West, 10.90; 3. Kamere Day, Harrisburg, 10.95. 200: 1. Ezra Mellinger, Lampeter-Strasburg, 21.40; 2. Salim Epps, St. Joe’s Prep, 21.60; 3. Dymere...

The weekend started slowly but WPIAL athletes rallied on Saturday and won 11 events at the PIAA track and field championships in Shippensburg. Aliquippa’s M.J. Devonshire and Shady Side Academy’s Melissa Riggins won two events apiece, while WPIAL distance runners Gionna Quarzo of Brownsville, Emily Carter of Bethel Park and...

SHIPPENSBURG — Burrell sprinter Jocelyn Vickers ran her opening leg of the 400-meter relay and then hurried toward the finish line to wait for her team’s baton to arrive. She didn’t wait long. Allee Kuhns ran the second leg down the backstretch. Madi Walsh handled the curve, and Olivia Kelly...

SHIPPENSBURG — There, of course, was happiness and excitement as Hayden Robinson crossed the finish line first at Seth Grove Stadium. But, she said, there was also relief. The Avonworth/Northgate senior won the girls 100-meter dash Saturday at the PIAA Class AAA track and field championship, winning gold after finishing...

SHIPPENSBURG — Aliquippa has a storied history of all-time great all-around athletes who wore the Quips’ red and black. M.J. Devonshire surely solidified his spot on that list. The senior won the 100- and 200-meter dashes Saturday at the PIAA Class AA track and field championships, giving him two state...

SHIPPENSBURG — North Allegheny’s Zachary Kinne was running at Seth Grove Stadium, otherwise the state championship sure felt a lot like the WPIAL meet. Five WPIAL runners finished among the Top 6 in the boys 3,200-meter run Saturday at the PIAA Class AAA track and field championships led by Kinne,...

Brownsville’s Gionna Quarzo heard a voice from above helping her set a meet record Saturday at the PIAA track and field championships. With her father shouting encouragement from the top rows of Seth Grove Stadium and her mother and sister cheering along the fence, the junior defended her Class AA...

SHIPPENSBURG — Beaver sophomore Emma Pavelek leaped plenty high enough to win a state title, matching her top rival jump for jump at Seth Grove Stadium. With only two competitors left, both Pavelek and Elk County Catholic junior Taylor Newton cleared 5 feet, 7 inches in the Class AA girls...

SHIPPENSBURG — Burrell’s Kaylen Sharrow stumbled to the finish line last year at Seth Grove Stadium and then waited nervously, hoping to hear her named called for the 300-meter finals. It wasn’t. Now a senior, Sharrow finished the preliminary race cleanly Friday at the PIAA track and field championships, clearing...

This week was calmer than last for WPIAL champion hurdler and pole vaulter Daniel Layton, but it wasn’t without incident. The Waynesburg senior broke his favorite pole during Thursday’s practice, a mishap that jarred his right shoulder and made him find a new pole for the PIAA track and field...

Hayden Robinson has one goal for her final trip to Shippensburg. “To win,” she said. “I haven’t won a state championship yet. That’s my ultimate goal.” The Avonworth/Northgate sprinter is a three-time 100-meter champion in the WPIAL, but hasn’t won state gold despite coming close twice. The senior can change...

Former North Catholic linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green committed Thursday to Michigan. Hill-Green, who transferred out of state three months ago, made his announcement on Twitter. He revealed a Top 5 list of finalists last week that also included Pitt, Purdue, Indiana and Wisconsin. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound junior had ranked third among...

Jarett Bach’s first-round start didn’t meet his high standards, but Monday’s was surely one of his best. The Yough left-hander struck out 10, walked only one and kept South Park off balance to win 3-1 in a WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal at West Mifflin. With an MLB scout watching from...

Plum sophomore Kennedie Montue, the team’s leading scorer two years in a row, announced her first Division 1 basketball offer Sunday from Marshall. The 5-foot-11 forward is a versatile scorer who can play multiple positions. She averaged 18.4 points and 7.1 rebounds last season for Plum, a WPIAL Class 5A...

Western Pennsylvania football fans probably know Colorado State as the alma mater of former Steelers linebacker Joey Porter. But the school is becoming much more familiar across the region. The Mountain West program recently offered scholarships this week to offensive linemen Kevin Meeder and Josh Kaltenberger of Seneca Valley and...

College recruiters are chasing after Westinghouse’s Dayon Hayes, but he’s not the only Division 1 football prospect in the City League. University Prep junior Michael Snowden, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound linebacker, announced his first FBS offer Saturday from Akron. Snowden also played wide receiver and running back last season, and has...

Former Pine-Richland and West Allegheny football standout Kenny White, now a junior college freshman, announced a scholarship offer from Akron. White listed several Division 1 offers while starring in the WPIAL including Iowa State, but this offer from the Zips was his first since enrolling at Garden City (Kan.) Community...

Former North Catholic linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green, who ranked among the WPIAL’s top college recruits before transferring out of state, announced a Top 5 list Friday that included Pitt and four Big Ten schools. Along with the Panthers, Hill-Green narrowed his list to Wisconsin, Michigan, Purdue and Indiana. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound...

Central Catholic junior A.J. Beatty, who leads WPIAL football recruits with more than 40 combined FBS and FCS offers, narrowed his lengthy list Friday. The 6-foot-5, 255-pound defensive end announced a Top Seven that included West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Central Florida, Purdue, North Carolina State and Maryland. Rivals...

Brendan O’Malley’s twin brother Bailey won WPIAL gold last season and defended his shot put title again Thursday. So now that his brother owned two gold medals, Brendan knew exactly what he had to do. “I had to win three,” said the senior, who won the boys 200, 400 and...

As a six-time WPIAL champion, South Park’s Maura Huwalt now ranks among the most accomplished throwers in WPIAL history. But the senior doesn’t consider herself your prototypical thrower. “A lot of people that I’ve met, they always want to be the best thrower, the best thrower, the best thrower —...

Breaking a WPIAL record made M.J. Devonshire smile, but what he liked most was that he’d supplanted a fellow Quips great. “Another Aliquippa guy does it again,” said Devonshire, who won the 100 meters in 10.67 seconds at the WPIAL Class AA track and field championship Thursday at Slippery Rock...

Waynesburg hurdler Daniel Layton tried not to think about his stressful week when standing at the starting line. “I tried to block it out as much as I could,” Layton said, “but honestly it gave me a little bit more energy because now I had something to prove.” Layton, who...