A-K Valley athletes of the week: Kiski Area’s Alaysia Bell, Burrell’s Brayden Mell
Alaysia Bell School: Kiski Area Class: Sophomore Sport: Track and field Claim to fame: Bell earned MVP honors at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association (WCCA) meet April 23. She placed first in the triple jump with a distance of 37 feet, 7 inches, which was a personal best at the...
Highlands graduate Trent Bielak named to Lou Gehrig Community Impact Team
For most of his life Trent Bielak has found ways to volunteer and serve others. Once he made it to Pitt-Bradford, he felt himself start taking volunteerism into his own hands and understands the importance of faith and serving others, especially these last two years. That all came to an...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Burrell’s Sophia Gregg, Kiski Area’s Braden Miller
Sophia Gregg School: Burrell Class: Junior Sport: Softball Claim to fame: Gregg hit a walk-off double to seal a 5-4 win for Burrell (9-6, 6-3) over Deer Lakes in a Section 1-3A matchup April 17. Then on Wednesday, she singled, doubled and drove in four in a 15-10 win over...
Chartiers Valley freshman a rising star in shot put, discus
Chartiers Valley freshman Mason Switala thoroughly enjoyed his three days at the Adidas Indoor Track and Field Nationals at Virgina Beach from March 20 to 22. He found the time to experience everything the locale had to offer, even the cuisine near his hotel. “There was a Mexican restaurant attached...
Chartiers Valley softball looking for luck to swing its way
Coming into the 2026 season, Chartiers Valley softball coach Chris Lloyd set the goal for his team to start 5-0 in section play and try and avoid the same slow start the team had last season when it went 3-3 in its first six games. But the combination of mother...
AK Valley high school athletes of the week: Apollo-Ridge’s Mikaila Ditty, Leechburg’s Dylan Whitlinger
Mikaila Ditty School: Apollo-Ridge Class: Sophomore Sport: Softball Claim to fame: Ditty went 4 for 4 with a pair of doubles, two triples and three RBIs as Apollo-Ridge (4-4, 3-2) defeated Shady Side Academy, 11-5, in Section 2-2A on Monday. She followed that with three more RBIs and a home...
Pittsburgh Basketball Academy founder Ron McNabb inducted into PBC hall of fame
When Ron “Mack” McNabb received a phone call from Pittsburgh Basketball Club owner and founder John Giammarco in December, he thought the topic of conversation would be about normal basketball operations. “I hadn’t talked to John in a while,” McNabb said. “I really wasn’t expecting him to call, thought he...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Kiski Area’s Kyla Hutcherson and Plum’s James Beall
Kyla Hutcherson School: Kiski Area Class: Sophomore Sport: Softball Claim to fame: Hutcherson produced a triple, a home run and three RBIs as Kiski Area (7-2, 4-2) beat Gateway, 11-0, in Section 2-5A play Wednesday. Talk about the at-bat when you hit the home run. I was trying to lock...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Freeport’s Alyssa Lovgren, Valley’s Julian Danko
Alyssa Lovgren School: Freeport Class: Junior Sport: Lacrosse Claim to fame: Lovgren scored four goals and had four assists in a 14-1 win for Freeport (3-2, 3-1) over Knoch in Section 2-2A girls lacrosse Tuesday evening. She then produced three goals and had an assist in a 17-3 win over...
Alle-Kiski Valley athletes of the week: Plum’s Tamia West, Highlands’ Jah’mar Wright
Tamia West School: Plum Class: Junior Sport: Flag Football Claim to fame: On Monday, West caught eight passes for 101 yards and a pair of touchdowns as Plum won a nonsection contest against Kiski Area. The next day, West again scored two touchdowns and had a pick-6 in a 35-6...
Chartiers Valley grad bringing structure, fun as new lacrosse coach
Those around Chartiers Valley familiar with his Tik Toks will undoubtedly recognize the new boys lacrosse coach. Or if they aren’t constantly on social media, they have surely seen him patrolling the grounds of the high school and the middle school. When Kyle Kelsch took over as the School Resource...
New coach looking to bring stability to the Chartiers Valley baseball program
David Oddi always thought the Chartiers Valley baseball coaching job was one he would eventually like to have. Originally from Carnegie and while coaching at West Allegheny and Carlynton as either an assistant or head coach for 19 years, Oddi always had the opportunity to look at the Colts baseball...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Plum’s Carly Venanzi, Valley’s Dom Dunkel
Carly Venanzi School: Plum Class: Senior Sport: Lacrosse Claim to fame: Venanzi put together a productive week for the Mustangs. On March 13, she scored a pair of goals and had three assists as Plum (3-1) defeated North Allegheny, 13-10. On Monday, she scored another two goals and had an...
Quaker Valley beats Avonworth at own high-scoring game, claims program’s 6th Penguins Cup
It had been a tough road for the seniors on the Quaker Valley hockey team. The last three years saw them lose in the quarterfinal round because of misplays or bad bounces, but in their final run through the PIHL Class A playoffs, they were able to reach the promised...
Seneca Valley weathers fierce Peters Township comeback bid to repeat as 3A Penguins Cup champsVideo
Oftentimes, one of the hardest things to do in hockey is to hold on to a multiple-goal lead. Even more so when that lead is by a large margin early on. Seneca Valley jumped out to an early 3-0 lead against Peters Township after the first period in the PIHL...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Fox Chapel’s Delaney O’Toole, Deer Lakes’ Evan Moore
Delaney O’Toole School: Fox Chapel Class: Freshman Sport: Swimming Claim to fame: O’Toole had a successful PIAA championship meet, grabbing second place in the 50 free and third in the 200 free relay Wednesday. On Thursday, she swam a time of 54.15 seconds to win gold in the 100 backstroke....
A-K Valley softball preview: Knoch sets sights even higher
Sometimes Mother Nature can be cruel. The Knoch softball team found out the hard way in its Class 4A quarterfinal loss to No. 6 Beaver last season. “That was a game we thought we had handled,” coach Chris Gardner said. “After about three or four lighting delays and a two-and-a-half-hour...
Deer Lakes makes free throws when it counts in Class 4A 2nd-round win over Hickory
Anyone who has ever played basketball has heard it from a coach maybe a thousand times: You have to make your foul shots. For Deer Lakes, it was tough sledding from the charity stripe as the team went 2 of 14 through three quarters, but the Lancers were able to...
Penn-Trafford uses 3-goal burst in 2nd period to top Shaler in Penguins Cup quarterfinals
One of the sayings for the Penn-Trafford hockey team has been to “race to the next goal.” No matter if they’re up a goal, losing or tied, the Warriors knew getting that next goal was a major step in coming away with a win during the Penguins Cup Class 2A...
Kiski Area’s Ava Golding wins 3rd West Regional girls wrestling title
Coming into the PIAA girls wrestling West Regionals at Mt. Lebanon High School, Kiski Area senior Ava Golding had a couple more goals to check off. She already won her third WPIAL gold medal a week ago and came into Saturday’s event one win away from 100 for her career....
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Kiski Area’s Ava Golding, Knoch’s Roman DeFelice
Ava Golding School: Kiski Area Class: Senior Sport: Wrestling Claim to fame: Golding won her third straight WPIAL wrestling title Feb. 21. She was the top seed in the 142-pound weight class at the PIAA West Regionals at Mt. Lebanon on Saturday and won her third consecutive regional gold medal...
Westmoreland County swimmers chasing medals at WPIAL championships
For the better part of the last four years, Lily King and the Mt. Pleasant swim team have been the center of attention, ruling the podium and setting records at the WPIAL championships. Now that King and decorated classmates Kiersten O’Connor, David Mutter and Joseph Gardner are competing for Division...
Season of growth and improvement ends with playoff loss for Chartiers Valley girls
For the second year in a row, the Chartiers Valley girls basketball team saw its season come to an end at the hands of Baldwin in the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs. A year after a veteran Colts team gave the Highlanders all they could handle in a 73-72 first-round loss,...
Chartiers Valley boys buy in, evolve into dominant force in Class 5A
When Corey Dotchin took over as head coach of the Chartiers Valley boys basketball team ahead of the 2024 season, his major goal for the program was to “put a competitive team on the floor that’s a WPIAL title and section title contender year in and year out.” In the...
Top-seeded Quaker Valley fights off upset-minded Deer Lakes in Class 4A semifinals
The sun might have been shining brightly outside Pine-Richland High School on Saturday afternoon, but inside, the clock was ticking down to midnight. With eight-tenths of a second left and his team down by two points, Deer Lakes junior Evan Moore stepped to the foul line looking to send the...
