Michael Love stories, Page 32
Tigers still populate podium after North Allegheny reign ends in PIAA Class 3A girls diving
A new PIAA Class 3A girls diving champion was guaranteed to be crowned Thursday afternoon at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. The champion the past three years, North Allegheny’s Christina Shi, graduated and is now diving at Harvard. Last year’s runner-up, Latrobe’s Hannah Polosky, also moved on and is at Pitt....
Mt. Lebanon’s Sylvia Roy, North Allegheny’s Natalie Sens earn top times at PIAA swimming Day 2 prelims
LEWISBURG — WPIAL swimmers will go after titles and additional medals Thursday evening on Day 2 of the PIAA Class 3A championships at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. Preliminary swims Thursday morning will give way to the consolation and championship finals this evening. Boys Upper St. Clair sophomore Nazar Zoukovski is...
Mt. Lebanon’s Sylvia Roy leads medal-winning WPIAL contingent at PIAA swim meet
Sylvia Roy won silver in the 50-yard freestyle at last year’s PIAA Class 3A swimming championships. In her return to Bucknell University on Wednesday, the Mt. Lebanon junior wanted gold. But in a fast 50 free championship heat, Roy was edged out for the title by State College sophomore Molly...
Latrobe relay team outswims seed to earn PIAA medal
The Latrobe girls 200 free relay of Lauren Bell, Destini Homan, Hannah Carasia and Maggie Elder arrived at the PIAA Class 3A swim championships at Bucknell University on Wednesday seeded 14th. They had designs on improving their time of 1 minute, 38.42 seconds recorded in taking fifth at WPIALs on...
Fox Chapel swimmers start medal collection on 1st day of PIAA meet
Fox Chapel junior Sarah Pasquella swam a time of 1 minute, 51.08 seconds in the preliminaries of the girls 200-yard freestyle Wednesday on Day 1 of the PIAA Class 3A championships at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. The time was identical to the one she swam in winning the WPIAL title...
Seneca Valley senior goes out on top with PIAA diving gold
Seneca Valley senior Isaiah Clerkley ended his high school diving career on the highest of high notes. The Penn State commit finished the 11-dive PIAA Class 3A championship meet Wednesday afternoon at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium with 570.40 points, roughly 80 points clear of the field, including runner up Alex...
WPIAL swimmers off to fast start at PIAA meet
WPIAL swimmers fared well in Day 1 preliminary swims at the PIAA Class 3A championships Wednesday morning at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. Several qualified for this evening’s championship heats involving the top-eight finishers from the prelim heats. Boys The North Allegheny boys 200-yard medley relay of William Gao, Gus Miller,...
Franklin Regional, Mt. Pleasant swimmers among high seeds for PIAA championship meet
Holden Thomas made his PIAA debut three years ago at Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg, 70 miles from Bucknell, the traditional site of the state swimming and diving championships. As a freshman in 2021, Thomas was the lead backstroke leg of Franklin Regional’s boys 200-yard medley relay that finished...
After celebrating WPIAL title, Kiski Area swimmers turn attention to PIAA meet
For Abby King, it was like mother, like daughter at the WPIAL Class 2A championships March 1 at Pitt’s Trees Pool. King’s mother, Daina (Cleveland) King, helped the 1991 Apollo-Ridge girls basketball team win the WPIAL Class 2A title and advance to states. Daina was on hand at Trees Pool...
Gateway swimmers find success at WPIAL meet, earn berths to state competition
Gateway sophomore Gunner Raymer briefly faced a measure of adversity right before his 200-yard freestyle swim at the WPIAL Class 3A championships Feb. 29 at Pitt’s Trees Pool. He had a minor equipment failure as his goggles broke. “That kind of gave me an adrenaline rush,” Raymer said. “You obviously...
Gateway bowlers celebrate regional title, look ahead to state competition
When the Gateway boys bowling team wrapped up the Western Regional championship title March 2 at AMF Noble Manor Lanes, coach Joe Bowman got a message from two members of the last Gators team to qualify for the state tournament. “They (Mark Kuehn and Dominic Beau) shared a picture of...
St. Joseph earns 1st state playoff win in seniors’ last game on home court
There was history being made by both St. Joseph teams coming into their PIAA Class A first-round game Saturday in Natrona Heights. The St. Joseph Spartans, the senior-laden WPIAL runner-up, had done so much that had never been done before in program history the past several years. But Saturday’s game...
Plum swimmers earn berth to PIAA championships
The Plum girls swim team fared well in a number of events at the WPIAL Class 3A championships Feb. 29 and March 1 at Pitt’s Trees Pool. The Mustangs clinched three PIAA appearances — the two freestyle relays and junior Giuliana Ricciuti in the 200-yard freestyle — and were close...
Plum hockey hopes to build off turnaround season
It was quite a turnaround this season for the Plum hockey team. The Mustangs were 3-16 a year ago. The organization’s board of directors felt a coaching change was needed, and Plum hockey alumnus Jon Gratton came on board. The returning team members hit the ice together in August and...
AK Valley campus clippings: Fox Chapel’s Borkovich earns award for SRU softball
Slippery Rock sophomore pitcher Mackenzie Borkovich, a Fox Chapel graduate, was named the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday for her work against Shippensburg and Shepherd in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference doubleheaders over the previous two days. She was in the circle as a...
A-K Valley high school basketball playoff preview capsules for March 9, 2024
PIAA basketball playoffs Boys Class 3A First round Bishop Guilfoyle (23-4) at Burrell (16-9) 1 p.m. Saturday District seeds: Bishop Guilfoyle 6-3; Burrell 7-2 Winner plays: Winner of 10-1 Girard (23-2)/7-6 Derry (15-7) Wednesday in second round (time, site TBD) Players to watch: Jude Haigh, Bishop Guilfoyle; Macky Bennis, Burrell...
A-K Valley girls basketball teams hit reset button heading into state tournament
Coming off WPIAL consolation wins over Section 1-4A rivals Greensburg Salem and Knoch, the Highlands girls basketball team is preparing for what lies ahead in PIAA tournament play. The win over the Golden Lions got them in, and the Golden Rams’ victory over Knoch on Feb. 29 solidified the fifth-place...
Deer Lakes tops division champ Carrick in PIHL D2 playoffs, sets up meeting with Burrell
Something had to give as the Carrick and Deer Lakes hockey teams came into Tuesday’s PIHL Varsity D2 quarterfinal at Ice Castle in Castle Shannon riding multi-game win streaks. The Cougars won five in a row to close the regular season, and the Lancers entered the playoffs having won four...
WPIAL swimmers to swap gold, silver medals after 100-yard backstroke review
A change has been made to the order of finish between Mt. Pleasant junior Kiersten O’Connor and Hampton sophomore Lainey Sheets after their Class 2A 100-yard backstroke race Friday at the WPIAL championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool. Initially, O’Connor was the winner as her time of 55.37 seconds flashed on...
Norwin comes alive in 3rd period to beat Fox Chapel, reach PIHL 2A semifinals
The Norwin and Fox Chapel hockey teams have gotten to know each other pretty well over the past three years, both in the regular season and in the Penguin Cup playoffs. On Monday at Palmer Imaging Arena in Delmont, the Knights and Foxes met for the third straight year in...
Gateway grads Sarah Corrie, Shelly Jones take top 2 spots in PSAC shot put competition
Sarah Corrie came close to securing a spot at the NCAA Division II indoor track and field championships. The Slippery Rock graduate student captured the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference shot put title Feb. 19 at Lehigh and helped her team win its seventh PSAC team title. Her season-best of 14.21...
Riverview girls turn attention to PIAA playoffs
“It almost was a Cinderella story.” Those were the descriptive words from Riverview coach Jill Catanzaro as her Riverview girls basketball team came close to upending No. 2 Aquinas Academy in a battle for the third-place spot in WPIAL Class A on Feb. 28. The game at Shaler High School ultimately...
Plum, Riverview athletes benefit from indoor track and field season
Owen Proskin finished as one of the top scorers for the Plum boys basketball team this season. The 6-foot-4 sophomore also made the most of his athletic double duty this winter through indoor track and field training and competition. His versatility showed with a third-place medal in the high jump...
Gateway boys earn berth to PIAA tournament
The Gateway boys basketball team faced a do-or-die scenario for a trip to the PIAA playoffs. After a loss to No. 2 Franklin Regional in the WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinals and then a close setback at home to Bethel Park in the fifth-place consolation semifinals, the Gators were still alive...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Freeport’s Kira Schrecongost, Deer Lakes’ Wayne Love
Kira Schrecongost School: Freeport Class: Junior Sport: Swimming Report card: Schrecongost won the WPIAL Class 2A girls 100-yard butterfly title for the second time Thursday. She edged rival Katie Jackovic, a senior from South Park, by 58 one-hundredths of a second, winning in 55.37 seconds at Pitt’s Trees Pool. She...
