District College category, Page 56
Point Park runner Alyssa Campbell continues to build on sophomore successVideo
The Instagram post already is written: Eight years of running means eight years off. Point Park junior Alyssa Campbell is planning ahead for the last race of her senior season. When she is finished competing for the Pioneers, she aims to back off on her volume of running. In the...
Former Yough, Robert Morris ace Nicole (Sleith) Schaffer to coach at Duke
One of the most dominant left-handed strikeout pitchers in recent WPIAL and Robert Morris softball history is going to teach her craft to college players at the Division I level. Former Yough and Robert Morris hurler Nicole (Sleith) Schaffer was hired as an assistant coach at Duke. Schaffer was the...
Joey DeFloria, former Hempfield standout, makes Bucknell’s all-decade squad
Joey DeFloria was as dependable as he was durable when he played running back at Bucknell from 2014-17. The Hempfield alum could break off long runs or turn swing passes into large chunks of yardage. Bucknell’s football program lauded his impact and big-play ability by naming him to its all-decade...
Son of former Steelers player, Cal (Pa.) football player Jamain Stephens dies
Editor’s Note: On Wednesday afternoon, Central Catholic High School said in an amended statement that the school does not have an official confirmation on the cause of Jamain Stephens’ death. Previously, the high school reported that Stephens died of complications from covid-19. Here is a portion of Central Catholic’s statement:...
Kittanning alum Kate Costanzo nominated for new NCAA LGBTQ award
Allegheny women’s basketball coach Kate Costanzo is nominated for a new award in NCAA Division III. Also a senior administrator at Allegheny, Costanzo, a Manorville native and Kittanning graduate, is up for the inaugural LGBTQ Administrator/Coach/Staff of the Year Award. The award “honors the service, leadership and promotion of LGBTQ...
PAC tennis, golf teams join contact sports on sidelines
Saint Vincent was primed to begin women’s tennis season. Opening day at Grove City was less than a month away. Finally, there would be some real, live college sports played. Then the racket strings popped. Initially, the NCAA Division III Presidents’ Athletic Conference sought to play “low contact risk” sports...
Washington & Jefferson grad Nick Vento earns Division III baseball all-decade honors
Coronavirus times gave D3baseball.com a chance to shine a spotlight on its best players a little ahead of schedule. With the pandemic wiping out the 2020 college season, the website had more time to compile a list of the top talent of the past 10 years. A former WPIAL player...
Passion for sport drives Seton Hill grad Jenna Kaufman to pro hoops career in Ireland
Jenna Kaufman was ready to sling her basketball high-tops over the telephone wires when she returned home to Damascus, Md. from Ireland following a year in the Victory Scholar program. By all accounts, her basketball career was complete. But after more time passed — more time that did not include...
Seton Hill product Trevor Blondin reaches goal of professional basketball contract
Plan B never was an option for Trevor Blondin. The former Seton Hill basketball standout wanted to play his sport professionally. Make that, expected to play his sport professionally. “It’s something I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid,” Blondin said. “Anybody that’s ever asked me, ‘What do you want...
Former Fox Chapel, Seton Hill pitcher Pat Monteverde transfers to Texas Tech
Former Fox Chapel pitcher Pat Monteverde is ready to see what he can do at the highest level of college baseball. On Sunday, Monteverde announced his plans to transfer from Seton Hill to Big 12 powerhouse Texas Tech to finish his college career. “Their track record speaks for itself, and...
Former Franklin Regional standout Todd Summers to finish college career at Duquesne
Todd Summers plans to play his final year of college football closer to home. The former Franklin Regional standout who entered the NCAA transfer portal a few weeks ago with the intention of leaving Villanova has a new destination. He announced Monday he will enroll at Duquesne, where he will...
Horizon League, the conference Robert Morris joined in June, postpones fall sports season
One day after Robert Morris University athletics announced it plans to move its football season to the spring in connection with the Big South Conference postponing its fall sports seasons, the remaining Colonials fall sports teams found out they will not play this fall. The Horizon League, of which RMU...
Norwin grad Jack Salopek in holding pattern at Western Michigan after MAC postpones season
Jack Salopek has been enamored with Division I football for years. It’s driven him to work extra hours, grind in the offseason and always perform at a high level. He has completed the most challenging part of earning a scholarship at the next level. But the former Norwin star quarterback...
Seton Hill records top GPA in NCAA Division II women’s basketball
When Mark Katarski recruits a high school basketball player, he doesn’t just make sure she can dribble with her left hand or that she plays relentless, end-to-end defense. The women’s coach at Seton Hill also looks for smarts in his prospects — on the court and otherwise. “We always put...
Latest Penn State Behrend Hall of Fame class rich with WPIAL talent
Of the nine inductees in the 2020 Penn State Behrend Athletics Hall of Fame class, five have ties to the WPIAL. The class will be honored in the spring. The honorees who first made their mark in the WPIAL include: • Kayla Frost — The 2010 graduate out of Peters...
North Allegheny grad Max Gonzalez earns All-American honors
For the second consecutive season, North Allegheny graduate Max Gonzalez earned a top honor as a member of the Carnegie Mellon men’s swimming and diving team. Gonzalez, a junior, was recently named a first-team College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America Division III Scholar All-American. The award recognizes students...
Fall coronavirus cancellations affecting small college basketball too
The Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference earlier this week decided to shift most of its fall sports to the spring, a move not altogether shocking considering the volume of local college conferences doing the same thing. But when the AMCC listed the affected sports, alarm bells went off for some coaches....
Program-building Point Park soccer coach announces retirement
Jeroen Walstra, the all-time winningest coach in the history of men’s soccer at Point Park University, announced his retirement Thursday. Walstra coached the Pioneers men’s team, which included many WPIAL alumni among numerous international standouts, for the past 13 seasons (2007-19) and also served as the Point Park women’s coach...
Franklin Regional product Todd Summers leaving Villanova
When the Colonial Athletic Association decided to move football to the spring because of health and safety concerns over the coronavirus outbreak, it virtually stamped out the final days of Todd Summers’ college career. At least his days at Villanova. A Franklin Regional graduate, Summers would have been a senior...
River States Conference to play fall sports as scheduled
While most small-college conferences have taken a cautionary approach to fall sports by postponing the season until the spring, one area conference is staying the course. The NAIA River States Conference will buck the trend and have a fall season, leaning on a crutch of guidelines and protocol to play...
AMCC moves most fall, some winter sports to spring
The Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference delayed the inevitable a couple of weeks ago when it said it would go forward with fall sports. On Monday, the league walked back that plan. Fall and winter teams are affected by its latest decision. After three of its member schools — Pitt-Greensburg, Hilbert...
Penn State branch campuses shut down fall sports
Another lower level college conference is bagging fall sports. The Penn State University Athletic Conference, home to 14 Penn State branch campuses, announced Friday it is postponing fall athletics — soccer, cross country, golf and women’s volleyball — due to the covid-19 pandemic. The decision, made by the conference’s executive...
D-III football players have long wait ahead of them
Dom Eisaman is waiting for a chance to play quarterback in college, but he is beginning to wonder if that day will ever come. “It definitely feels like I haven’t been on the field in an eternity,” said Eisaman, a Greensburg Central Catholic grad who has two seasons of eligibility...
CMU’s Michelle Karabin recipient of NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship
Michelle Karabin found a way to marry academics and athletics in near perfect fashion in her time at Carnegie Mellon, and the NCAA took notice. Karabin, a senior and a graduate of Greensburg Central Catholic, was chosen to receive an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship for her efforts in the classroom and...
Division III’s Middle Atlantic Conference postpones fall sports
The walls continue to close in on college athletics. The Middle Atlantic Conference became another Division III league to postpone fall sports — with the intention of playing them in the spring, pending improvements on the coronavirus front. The move also will delay the start of winter sports to after...
