Ted Sarneso stories, Page 5
Kiski Area’s Golding earns another girls wrestling regional title as WPIAL fares well
All the usual suspects were at the PIAA girls regional championships Saturday at North Allegheny High School. Ava Golding of Kiski Area, Plum’s Safia Davis and Alaina Claassen, Southmoreland’s Zoey Murphy and a contingent of 10 Canon-McMillan wrestlers were present and eager for the action to start. But there was...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Freeport’s Kira Schrecongost; Fox Chapel’s Owen Howell
Kira Schrecongost School: Freeport Class: Senior Sport: Swimming Claim to fame: Schrecongost took gold in the 100-yard butterfly in 54.85 seconds, setting a school record at the WPIAL Class 2A championships this week. The win gave her a title in the event three out of her four years. She was...
Mt. Pleasant swimmers look to add accolades at WPIALs
It is once again the end of February, and as the calendar prepares to put the shortest month in the rearview mirror, the WPIAL swim championships descend upon Pitt’s Trees Pool on Thursday and Friday. The Class 2A seedings are topped once again by swimmers from Mt. Pleasant who are...
A-K Valley Senior Spotlight: Burrell’s Calio Zanella
Wrestling is one of those high school sports that has the distinct feature of having team and individual championships. So there’s always the dichotomy of exceling individually and needing to perform as a group to get the team to the playoffs. Burrell senior wrestler Calio Zanella knows what it takes...
Chartiers Valley soccer standout John Krug follows recruiting trail straight to Robert Morris
In his senior year with the Chartiers Valley soccer team, John Krug was deployed by coach Mike Blatz all over the field. “We played him on the wide part of the field, played him as a 10, an attacking midfielder. We moved him around so he wasn’t as predictable when...
Chartiers Valley hockey eager to tackle PIHL playoff gauntlet
The loss Chartiers Valley suffered against Quaker Valley at the midway point of the PIHL season might have come at the right time. “We hadn’t lost for so long to a team from Western Pa. that it was like, hey guys, it can happen, wake up,” said coach Paul Bonetti....
Top seeds mostly reign at WPIAL Class 2A wrestling
Although there were some surprises peppered in the semifinals of the WPIAL Class 2A wrestling championships Saturday at Chartiers Valley, the finals were another story. Twelve of the 13 finals matches had the No. 1 seed in each weight class as a competitor, and all but one came away with...
Shady Side Academy swimmers eye success at WPIAL championships
Shady Side Academy swim coach Erika Cooper was very pleased with how her swimmers performed during the regular season. The boys team went undefeated with a 10-0 overall record and were 6-0 to finish as Section 3-2A champions. The girls team went 3-6 overall and finished fifth in the seven-team...
No. 1 Montour scrapes past ninth-seeded Latrobe in Class 5A quarterfinals
In what was a tightly contested matchup between top-seeded Montour and No. 9 Latrobe on Friday night, both coaches admitted their teams didn’t execute as well as they had hoped. Each team had its troubles, but Montour did enough to win 60-52 over Latrobe to advance to the WPIAL Class...
Cheswick Christian Academy seeking to go back-to-back as champs in the SWCAC
For the second time in the past 10 years, the Cheswick Christian Academy boys basketball team is playing in a third straight Southwestern Christian Athletic Conference championship game. Previously, the Chargers reached the SWCAC final from 2015-17, winning the title in 2015. This year’s iteration of the team is looking...
A-K Valley Senior Spotlight: Plum’s Giuliana Ricciuti
It’s a rare feat when a swimmer can post WPIAL qualifying times in every stroke. Plum senior Giuliana Ricciuti just missed achieving that this season. Out of the eight individual events for which a swimmer can qualify, Ricciuti qualified for seven. She posted 25.91 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle, a...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Plum’s Addison Then, Springdale’s Patrick Wylly
Addison Then School: Plum Class: Junior Sport: Bowling Claim to fame: Then bowled a team-high 618 series to help Plum (10-0) repeat as WPIBL champion by defeating Hempfield in the team championships Thursday. Then was also named to the all-tournament team. She led the East division in pin average (196),...
Ferraro brothers, Pine-Richland teammates out to make waves in wrestling postseason
After going 39-7, winning the section tournament and placing second at the WPIAL tournament last year, Dominic Ferraro had only one goal in mind for his senior year. He wanted to finish his high school wrestling career with an undefeated season. “I’ve been thinking about that since last season,” Ferraro...
Confidence soaring as Fox Chapel hockey blazes into February
For Fox Chapel hockey coach Ryan Loebig, January is an important month in the season. In his experience, how a team plays in that month is a harbinger of how successful they will be in the playoffs. Going into the final game of the month on Jan. 30 at Latrobe,...
Hampton girls weather season’s ups, downs to make another playoff appearance
There weren’t many expectations levied upon the Hampton girls basketball team coming into the 2024-25 season. After making it to the playoffs as a No. 15 seed last season and playing No. 2 seed McKeesport tight in a 49-46 loss, the Talbots came into this season having lost all-time leading...
Springdale boys return to postseason looking to ‘make some magic’
When Scott Ruppert took over the Springdale boys basketball team three weeks before the season started, the first thing he did was reach out to his players and provide them each with a goal sheet. Every one of his seniors wrote the same goal: make it to the playoffs. “That...
A-K Valley Senior Spotlight: Kiski Area’s Paige Kunkle
When asked where her medals were from the WPIAL championships last year, when the Kiski Area girls swim team was Class 2A champion, senior Paige Kunkle wasn’t sure. “I honestly don’t know,” she said. It’s not the actual medals that are most meaningful to Kunkle. It’s the memories of how...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Plum’s Serena Carnahan, Cade Schimmer
Serena Carnahan School: Plum Class: Senior Sport: Basketball Claim to fame: Carnahan, a guard/forward, scored 15 points in a 48-17 win over Gateway in Section 1-5A on Monday night. She followed that with a 14-point performance Thursday in a 46-37 win against another section foe, Fox Chapel. The Mustangs finish...
Shady Side Academy grad Izee Powell embracing challenges of Division I hockey
When looking at the statistics of the Dartmouth women’s hockey team from 2023-24, it’s hard not to notice that Shady Side Academy grad Izee Powell was fourth in scoring. The junior defenseman had her best season last year, scoring six goals, four on the power play, and had nine assists....
Latrobe swimmers speeding toward championship meets
When Latrobe swimming coach Grey Arrigonie was asked about the times for his swimmers last year, he offered up the following response: “There’s always room for improvement in swimming. It’s one of those sports where you can continue to get faster and faster.” This year, his swimmers just might hit...
A-K Valley Senior Spotlight: Fox Chapel’s Bella Urso
When Fox Chapel senior guard Bella Urso first stepped on the high school basketball court, coach Marty Matvey wondered if Urso had a pulse. “She was quiet as a freshman,” Matvey said. “She’s sort of a reserved kid to begin with but had — and still has — one of...
Deer Lakes’ Ryan Grunden reaches 100 points for career, turns attention to playoff push
Before his game on the evening of Jan. 13 against Sewickley Academy, Deer Lakes hockey senior forward Ryan Grunden went through his normal pregame routine. He brought up YouTube videos of USA and college hockey players and watched how they skate, handle the puck and create shot opportunities. Then he...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Kiski Area’s Ava Golding, Justin Tucker
Ava Golding School: Kiski Area Class: Junior Sport: Wrestling Claim to fame: Golding finished first in a tournament Jan. 25 at Butler, winning a 9-8 decision over Janayah Nobles of Connellsville in the 136-pound weight class. Golding began the day with a pin of Lydia Hull of Fort LeBoeuf, then...
Shady Side Academy grad Maeve Kelley looking to add to impressive swimming résumé at Amherst
When athletes step foot on to a college campus for their freshman season, there aren’t a lot of expectations for them to meet. They don’t feel burdened by pressures that stats or prior performances can sometimes provide. Whether they do well or not in that first year, there’s a hunger...
A-K Valley Senior Spotlight: St. Joseph’s Gabe Maltese
The St. Joseph boys basketball team is hovering around the .500 mark this season, which is a stark contrast to last season, when the Spartans finished 3-20 overall and 2-8 in section play. Senior guard Gabe Maltese said the turnaround is, in part, because of the leadership he and his...
