District College category, Page 21

Preseason polls, to some degree, are the product of reputation. They reflect past performance as much as — or perhaps even more than — present potential. That very well could have been the case with the 2022 Pitt-Greensburg women’s soccer team. An Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference finalist in 2021 and...

In October 2017, Emily Lewandowski was still in middle school Valley Junior/Senior High School. On the 18th of that month, the Penn State New Kensington women’s volleyball team won its Penn State University Athletic Conference opener, defeating Penn State Greater Allegheny. Fast forward to Sept. 13, 2022, and the Lions...

Robert Kennedy and Marcus Barnes were football teammates at Jeannette and won WPIAL and PIAA championships together. They shared the same defensive secondary, ball-hawking with the best in Class A. On offense, Kennedy carried the football and Barnes caught it out wide. Who knew five years later they both would...

A promotion, a new role and a change in command. The wheels are in motion with the Seton Hill women’s basketball program. The university announced assistant Maeve Gallagher has been promoted to head coach, while Mark Katarski, who has guided the Griffins for nine seasons and has the program record...

“The pain that you have been feeling cannot compare to the joy that’s coming.” Those are the words tattooed just above Kaylee Elwood’s right knee. They come from the Bible, the book of Romans, chapter eight, verse 18. They are a reminder of where she has been and a motivator...

Recent Washington & Jefferson graduate Tyler Horvat (Penn-Trafford), known for being one of the top utility baseball players in NCAA Division III, was named the Division III Commissioner’s Association Region VII Student-Athlete of the Year. He is now eligible for the national DIIICA Athlete of the Year award, which will...

Back for his graduate season, Dustin Shoaf is primed to be the focal point of the running game this season at Mercyhurst. The running back from Yough is coming off a career season where he rushed for 635 yards and seven touchdowns for the Lakers, who are trying to flip...

Ahmad Shaw makes no bones about it: He wants to play professional football. That might seem like a big leap from little Saint Vincent College. Just don’t tell that to Shaw. His desire to play professionally is part of what brought him from Fairfax, Va., to Saint Vincent in the...

Coaches in one of the better NCAA Division II football conferences in the country can’t say enough about the competition in their league. Practice began Monday, and teams in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference will kick up dust against each other this fall as they compete for division titles and...

Justin Johns and Justin Huss — one on defense and the other on offense and special teams — could play critical roles this season for the Washington & Jefferson football team, which will open the season No. 2 in the Presidents’ Athletic Association preseason rankings. A senior linebacker out of...

With the transfer portal calling his name again, Justin Sliwoski had to reluctantly plug up his ears. He decided it was time to put everything into his career. No, not his football career. The former standout quarterback at Hempfield and St. Francis (Pa.) is hanging up his cleats and stepping...

When Erin Hynds thinks back to watching her father, Bill Shay, on the basketball court, one particular image comes to mind. “I can remember his face being red because he would be screaming, and he’d be looking up at all these tall players he was coaching,” said Hynds, an Upper...

Can the Carnegie Mellon football team make it a three-peat in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference? The conference coaches, sports information directors and media think so. The Tartans, who are ranked 16th in the country, received 36 first-place votes and were an overwhelming pick to win the conference with 415 points....

Rumors swirled around campus. The whispers were brooding. But was there any validity to it all? On Monday, student-athletes at Alderson Broaddus found out there indeed was. It was all true. Alderson Broaddus, the private Baptist university in Phillippi, W.Va., is preparing to shut down because of financial difficulties. As...

Vince DeAugustine is leaving the Hempfield wrestling program for a second time. But unlike his move which took him to Norwin in 2019 and lasted two seasons before returning back to Hempfield in 2021, this time DeAugustine is headed to the collegiate level. Seton Hill University named DeAugustine on Tuesday...

Baldwin grad Meghan Dryburgh has played basketball at Washington & Jefferson for just two years and already the awards are stacking up. This past season, the 5-foot-11 sophomore guard/forward was named PAC player of the year, All-PAC first team, All-Region 7 Second Team, All-America Honorable Mention, and was a five-time...

As an athlete at Penn-Trafford, Gabe Dunlap was locked into specific roles. For the Warriors football team, Dunlap played almost exclusively at quarterback. With the track and field team, he stuck with long and triple jump. Since going to Grove City, Dunlap has expanded his repertoire, and he has helped...

Among football’s most common axioms is the anonymous nature of offensive linemen. While the quarterbacks and skill position players get all the headlines and highlights, the guys who toil in the trenches often are seen as just big, faceless bodies, if they are acknowledged at all. If offensive linemen are...

William & Mary football was picked to repeat as champion of the Coastal Athletic Association. A local player is expected to have an impact on that title run. Senior Marcus Barnes, a Jeannette graduate, was named an All-CAA honorable mention at safety. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound Barnes played in 13 games,...

As Courtney Poulich leans in to give a wide-eyed softball player some hitting advice, she can’t help but get nostalgic. “Giving lessons teaches us to appreciate the sport even more, and we are constantly mastering our skills by teaching others,” said Poulich, a Mt. Pleasant graduate and a rising junior...

Palmer Jackson knows what it is like to be under par on the golf course. But his college golf career is plus-one. Jackson, a standout out of Franklin Regional, announced he will play a fifth year at Notre Dame, delaying his plans to turn professional. “I really want to go...

Quarterback Jack Salopek has never been a rah-rah screamer — in the huddle, at practice or otherwise. You might say he is like a vault emotionally with the way he carries himself and how he plays football. The Norwin alum has always let his game do the talking, and he...

Scott Morrison has been itching to get back into coaching. After spending a season as an assistant for the women’s basketball team at Westmoreland County Community College last year, he is primed to take over the men’s program. Morrison, a former athletic director at Yough and a Norwin alum, was...