Ray Fisher stories, Page 53
Bolla family makes Firecracker 5K ‘yearly traditional run’
One of the leading competitors at the 2019 Brentwood Firecracker 5K Run was diminutive Gina Bolla, a Whitehall resident and a rising junior at Baldwin. Bolla, 16, placed second in 15-18 female age division with a time of 20 minutes, 27 seconds, behind only Gionna Quarzo, 16, of Vanderbilt, who...
John Hughes, Roberta Groner capture titles at annual Brentwood Firecracker 5K
Two things that can be counted on to take place on the morning of the Fourth of July holiday are: 1) the Brentwood Firecracker 5K Run and 2) that it will be hot and humid. It was more of the same in 2019 at the 5K race Thursday that annually...
Plum Junior Legion confident entering playoffs
Plum’s Junior Legion baseball team prepped for the playoffs in fine fashion. The Junior Mustangs blanked Riverview, 16-0, and Lower Burrell, 9-0, last week to end the Westmoreland County Youth Legion regular season with a 14-2 record. Plum and Monroeville finished with identical records atop the North Division, but Monroeville...
Monroeville Junior Legion chasing league championship
The Monroeville Junior Legion baseball program hopes to end the summer season batting .500. Monroeville won its first Westmoreland County Youth Legion championship last year in the program’s third year of existence. Another title this summer will make it two in four years. “It was a highly successful season, and...
Scholar-athlete distinction surprises Brentwood’s Winkowski
Julianna Winkowski participated in two sports in high school. But there’s no doubt about which one she enjoyed the most. “My favorite sport was swimming,” said Winkowski, a recent Brentwood graduate. “The amount of peace and relaxation that being in the water brings me is impossible to describe. I love...
South Hills notebook: Baldwin graduate Dadig dazzles as George Mason shortstop
Notebook items from around the Baldwin campus: • Baldwin graduate Taylor Dadig secured a starting job at shortstop in her freshman season on the George Mason softball team. A four-year starter in high school, she led all shortstops in the Atlantic 10 with a .960 fielding percentage on 179 total...
Monroeville Legion team leans on pitching staff
Gateway coach Mark Wardzinski has taken over Monroeville’s Legion team this summer. There are familiar faces at every position as every member of the club competed for the Gators this spring or have ties to the high school program. After an 8-2 start, Gateway’s varsity team advanced to the WPIAL...
South Hills notebook: Zang, Karcher shined at plate for Thomas Jefferson softball
Notebook items from around the Thomas Jefferson campus: • The final numbers are in. The TJ softball team advanced to the WPIAL playoffs for the fourth year in a row and fifth time in six seasons this past season. The Jaguars finished second in Section 2-4A, then advanced to the...
Thomas Jefferson’s Wagner leaves mark with school record
Zach Wagner knows how to make a grandiose exit. At the final meet of his high school track career at Thomas Jefferson, Wagner broke a 27-year-old record at the WPIAL Class AAA championships at Slippery Rock. Wagner posted a time of 22.26 seconds in the 200-meter dash to narrowly beat...
Gateway Junior Legion enjoys 10-game winning streak
The Monroeville Junior Legion baseball team won its first Westmoreland County Youth Legion championship last year in the program’s third year of existence. Monroeville is looking to make it two titles in a row this summer. The Junior Gators ended last week on a 10-game winning streak and with a...
Thomas Jefferson’s Fiedor honored for impact on, off the volleyball court
Julia Fiedor, a 2019 Thomas Jefferson graduate, embodies the definition of a positive athlete. On June 17, Fiedor, representing girls volleyball, was the recipient of the Positive High School Athlete Award. The Sen. John Heinz History Center and Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum hosted the eighth annual awards ceremony. Student-athletes representing...
Baldwin’s Ernst earns coveted Division I cheerleading scholarship
Baldwin’s loss is Morehead State University’s gain. Paige Ernst, a 2019 graduate, will continue her cheerleading career at Morehead State. Practice starts this summer. Ernst is the first Baldwin student to land an NCAA Division I scholarship for cheerleading during Taryn Madden’s coaching tenure, which started in 2009. “We are...
Hale, Koenig earn Baldwin athletic scholarship awards
Macy Hale and Jared Koenig appear to be two-of-a-kind. Both multiple-sport athletes, they capped their senior year at Baldwin by reeling in top academic awards at the all-sports banquet May 17 at the high school auditorium. Hale and Koenig landed the 2019 Scholarship Award from the Baldwin Whitehall Schools Athletic...
Max Shaw cements legacy as one of Thomas Jefferson’s best athletes
Team and individual MVP honors are not recognized at Thomas Jefferson at the end of a school year. But there is little doubt two-sport standout Max Shaw rates among the best — and toughest — athletes in school history. Shaw, a 6-foot, 195-pound senior football player and wrestler, will continue...
Brentwood Firecreacker 5K readies for 36th edition
It’s back, and it returns with much anticipation and fanfare. The 36th annual Brentwood Firecracker 5K Run, which begins and ends at Brentwood Towne Square and annually kicks off Brentwood’s Fourth of July holiday festivities, takes place at 9 a.m. on July 4. The 3.1-mile race course runs on Brownsville...
Thomas Jefferson athletes turn focus to collegiate sports
They’ve all experienced athletic success at the high school level. A talented group of 13 seniors at Thomas Jefferson plans to continue playing in college. “This has been one of the most successful sports seasons in TJ history,” athletic director Bill Cherpak said. “Just about every team and/or individual made...
Czerwien was a man of all seasons for Brentwood
Add Nick Czerwien to the distinguished list of names of Mark Reider Award winners at Brentwood. It’s a storied list, for sure. Recent recipients include Evan Vickless (2018), Dorian Bowie (2017), Patrick Carr (2016), Connor McWilliams (2015), Justin Vickless (2014), Jason Pilarski (2013), Josh Mackin (2012), Cory Bauer (2011) and...
Gateway’s Majocha caps high school career with WPIAL award
Gateway’s Brendan Majocha has proven to be a class act on and off the field. A two-sport standout for the Gators, Majocha recently was named a scholar-athlete scholarship recipient by the WPIAL and was honored May 13 at a banquet at the DoubleTree in Green Tree. “Brendan is the type...
Wolf caps 3-sport Brentwood career with 9 letters
Abby Wolf packs a ton of talent into her 5-foot, 3-inch frame. Wolf, a three-sport senior athlete at Brentwood, didn’t miss a beat whether in the gym for basketball or volleyball, or on the softball diamond. Wolf was “Miss Consistent” for the Spartans in all three sports, reeling nine varsity...
Big 33 Football Classic an ‘amazing experience’ for Thomas Jefferson’s Serapiglia
Perhaps it was only fitting that a four-year starter in the Thomas Jefferson football program capped his high school career at the prestigious Big 33 Football Classic. Tulsa commit Dom Serapiglia participated in the all-star event May 27, competing for Pennsylvania against a team of Maryland all-stars. The Pennsylvania all-stars...
Czerwien, Wolf honored by Brentwood boosters
Brentwood seniors Nick Czerwien and Abby Wolf won’t soon forget the 63rd annual Brentwood High Athletic Boosters all-sports banquet. Czerwien and Wolf landed top honors at the event held May 28 at Brentwood High School. Czerwien received the Mark Reider Award, which is presented to the top male senior athlete...
Gateway boys lacrosse team lives up to motto
“Making History” was established early as the Gateway boys lacrosse team’s motto. “And they did just that,” first-year coach Dan Alexander said. Among the Gators’ accomplishments this season en route to a 9-6 record: • Defeated Greensburg Central Catholic and Indiana for the first time in program history; • Received...
Baldwin’s O’Malley twins combine for 6 medals at WPIAL championships
The O’Malley twins will be long-remembered in Baldwin track and field lore. Seniors Brendan and Bailey O’Malley reeled in six medals between them at the WPIAL Class AAA track and field championships May 16 at Slippery Rock. Brendan proved to be unstoppable in his specialties, taking first place in the...
Gateway softball falls short in Class 5A opening round
Gateway won four of its final five regular-season games to clinch a WPIAL softball playoff berth for the second year in a row. The Gators, seeded No. 12, were hoping to carry that momentum into their first-round Class 5A playoff game May 16 against No. 5 Trinity. The contest was...
Versatile Mackenzie Zang helps lift TJ softball into playoffs
Her name might be last on the alphabet chart, but her hitting style ranks first on her team. Junior utility player Mackenzie Zang led the Thomas Jefferson softball team in hitting during the regular season with a .463 batting average. She finished with a team-high 25 hits in 54 at-bats,...
