Michael Love stories, Page 140

Plum girls basketball coach Steve Elsier saw growth in his young team from his inaugural season with the program last year to this recently concluded campaign. The Mustangs bettered their WPIAL playoff seeding in Class 5A and increased their overall win total by five games. Elsier now hopes his squad...

The Peters Township girls basketball team averaged 70 points a game in the regular-season, built an undefeated record and ascended to No. 1 rankings in both the WPIAL and state. The Indians finished Friday’s WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinal matchup with Fox Chapel well under their scoring average, but their defense...

The St. Joseph and Monessen boys basketball teams met Thursday at West Allegheny with a spot in the WPIAL 1A semifinals and a trip to the PIAA tournament on the line. Led by 25 points from Devin Whitlock and 23 from Dishon Howell, No. 4 Monessen outlasted No. 5 St....

For the second year in a row, Fox Chapel will have four athletes compete at the WPIAL Class AAA boys diving championships at North Allegheny High School. Senior Jonah Cagley is gunning for a third straight WPIAL crown Saturday afternoon, and sophomore David Manelis, third last year in his first...

Jack Wright is no stranger to the feeling of high school swimming’s championship season. The seasoned North Allegheny senior again is leading the pack as the WPIAL championship meet approaches and is the clear-cut No. 1 seed in the Class AAA boys 200-yard freestyle (1 minute, 36.09 seconds). He also...

Ariana Clark earned an eighth-place medal in the 100-yard backstroke at last year’s WPIAL Class AA championship meet at Pitt’s Trees Pool. The Freeport senior just missed another medal in the 100 butterfly, taking 10th overall. Clark, now a senior, will return to WPIALs next week with bigger goals in...

Conner Redinger (132), John Rocco Kazalas (145), Patrick Cutchember (160), Geoff Magin (195), Justin Richey (113) and Brad Fadeley (285) will represent Quaker Valley Friday and Saturday at the PIAA Class AA Southwest Regional at Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Kovalchick Convention & Athletic Complex. Redinger and Kazalas captured WPIAL championships...

Wednesday morning’s winter weather forced Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League officials to postpone the boys singles championship tournament to next Wednesday at 3 p.m. The event will remain at Wildlife Lanes in Lower Burrell. Weather permitting, Thursday’s girls singles tournament at Sims Lanes in Beaver Falls is on as scheduled...

The Thomas Jefferson girls basketball team won seven of eight games, including five in a row, to close out the regular season. The only loss in that stretch was to undefeated and top-seeded Chartiers Valley by three points. The Jaguars, seeded sixth in the WPIAL Class 5A tournament, kept rolling...

The Indiana University of Pennsylvania men’s basketball team moved up one spot to No. 2 in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Coaches’ Poll released Tuesday. It is the highest ranking for the Crimson Hawks this season. They scored an 80-67 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference victory...

The Indiana University of Pennsylvania women’s basketball team remains at No. 3 in the latest Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division II Top 25 Coaches’ Poll released Tuesday. The Crimson Hawks played just once over the past week and defeated Pitt-Johnstown 57-35 to improve to 21-1 overall and 16-1 in...

After an eight-day break from competition, the Sewickley Academy girls basketball team kicks off the WPIAL 1A playoffs against California on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Canon-McMillan. The Panthers (11-7) are the No. 8 seed, and they face a Trojans (10-10) squad hoping to get back on track after losing...

It is often said that when the WPIAL playoffs begin, every team enters with a clean slate. The No. 13 Quaker Valley girls basketball team held fast to that belief and used it to score a 41-38 Class 4A first-round upset of No. 4 Freeport on Monday at North Allegheny....

The 13th-seeded Quaker Valley girls basketball team opens the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs against No. 4 Freeport on Monday at 6:30 p.m. at North Allegheny High School. The winner will take on the winner of No. 12 Knoch and No. 5 Elizabeth Forward in the quarterfinals Thursday at a site...

The St. Joseph boys basketball team saw a double-digit first-half lead trimmed to six at halftime of Friday’s WPIAL Class A first-round game at Mt. Lebanon. But the No. 5 Spartans took over at both ends in the second half and used a 25-0 run to break the game open...

Gateway junior Olivia Livingston is a WPIAL veteran and a district champion with four individual titles over her first two appearances at Pitt’s Trees Pool. On the flip side, Gators freshmen Summer Raymer and Andrew Holmes will get their first taste of the WPIAL championships Feb. 28 and March 1...

Justin Decheck secured his place at the next level before this season by signing a letter of intent in November to swim at Gannon. Now, Decheck hopes to conclude his senior season with top swims at the championship events, including the WPIAL Class AAA meet Feb. 28 and March 1...

Olivia Livingston set the bar for the rest of the WPIAL in the second week of December when she established a time of 23.49 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle against Upper St. Clair. She was coming off a trip to USA Swimming’s Junior Winter Nationals in North Carolina, and that...

Zachary Bell is making the most of his final WPIAL swimming season. The senior, an independent competitor representing New Castle, recently established a new personal season-best time and a WPIAL-best mark in the Class AA boys 200-yard freestyle when he swam 1 minute, 45.19 seconds to claim the title at...

Matt Cummings is making the most of his first and only high school swimming season. The Knoch senior, a Lafayette commit and a member of the acclaimed Racer-X club team, has produced top times in several events, and it has paid dividends for not only himself but also his Knights...

The Indiana University of Pennsylvania women’s basketball team ticked up one spot to No. 3 in the latest Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division II Top 25 Coaches’ Poll released Tuesday. The Crimson Hawks (20-1) have won five games in a row, including recent victories over Slippery Rock (88-51) and...

Wins over Slippery Rock and Gannon in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference play last week has the Indiana University of Pennsylvania men’s basketball team up to No. 3 in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II Coaches’ Poll released Tuesday. The Crimson Hawks (21-2) also were aided with losses...

Coming off just its second loss of the season, the Indiana University of Pennsylvania men’s basketball team dropped two spots to No. 6 in this week’s National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II poll released Tuesday. The Crimson Hawks fell 64-63 to Mercyhurst on Saturday and are 19-2 overall and...

The Indiana University of Pennsylvania women’s basketball team moved up one spot to No. 4 in the latest Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll released Tuesday. IUP remains the only Division II team to be ranked in the top five of every national coaches poll this...

The Western Pennsylvania Police Athletic League will host Golden Gloves tournament bouts Saturday at the Royal Place Restaurant, 2660 Library Road in Pittsburgh. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with the first bell set for 7. For information or tickets, call Gloria Cvetic at 412-576-9285. The Royal Place card is the...