John Grupp stories, Page 8

Hampton star point guard Meghan Murray is being realistic when she expects the Talbots to start slow this season. With two-fifths of their starting lineup playing deep into November for the school’s WPIAL champion and PIAA finalist volleyball team, the Talbots girls basketball team got a late start to cohesive...

The journey began innocently enough, at a spring-time middle school volleyball tournament at Montour. A team of seventh-grade Hampton girls, competing together for the first time, surprised everyone by winning the title. “We were brand new to volleyball,” said senior Avery Koontz, who would develop into an all-WPIAL libero. “I...

Hampton boys basketball coach Joe Lafko called it the “X factor” this season. Coming off a 24-win season, the Talbots are looking for complementary scorers behind star senior guard Peter Kramer. Hampton lost first-team all-section guard Eric Weeks, the team’s second-leading scorer at 13.1 points per game, and three-year starting...

Hampton hockey coach Buck McKee knew some growing pains awaited his young Talbots this season. With a combined 12 freshmen and sophomores on the 18-man roster, experience was the biggest missing ingredient. “They are all very talented, and as far as the skill level goes, I think we are deeper...

The Hampton boys soccer team prepared for the 2023 season by attending soccer camp in mid-August in Edinboro that included a trip to a nearby water park. Then the Talbots made a splash. Hampton put together another memorable season, rolling to the Section 1-3A title, returning to the WPIAL finals...

The Hampton girls volleyball team gathered Wednesday afternoon to watch videos of their PIAA championship opponent, Pope John Paul II. They could have been looking at a mirror. “I think we’re the two most offensively powerful teams in the state,” Hampton all-state senior outside hitter Emmy Schrom said. “Both of...

On their way home from the PIAA Class 2A cross country championships in Hershey, the Hampton boys were met at the turnpike by township fire trucks and escorted to the high school three miles down Route 8. Their long journey ended in style. The Talbots, coming off their third consecutive...

Hampton’s Peter Kramer was cold, standing in nearly a half-foot of snow with a shovel in his hands. With gyms closed during the covid lockdown, Kramer was digging out the little concrete basketball court in the backyard of his Hampton home so he could practice in the winter of 2020....

Every player who scored a goal this season for the Hampton girls soccer team has one thing in common — she’ll be back. The Talbots will return all 10 starting field players and a bunch of key reserves from this season’s 14-5 WPIAL playoff qualifier. “I would like to think...

The Hampton football season began with an injury and ended with an insult. The Talbots lost their starting quarterback to a season-ending knee injury in training camp and then narrowly missed the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs on a tiebreaker. “It was definitely challenging,” second-year coach Steve Sciullo said. “We can’t...

The Hampton girls tennis team stopped at a restaurant on the way home from its PIAA Class 2A playoff match Oct. 24 in Erie. The most successful season in program history had come to a halt with a 5-0 loss at Cathedral Prep. But the tears had dried, leaving only...

The first time Hampton running back Brock Borgo touched the football in a meaningful varsity carry, he raced 58 yards for a touchdown. He was a sophomore at the time and, after getting only four varsity carries as a freshman, burst onto the scene against Valley in the 2021 opener....

Aquinas Academy missed the WPIAL Class A boys soccer playoffs this season, but the Crusaders kept opposing goalies busy. Aquinas scored 47 goals, the most in coach Mat Anselmino’s five-year tenure, capped with a 5-0 victory over California on Oct. 16 in the season finale. “There was definitely more emphasis...

Since last season’s fourth-place finish at states, the Hampton boys cross country team has been focused on a return trip to Hershey. But one small hurdle remains — The WPIAL Class 2A championships. The loaded Talbots are overwhelming favorites to claim their third consecutive district title Thursday (Oct. 26) at...

The only running Nathan Garrett did at last year’s WPIAL cross country championships was to urge on his Eden Christian teammates. He will be much busier this year. Ineligible for last year’s postseason after transferring from Hampton, Garrett will enter the 2023 WPIAL Class A championships Oct. 26 as one...

Someone forgot to tell the Aquinas Academy field hockey team that this was supposed to be a rebuilding year. Despite many losses to graduation and a freshmen-heavy roster under new coach Erin Queen, the Crusaders are moving toward a third consecutive trip to the WPIAL Class A championship game. The...

Hampton’s Lilly Muczinski knew early on what position she wanted to play in volleyball. When her youth coaches tried to make her a hitter in sixth grade, she spiked the idea. “I was really tall for my age at the time,” she said. “That’s why they put me as a...

Talk about two peas in a pod. When Hampton junior midfielders Olivia Hoffman and Sara Kenst were asked if they got along when they met in grade school, the two best friends reacted the exact same way. They looked at each other, laughed and said, “No!” Fierce athletic rivals as...

Hampton teammates Matt Erka and Tyler Schmitt took different paths to reach the 2023 WPIAL Class 3A individual golf championships. Erka punched his ticket by shooting a no-doubt 3-over 75 at the Section 8-3A qualifiers Sept. 19 at Pheasant Ridge, while Schmitt needed a pair of round-saving shots on the...

Former Hampton three-sport standout Joe Raimondi saw the letter from the school’s athletic hall of fame and was unsure what to believe. Raimondi had suffered a torn ACL in a 2009 WPIAL football semifinal loss, denying him his senior seasons in wrestling and lacrosse, and, as the years went by,...

The Hampton football team could blame its dreadful start this season on a number of factors. There was the loss of senior quarterback Adrian Midgley to a torn ACL on the first day of training camp, followed by a demanding nonconference three-game stretch to open the season. But second-year coach...

Hampton girls cross country star Kevyn Fish figured her team might be swimming upstream this season. The Talbots graduated half of an already thin roster from last year’s historic section champion, including two athletes who are running in college. But an influx of new runners and promising freshmen has provided...

The two-time defending WPIAL Class 2A champion Hampton boys cross country team is aiming to take another step forward. “The WPIAL is something that we definitely want to win again, but the big focus is improving the placing at the state meet,” said senior Dale Hall, the Talbots’ top runner...

The Hampton girls volleyball team looks so promising this season that winning a section title would hardly qualify as a goal. It’s more of a given. Led by returning two-time all-state senior outside hitter Emmy Schrom and a deep, talented supporting cast, the Talbots will be defined by what happens...

During the second day of Hampton girls tennis tryouts in mid-August, four upperclassmen playing doubles argued over whether a serve was in or out. Coach Grant McKinney stepped in to settle the dispute — “That was clearly in, ladies” — and the fiery Talbots resumed their practice at Hampton Community...