Behind hat trick from Grant Weaver, Mars wins battle of division rivals with Plum in PIHL playoffs
The Mars hockey team won the first meeting this season with Plum, taking a three-goal victory in November in the home-and-home series between PIHL Class A Blue division rivals. The Mustangs returned the favor in the rematch a month later with a shootout triumph, handing the tournament’s No. 1 seed...
Rosters set for 29th Cager Classic at Highlands
The 29th annual Cager Classic, featuring senior basketball players from Allegheny, Armstrong, Butler and Westmoreland counties, is set for March 28 at Highlands. Practices will be 6 p.m. March 26, the skills competition 7 p.m. March 27, and the games — 5:45 p.m. for the girls and 7:45 p.m. for...
WPIAL swimmers earn top seed in 22 events for PIAA championships
The PIAA released the qualifier lists, with alternates, in each Class 3A and Class 2A event for the swimming and diving championships March 11-14 at Bucknell. A minor technical issue forced the PIAA to delay the posting of the Class 3A girls until Monday afternoon. A number of those swimmers,...
Confident Kunkle wins gold in the girls WPIAL Class 3A 100 breaststroke; Fox Chapel girls finish strong
Leah Kunkle was confident. The Kiski Area junior knew her ability to swim well in the 100-yard breaststroke at Friday’s WPIAL Class 3A championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool. But she also understood how talented the others in her heat were and what she needed to do to win gold. All...
Latrobe senior flirts with record, wins breaststroke gold at WPIAL swim meet
Chris Heese had several things on his mind Friday as he approached his final varsity individual swim at the WPIAL Class 3A championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool. The Latrobe senior and Swathmore College commit was after his second title in the 100-yard breaststroke while also going for the WPIAL record...
‘Incredible experience’ as St. Joseph girls bowling preps for 1st appearance in regionals
For the first time in program history, the St. Joseph girls bowling team competed at the WPIBL championships and will make its first trip to the west regional team competition set for Sunday at AMF Bowlero on Noblestown Road. That feat is not lost on junior Louisa Palumbo, one of...
Fox Chapel freshmen make big splash at WPIAL swim meet
Ellie Lange and Delaney O’Toole didn’t let the pressure of their first WPIAL swimming championship overtake them. In fact, the Fox Chapel freshmen thrived. Lange and O’Toole won Class 3A titles in their individual swims Thursday and also helped the 200-yard medley relay team capture gold. Lange outdistanced the field...
Franklin Regional, Mt. Pleasant swimmers strike gold at WPIAL meet
Thomas Westerman’s smile said it all. The Franklin Regional junior stood on the top of the medals podium at the WPIAL swimming championships for the first time Thursday. Westerman trimmed more than 1.5 seconds off his seed time in the 200-yard freestyle at Pitt’s Trees Pool. When he touched the...
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland set to defend PIAA West Regional title
Braylee Ireland won four of her five matches at last Saturday’s WPIAL girls wrestling championships at Mt. Lebanon. While the 118-pound Knoch senior didn’t get to the top of the podium as she had hoped — she rallied from a semifinal loss to take third — a strong finish that...
10 former winners out to add more gold at WPIAL swimming championships
All of the meets, invitationals and practices have concluded. Top times have been recorded, and the heats have been assembled. Hundreds of swimmers are set for the WPIAL Class 3A and Class 2A championships Thursday and Friday at Pitt’s Trees Pool. How many records will be set? WPIAL champions will...
Deep group from Fox Chapel to lead A-K Valley medal hopefuls at WPIAL swim meet
Charlotte Rusche remembers her first time up on the block in a WPIAL finals race as a Fox Chapel freshman. “It was the individual 200 (yard freestyle), and I was a little nervous,” said Rusche, who earned her first WPIAL medal in that 2024 event by dropping 2 seconds from...
A-K Valley high school basketball playoff preview capsules for Feb. 24, 2026
WPIAL basketball playoffs Girls Class 5A Seventh-Place Consolation 9-Trinity (17-8) at 7-Fox Chapel (15-10) 7 p.m. Tuesday Winner plays: District 4/District 6 champion March 7 in PIAA first round Loser plays: District 3 champion March 7 in PIAA first round Players to watch: Lyla Jablon, Fox Chapel; Sutton Williamson, Trinity...
Plum native Mike Miller part of local flair as he takes over as head coach of CFL’s Argonauts
After four seasons as an assistant coach with the Toronto Argonauts and helping them win two Canadian Football League Grey Cup titles (2022 and 2024), Mike Miller is getting the chance to lead the longstanding franchise. “It’s been great to be a part of this first-class organization, and I am...
Riverhounds sign former Plum standout Aldi Flowers-Gamboa to USL Academy contract
Aldi Flowers-Gamboa is back home with a big year in soccer on his mind. The former Plum soccer standout signed a USL Academy contract with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and will join the club’s first team for the 2026 season. The deal, announced Monday, is pending USL and U.S. Soccer approval....
St. Joseph to host Eden Christian in WPIAL Class A girls consolation bracket
WPIAL basketball playoffs Girls Class A Consolation semifinal 9-Eden Christian (11-10) at 5- St. Joseph (13-10) 7 p.m. Tuesday Winner plays: Winner of 7-Sewickley Academy (14-10)/6-West Greene (17-7) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in fifth-place consolation final (site TBD) Players to watch: Jocelyn Spinelli, St. Joseph; Hannah Wallace, Eden Christian Layup...
Kiski Area’s Ava Golding, Moon’s Hailey Smarsh, Plum’s Alaina Claassen claim 3rd WPIAL girls wrestling titles
A quintet of wrestlers was chasing championship three-peats at Saturday’s WPIAL girls individual finals at Mt. Lebanon. It was guaranteed one would win a third gold medal in the 142-pound final when two-time titlists Ava Golding, a senior from Kiski Area, and Norwin senior Josepine Dollman punched their tickets to...
Kiski Area, Plum wrestlers looking to join 1st class of 3-time WPIAL girls champs
Five wrestlers at Saturday’s WPIAL girls wrestling championships at Mt. Lebanon hope to earn the distinction of becoming the district’s first three-time champions. Two of them are from the Alle-Kiski Valley. Kiski Area senior Ava Golding, a Pitt-Johnstown commit, and Plum senior Alaina Claassen, who will wrestle at Washington &...
Dominant top seed Mario Hutcherson of Kiski Area ‘fresh and ready to go’ for WPIAL meet
Kiski Area’s Mario Hutcherson is the hunted. And that is fine with him. As the No. 1 seed in the 189-pound bracket at Friday and Saturday’s WPIAL Class 3A wrestling championships at Canon-McMillan, the Cavaliers sophomore said he’s feeling good and ready to defend his top billing. “After the season...
‘It’s cool to see what we can become’: Gateway’s 1st-year girls wrestlers look forward to WPIAL championships
Savannah and Sienna Boden sparred at a recent practice in the wrestling room at Gateway’s Furrie Sports Complex. Just a few feet away, names of their father, Rich, and uncles Dan and Jim, are embossed on the wall with accomplishments as Gators competitors more than two decades ago. They both...
Nazareth Prep fights off feisty St. Joseph in Class A quarterfinals
The Nazareth Prep boys basketball team is moving on to the WPIAL Class A semifinals, but its quarterfinal victory Tuesday evening at Fox Chapel didn’t come without a fight from St. Joseph. Neither the No. 2 Saints nor the No. 7 Spartans held more than a two-point lead through the...
Armstrong County Sports Hall of Fame to induct 10 in Class of 2026
The Armstrong County Sports Hall of Fame will induct 10 athletic greats in its Class of 2026. Laina Walker Connor (Elderton, softball and volleyball), Tom Edgington (Worthington, archery and bowhunting), Jim Kunst (Kittanning, basketball), Richard McKernan (Ford City, sports officiating/football coach), Stephen Predebon (Leechburg, basketball), Matt Myers (Ford City, football),...
Rochester fights off Apollo-Ridge rally to move into Class 2A quarterfinals
Last year, the Rochester girls basketball team had to make a long trip to Kiski Area to open the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs. The Rams, as the No. 10 seed, used a big second-half rally in that game to defeat Riverview. As a better seed this year — No. 5...
Burrell girls defeat Hampton, earn shot at unbeaten, top-seeded BlackhawkVideo
Burrell girls basketball coach Shaun Reddick said his team was well aware of what a win Monday in its WPIAL Class 4A first-round game at Hampton would mean. But, he said, his players were laser focused on taking care of business against the No. 8 Talbots before any discussion of...
A-K Valley high school basketball playoff preview capsules for Feb. 17, 2026
Girls Class 2A First round 12-Apollo-Ridge (12-10) at 5-Rochester (12-9) 7 p.m. Tuesday Winner plays: Winner of 13-Riverview (10-8)/4-Fort Cherry (15-5) on Friday in quarterfinals (site/time TBD) Players to watch: Madison Hughley, Apollo-Ridge; Tia Yellock, Rochester Layup lines: Apollo-Ridge finished Section 4 play in a three-way tie for second place...
12th-seeded Peters Township girls come together for upset win over No. 5 Plum
Despite his team’s fourth-place finish in Section 4-5A and being slotted as the No. 12 seed for the WPIAL playoffs, Peters Township girls basketball coach Steve Limberiou felt confident a rugged section and overall schedule and strong play down the stretch in the regular season would translate into good things...
