Michael Love stories, Page 26
Captain Albano headlines eliminations for Delvin Miller Adios Pace for the Orchids
A total of 15 contenders, including Captain Albano, the Dan Patch Award Winner for 2-year-old male pacers as well as Pennsylvania’s champion, will enter Saturday’s pair of eliminations for the Delvin Miller Adios Pace for the Orchids at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows. The elimination heats, both of which will...
Apollo-Ridge girls basketball making strides as it transitions to new coach Raevaan Mottley
Even before Raevaan Mottley arrived at Apollo-Ridge as the new varsity girls basketball head coach in late May, his players were taking part in open gyms. A pair of games in the St. Joseph spring/summer league also were scheduled. “Apollo-Ridge, they were doing things right,” said Mottley, a Greensburg Salem...
Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Thomas Jefferson’s Shep Turk
The start of high school football practices throughout the state begin in less than a month, and Thomas Jefferson two-way lineman Shep Turk has a singular focus when it comes to being ready to start his senior season. Conditioning and agility training, weight room work, and play study are what...
Gateway youth track and field athletes heading to AAU Junior Olympic Nationals
Last year in its inaugural season, the Gateway Gators Youth Track and Field club began with 60 athletes ages 7 to 18 before that number tailed off somewhat as the season progressed. But both the coaches and athletes were able to draw a lot of positives from that first season,...
Runners from 30 states compete in America’s Mile on Pittsburgh’s North Shore
The America’s Mile on Friday evening on the North Shore was a new take on an annual summer running tradition. But while the name changed — it formerly was the Fleet Feet Liberty Mile — and the location moved from the Cultural District Downtown to a finish line in the...
Alle-Kiski Valley sends crew to national 16U wrestling tourney
Garett Huff is no stranger to high-level wrestling competition. The rising sophomore from Plum hopes to make his mark with a new venture next weekend, one that is steeped in tradition for the quality matches it produces every summer. USA Wrestling’s U.S. Marine Corps Junior and 16U Nationals in Fargo,...
A household name in local bowling, Rich Nesbit passes baton after 47-year career at lanes
Rich Nesbit had a routine he followed thousands of times. As the owner of his family’s namesake Nesbit’s Lanes in Plum, he would arrive at the facility, make sure all the machines were on, get the snack bar started, check to see if all the bathrooms were clean and do...
Lower Burrell Legion team makes most of busy schedule
From June 5 to July 3, the Lower Burrell American Legion baseball team played 18 District 31 league games. It was a four-week sprint to the finish, and while the Post 868 Bulldogs, one of the younger teams in the 14-team league, didn’t finish with the record it had hoped,...
Kiski Area Sports Hall of Fame set to induct Class of 2024
Shane Kuhn left it all out on the field and on the mat for the Kiski Area football and wrestling teams. The 2014 graduate earned eight varsity letters across both sports while garnering numerous accolades for his performances. Kuhn was a two-time all-conference tight end and was all-state as a...
Valley turns to prominent basketball alumni to help restore luster to boys, girls programs
Brice Flenory and Tonya (Pryor) Norman wowed fans of the Valley basketball teams during their time on the high school hardcourt. Norman graduated from Valley in 1989 and went on to a collegiate hoops career at Duquesne. Flenory graduated in 1998 after a playing career that included back-to-back Valley News...
After 35 years, coach Joe Hohman continues to make an impact at Divine Mercy Academy
Joe Hohman may not be the biggest name in area basketball coaching circles, but the long-tenured varsity boys coach at St. Bernadette’s school in Monroeville, now Divine Mercy Academy, has built a successful winning resume for 35 years while also serving as a trusted mentor to hundreds of players who...
Freeport’s Sydney Selker selected Valley News Dispatch Softball Player of Year
Player of the Year Sydney Selker Freeport, Senior, Pitcher When Sydney Selker was forced to miss the last half of her junior softball season because of injury, thoughts turned forward to this past spring and how she would rebound and be a driving force in getting Freeport back to the...
Riverview’s Lola Abraham selected Gatorade Pennsylvania Girls Soccer Player of the Year
Lola Abraham enjoyed one of the most prolific high school careers in WPIAL girls soccer history, and that included a 2023 senior season when she scored 77 goals and added 20 assists to help lead the Riverview girls soccer team to the WPIAL and PIAA title games. A bevy of...
Josh Shields hopes to stay close to Burrell wrestling program despite departure as coach
When Josh Shields stepped down as Burrell head wrestling coach a couple of weeks ago, he wanted to convey to the returning underclassmen that while he won’t have the same title, he wants to be present to help them reach their goals. “Hopefully, I will be able to volunteer at...
Senior softball players enjoy relaxed atmosphere of inaugural all-star game
Temperatures hovered in the mid 80s under a setting sun as Team Gold and Team Black gathered Tuesday evening for a celebration of the 2024 WPIAL softball season. Many of the region’s best senior players tested their skill in the inaugural Western PA Softball All-Star Game, a relaxed and fun...
Freeport grad Jarrett Heilman, Plum grad Evan Azzara find new homes via transfer portal
Last month, Jarrett Heilman entered the transfer portal after three successful seasons with the Mercyhurst baseball team and a fourth that never materialized because of an elbow injury and subsequent surgery. The Freeport graduate, the 2023 PSAC West Pitcher of the Year, now has a new home for his final...
Plum set to host inaugural senior all-star softball game
Many of the top senior softball players in the WPIAL will gather Tuesday evening for an all-star game at Plum High School. The inaugural Western PA Softball All-Star Game between Team Gold and Team Black is set for 8 p.m., a change from the original 6 p.m. start time. Players...
Gateway bowlers cap season with successful trip to national tournament
The Gateway boys bowling team finished fourth overall at the Pennsylvania State Championships in March at Leisure Lanes in Lancaster. But it wasn’t the final event of the season for the team, which returned to Leisure Lanes on June 8-10 for the U.S. High School Bowling Foundation’s National Championships. “We...
Monroeville Junior Legion team working toward strong finish to season
The Monroeville Junior Legion baseball team concluded the 2023 season in the Pennsylvania state playoffs, capping a successful summer that saw them win 19 of 30 games. Post 820 started the run by surviving a rugged regular season and playoff tournament in the Westmoreland County League. Monroeville coach Mark Rawls...
Junior Legion players show Plum pride during busy summer of baseball
Members of the Plum Junior League baseball team are playing a lot this month between their community team and travel baseball. It is keeping them on their toes, and second-year coach Markus Cestra hopes that by the end of the month, his team, with players mostly from seventh through 10th...
Division I players from A-K Valley come together for high-level summer soccer
Gabe Norris and Michael Sullivan have been friends for close to 16 years as they got to know each other on the soccer pitch at 5 or 6 years of age. No matter the travels through life on and off the field, it has been a bond that’s hard to...
Plum, Freeport bowling teams take on U.S. in tournament
The high school bowling seasons for the Plum boys and girls teams and the Freeport girls team didn’t end in March at the state championships. All three extended their runs to this past weekend and faced the best from the country at the U.S. High School Bowling Foundation’s National Championships...
In battle of unbeatens, Meadville knocks off Mars in PIAA 2A boys volleyball semifinals
The Mars and Meadville boys volleyball teams entered Tuesday’s PIAA Class 2A semifinal winners of a combined 39 matches without a loss. Something had to give as the WPIAL champion Fightin’ Planets and District 10 champion Bulldogs met at Shenango High School with a trip to Saturday’s PIAA championship match...
Softball seniors get 1 last hurrah with WPA all-star game
Brookelyn Kotch, Josey Michalski, and Bailey Snowberger were the only three seniors on a rather young Norwin softball team that upended No. 1 Hempfield in the WPIAL Class 6A semifinals before suffering a 4-3 extra-inning heartbreaker to No. 2 Seneca Valley in the title game. The Knights’ season came to...
New Lower Burrell American Legion team gets rolling
The Burrell baseball team rose from the No. 14 seed for the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs to a top-four finish while earning a PIAA tournament berth for the first time since 2010. The Bucs saw their postseason run end last Monday with a tough 7-3 first-round loss to District 10...
