District College category, Page 75

Preparations for basketball season are beginning a little earlier this year for a pair of area programs. The St. Francis (Pa.) women and Waynesburg men are taking international trips that are a blend of team-bonding, competition and culture. St. Francis will leave Tuesday for Australia, while Waynesburg will spend more...

The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference released its 2019 preseason football poll Monday afternoon, and Slippery Rock is favored to repeat as PSAC West champion. The Rock, which suffered a 33-10 loss to West Chester in last year’s PSAC title game, went on to finish 11-3 overall and win a pair...

The phrase “Big Man on Campus” could have applied to Eric Fairman at Cal (Pa.) this year. Also, possibly, the “Big E.” Fairman, a former three-sport standout at Thomas Jefferson, recently wrapped up an outstanding four-year career with the Vulcans baseball program. And he elevated it to sensational level this...

Justin Sliwoski knew he wasn’t heading into an idealistic situation when he walked on at Pitt. The strong-armed quarterback out of Hempfield figured he could possibly find a niche with the Panthers as a backup or third-stringer — and be ready in the wings as a just-in-case guy. He’d pay...

It’s late July and Saint Vincent College is alive with the sights and sounds of football. But that is nothing new. The Pittsburgh Steelers have called Latrobe their preseason training camp home for more than five decades. The home-standing Saint Vincent Bearcats, who will overlap three days with the Steelers...

Kelsey Oddis was a two-sport standout during her undergraduate days at Pitt-Greensburg, excelling in both cross country and basketball with the Bobcats. Now, she will have multiple coaching titles at her collegiate alma mater. Already a women’s basketball assistant at UPG, the Burrell graduate will take over the school’s men’s...

Hanna Green graduated from Latrobe in 2013 as one of the top 400-meter runners in the state. When she graduated from Virginia Tech four years later, she was an elite NCAA Division I 800-meter runner. Instead of retiring from running, Green decided to continue to run and train, so she...

Monica Burns took a year off from college basketball, a decision made for personal reasons but one that ultimately scrubbed away her final season at Wheeling Jesuit. The standout guard would have been a redshirt senior had she played. The year removed seemed like an eternity for Burns, a bona...

Perhaps Joe Westrick was born to run, but he wasn’t necessarily hard-wired to race. That was something he needed to develop. As he prepares for his senior season with the Gannon cross country team, the Chartiers Valley graduate is nearing the finish line of one of the most decorated careers...

Brett Scheib was a four-time WPIAL qualifier and three-time state qualifier for the Hampton swimming program. Though he admits choosing a college was a tough decision, the transition has been smooth. Scheib, a 2018 graduate, established himself as one of the top young freestyle swimmers in the Ohio Athletic Conference...

With increased patience and a change of scenery, Dom Eisaman is hoping for increased playing time as he continues to wait for his chance to be a college quarterback. A slow start to his playing career at the next level can be attributed to various reasons, the least of which,...

After leading the IUP baseball team with a .340 batting average in his freshman season, Nick DiAndreth opted to hone his skills in a summer league, as has become customary for aspiring players. DiAndreth took his hot bat with him. The Hempfield graduate went on to win the regular-season batting...

Years of searching have yielded nothing. Tommie Campbell still can’t find anyone who can run with him — not even now as the Montreal Alouettes defensive back approaches his 32nd birthday (Sept. 19). Asked if he still “has it,” Campbell’s answer was simple. “Everywhere I go, I haven’t had anybody...

IUP was so so good at times last season, the Crimson Hawks looked like a pro team. Maybe there was a reason. Following one of the program’s best runs, IUP announced Monday that four recent grads have signed to play professional basketball overseas. Forward Jacobo Diaz is joining Marín Peixegalego...

Quaker Valley graduate and Liberty senior women’s lacrosse player Kayla Foster made more history. Foster, an attack, broke the Lady Flames’ points record early in the year with her 188th career point and became one of only two players in school history to earn all-conference honors in four straight seasons....

Division III Waynesburg named Tim Fusina its next men’s head basketball coach. A Geibel graduate and Charleroi native, Fusina coached the last two years at California Lutheran in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Previously, he coached the men’s team at Centenary in Hackettstown, N.J. for five years. “I think each experience has...

Zach Trusky saved his best for last. His freshman football season at Grove City ended with the Wolverines playing in an ECAC Bowl game — the team’s first postseason appearance in 21 years. The Bishop Canevin grad carried only three times, but he gained 52 yards and scored on a...

A pair of former Pitt-Greensburg coaches landed lead positions at new programs. Sean Strickland, who led the UPG men’s basketball team for seven years before a two-year stint as women’s associate head coach at Penn State Beaver, is the new associate head coach of the women’s program at Muskingum in...

The Akron women’s soccer team is one of the youngest at the Division I level. Only one senior is on the 2019 roster: Plum graduate Ashley Amato. Amato, entering her fourth year as a starting defender, understands her time on campus is winding down, and she wants to do whatever...

Four years ago, a young girl named Lexie Meanor from Sewickley decided she was going to attend college. Not at Robert Morris, not at Pitt, but at Whittier, about 2,000 miles from her hometown. There, she began her collegiate career in lacrosse while making a name for herself in the...

College can open you up to many new experiences. For former WPIAL champion Jason Goodman, it introduced him up to the most multi-faceted of track and field events. Goodman was one of the best jumpers to come through Hampton, capping his career with a WPIAL title in the triple jump...

Virginia redshirt senior Bridget Guy will bring home a bronze medal from Italy. Guy, a former Hempfield standout, took third place in the pole vault while competing at the World University Games in Napoli. She cleared 14 feet, 1.75 inches. Guy came into the event with the sixth-best vault of...

Jordan Geist will throw the shot put July 26 at the U.S. Track and Field Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, and he heads into the event with momentum from a gold medal and a new record at a recent meet in Mexico. Geist, who also earned All-American honors with...

Someday, Julia Menosky plans to create not just her own business but her own empire. As she approaches her senior season with the Point Park volleyball team, the Bishop Canevin grad is thinking about how to use her degree in entrepreneurship once her playing days are over. She won’t reveal...

Incoming junior Derek Orndorff is leaving the Penn State baseball program to play closer to home. Orndorff recently announced on his Twitter account that he is transferring to play at Seton Hill. A utility player who starred at Connellsville — he was a second-team all-state player who hit .542 as...