Chris Harlan stories, Page 56
North Allegheny boys volleyball draws PIAA championship rematch with Central Dauphin
Some things seem to never change. Three-time defending PIAA champion North Allegheny is headed back to Penn State’s Rec Hall for the fifth season in a row, a remarkable run of state final appearances for the boys volleyball team. And waiting for the Tigers this weekend will be the same...
Bethel Park eliminates West Allegheny, keeps alive hopes for PIAA championship repeat
Bethel Park has seen this story before: The baseball team comes up short in the WPIAL playoffs only to bounce back stronger in the state tournament behind a talented pitcher recruited to Kent State. That exact storyline won the Black Hawks a state championship a year ago and they’re now...
Don’t blame ‘WPIAL hangover’ for this PIAA 1st-round loss, says Mt. Lebanon coach
The Mt. Lebanon baseball team was on the practice field for a rare early-morning, split-squad scrimmage Saturday, just a few days after winning the WPIAL title. The Blue Devils had six days to get ready for their state playoff opener and tried to use them to their fullest. “We had...
Neshannock tops Frazier in WPIAL championship clash of undefeated 2A teams
Whenever a Neshannock batter stepped into the Lilley Field batter’s box Friday, a peculiar shout sometimes came from the dugout: Smile. And, no, it wasn’t picture day. “On the bus today, we were saying, if one of us ever gets down in the dumps, it could take the whole team...
WPIAL postpones Thursday softball championship games to Friday
The WPIAL took a look at the weather forecast and decided to postpone its three softball finals from Thursday to Friday. The games will be played at the same site, Lilley Field at Cal (Pa.), and the times remain unchanged. Beaver and Elizabeth Forward will play at noon in the...
West Allegheny outlasts Peters Township to win school’s 5th WPIAL championship
Not much has come easy this season for West Allegheny, a team that battled through injuries and plenty of inconvenience to reach Wild Things Park. So, a four-hour championship fit them well. As Wednesday night threatened to become Thursday morning, West Allegheny’s Anthony Raineri bounced an eighth-inning single past second...
Mt. Lebanon squeezes past Upper St. Clair for 1st WPIAL title since 2006
Mt. Lebanon waited 16 years for this celebration, so another hour and a half didn’t matter. The Blue Devils’ Tyler Smith lined a sixth-inning triple into the right-field corner at Wild Things Park and scored the winning run on Derrick Shields’ sacrifice fly for a 2-1 victory over Upper St....
New Castle’s Maria Owens turns triple jump frustration into PIAA long jump gold
SHIPPENSBURG — New Castle senior Maria Owens was upset with herself a day earlier after a 17th-place finish in the triple jump, disappointed largely by a foul on a big jump. “I couldn’t get over it,” she said. But eventually she decided to take that mistake, turn it into motivation...
Moon’s Mia Cochran wins unprecedented ‘triple’ at PIAA championships, celebrates team title alone
Moon Area’s Mia Cochran admits the competitor in her likes a challenge, but she hasn’t found many on the track recently. So, she created one. The Arkansas recruit completed a distance “triple” this weekend that’s likely unprecedented, winning the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter titles at the PIAA Class 3A championship...
WPIAL runners sweep 3,200-meter races at PIAA championships
SHIPPENSBURG — Eden Christian’s Sean Aiken attempted the 3,200 meters for the first time a couple of months ago, and he really didn’t like running nearly two miles. “I personally don’t enjoy the two-mile,” he said. “I don’t know how many guys actually do, but it definitely had to grow...
Deer Lakes’ Carson McCoy celebrates another come-from-behind win at PIAA championships
SHIPPENSBURG — Carson McCoy apologized after his latest come-from-behind victory, knowing he’d just ruthlessly dashed the hopes of the same opponent for the third time. But McCoy wasn’t really sorry. The Deer Lakes senior used his strong kick to surge ahead in the final stretch and win the boys 800...
Shenango thrower Emma Callahan ties shot put record at PIAA championships
SHIPPENSBURG — The target distance on Shenango thrower Emma Callahan’s mind was 50 feet, 10¾ inches, which was the state championship record for girls shot put in Class 2A. On Saturday, she threw that distance. Exactly that distance. Callahan won the girls shot put title at the PIAA track championship...
Moon’s Mia Cochran wins 1,600 meters, wants 2 more golds at busy PIAA championship
SHIPPENSBURG — After defending her state 1,600-meter title Friday morning, Moon’s Mia Cochran revealed the top item on her afternoon agenda. “A nap,” she said. She’ll certainly need her rest. The Arkansas recruit is attempting to pull off a triple win this weekend in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 meters...
Deer Lakes’ Carson McCoy defends 1,600-meter title at PIAA championships
SHIPPENSBURG — Carson McCoy maybe isn’t a front runner, yet the Deer Lakes senior usually crosses the finish line first. His patient, wait-for-your-moment strategy worked again Friday as he surged down the stretch to defend his PIAA Class 2A title in the boys 1,600 meters at the state track championships...
As Emma Callahan chases shot put records, spotlight shines on Shenango’s success
From Emma Callahan’s view, she’d just set a WPIAL championship record, but the Shenango shot putter also knew it’s hard to see from the circle. “I was holding my breath and didn’t want to get excited too soon,” said Callahan, a senior. “I thought I had the record last year,...
Laurel Highlands’ Rodney Gallagher commits to play football at West VirginiaVideo
Keeping his family close was important to Rodney Gallagher, so he did what countless other Western Pennsylvania football recruits have done and committed to his hometown team. But for him, a junior at Laurel Highlands in Fayette County, that’s not Pitt or Penn State. That’s West Virginia. Gallagher, the state’s...
Bethel Park hires former WPIAL basketball star Dante Calabria as boys coach
Dante Calabria, a former WPIAL basketball star who won a national championship at North Carolina, was hired Tuesday as boys coach at Bethel Park. A 1992 Blackhawk graduate and WPIAL Hall of Fame inductee, Calabria has coached at the college, professional and prep school levels, most recently as an assistant...
No. 1 Mt. Lebanon breaks ‘curse’ with quarterfinal win over Seneca Valley
A seventh-inning curveball glanced off Mt. Lebanon catcher Paul Connolly’s mitt and rolled away, causing a moment of panic since there was a runner on third and a one-run lead. Coach Patt McCloskey immediately wondered if West Mifflin’s baseball field was cursed, at least for his Blue Devils, who were...
Pine-Richland relay sprints to school record, WPIAL gold medal
Luke Rudolph insisted he’s not as fast as the relay runner he replaced, but the results say otherwise. Pine-Richland’s 400-meter relay team lost its anchor to injury late in the season, yet the boys kept breaking school records. Their latest record-setting run came at the WPIAL Class 3A individual championship...
North Catholic sprinter Trevor Paschall’s season in question after WPIAL championship injury
North Catholic’s Trevor Paschall is usually sprinting around the WPIAL track championships faster than most anybody, but Wednesday he accepted help from a teammate just to walk. The senior sprinted 100 meters in 10.87 seconds to defend his WPIAL Class 2A title, but he grabbed at his right hamstring after...
Moon’s Mia Cochran adding to track legacy by winning 3 WPIAL individual titles
What more could Mia Cochran have to prove? The Moon senior and Arkansas recruit became a three-time state cross country champion in the fall, and she entered this spring as the defending outdoor track state champion in both the 1,600 and 3,200 meters. Still, she wanted more. So, Cochran decided...
Life journey of North Allegheny runners Wren and Robin Kucler covers thousands of miles
As an 8-year-old, Wren Kucler told her mom she wanted to run around the house 100 times. That’s a lot of running for a little girl, but her mom Deanna saw no reason to discourage her, so she said, “Go ahead. Knock yourself out.” She ran all 100. Next she...
South Fayette’s Tyler Pitzer dazzles Franklin Regional with 5-inning perfect game
This outing was perfect for South Fayette pitcher Tyler Pitzer in more ways than one. Shoulder soreness had the junior shut down for about a month earlier this season, but the South Carolina commit showed Tuesday night what he can do at full strength when he pitched a five-inning perfect...
WPIAL hires chief operating officer to ease workload of executive director
The role of the WPIAL executive director has changed over the years, with social media bringing more and more issues to the league’s attention, said outgoing director Amy Scheuneman. As a result, executive directors has become more than a one-person job. Now more than ever, the WPIAL staff and its...
WPIAL baseball playoff bracket breakdown
Favorite: Mt. Lebanon could win its first WPIAL baseball title since 2006. The Blue Devils started this season 1-4 before finding their stride in section play behind OF Tanner Donati (.435, 20 RBIs, 12 extra-base hits). They’ve won 10 of their past 12 games, including a 2-1 victory over North...
