High School category, Page 261
Kiski Area Sports Hall of Fame set to induct Class of 2024
Shane Kuhn left it all out on the field and on the mat for the Kiski Area football and wrestling teams. The 2014 graduate earned eight varsity letters across both sports while garnering numerous accolades for his performances. Kuhn was a two-time all-conference tight end and was all-state as a...
Derry senior doesn’t need high school soccer to earn scholarship to Robert Morris
Derry doesn’t have a girls soccer team. But the school has at least one outstanding girls soccer player. A Division I player, at that. Alayna Williams, a rising senior who plays for and trains with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds Developmental Academy, will continue her playing career at Robert Morris. Williams, a...
Valley turns to prominent basketball alumni to help restore luster to boys, girls programs
Brice Flenory and Tonya (Pryor) Norman wowed fans of the Valley basketball teams during their time on the high school hardcourt. Norman graduated from Valley in 1989 and went on to a collegiate hoops career at Duquesne. Flenory graduated in 1998 after a playing career that included back-to-back Valley News...
Trib Cup for all-sport excellence to be awarded this week
The first Sports Cup was handed out after the 2003-2004 school year to North Allegheny in 4A, Peters Township in 3A, Greensburg Central Catholic in 2A and Sewickley Academy in A. Over the course of the next two decades, 23 WPIAL schools, including 15 multiple winners, have captured Sports Cups,...
Notable changes to the 2024-25 WPIAL field hockey alignment
The WPIAL released new section alignments for the next two-year cycle in all sports, and changes will be implemented starting this fall. This summer, the Tribune-Review will break down changes for each of the WPIAL sports. Here’s a look at the upcoming WPIAL girls field hockey season. 2023 WPIAL champions...
Norwin dual-threat QB Tristyn Tavares is ‘just a gamer,’ coach says
Norwin has a new boxed-in monitor to watch replays from its sideline camera during games. If the team had the high-tech screen last year, players might have gotten distracted watching playbacks of Tristyn Tavares slinging the football around. The rising junior quarterback had a season to remember for the Knights,...
Penn-Trafford coaches pleased with offseason improvement at skill positions
Penn-Trafford football coach John Ruane gave his squad a break from summer workouts over the Fourth of July holiday. It was a deserved rest for a team that has worked hard to improve on its disappointing 2023 record of 5-6 overall, which included a WPIAL Class 5A playoff loss to...
High school notebook: Westmoreland players included in all-state softball, baseball selections
Westmoreland County had impressive representation on the Pennsylvania High School Softball Coaches Association All-State teams. In Class 6A, three Hempfield girls made the first team: senior first baseman Emily Griffith (.410, 25 hits, 4 HR), junior shortstop Allie Cervola (.397, 5 HR) and senior outfielder Maggie Howard (.571, 32 hits,...
Sewickley notebook: Quaker Valley’s Lucy Roig earns All-American honors
Quaker Valley’s standout lacrosse player, sophomore Lucy Roig, picked up another impressive postseason award. Along with being chosen All-WPIAL for a second time, the talented 5-foot-5 midfielder was tabbed as an All-American by USA Lacrosse. “I’m extremely grateful to be named an All-American,” Roig said. “I worked really hard this...
Penn Hills’ new boys soccer coach Kevin Truman seeks to make impact beyond the pitch
Kevin Truman would like to win soccer games when he takes over as head coach of the Penn Hills boys soccer team this fall. However, Truman believes his job will go beyond what happens in the field. Truman, who is the senior pastor at McKeesport Alliance Church and has five...
Pine-Richland notebook: Rams welcome new boys basketball section opponents
A new two-year cycle for WPIAL and PIAA sports brings some changes in section opponents for the winter athletics teams at Pine-Richland. New section alignments were announced by the WPIAL on June 18, and Class 6A in boys basketball jumped from 12 to 16 teams for the next two years....
Hampton long snapper Braeden Ballintine hits his target ahead of freshman season at Cal (Pa.)
Hampton’s Braeden Ballintine was about 10 years old when his dad challenged him to try something with a football. Throw a spiral between your legs while looking upside down. “Before I even started playing football,” Ballintine said, “he was trying to mess around and show me how to snap a...
High school girls rugby gaining popularity in Western Pennsylvania
Rugby is not a universally beloved sport in America, but that does not mean it is devoid of athletes who cherish the game. The uptick in girls playing rugby in the greater Pittsburgh area and across the state has encouraged Rugby Pennsylvania to launch the Emerging Girls Rugby campaign. It...
Seneca Valley’s Lexie Hames, Neshannock’s Addy Frye top 2024 all-state softball teams
Two WPIAL softball players, Seneca Valley’s Lexie Hames and Neshannock’s Addy Frye, were named Pennsylvania’s top pitcher and player when all-state teams were announced Friday. Hames was voted the state’s overall player of the year and Frye was pitcher of the year as chosen by the Pennsylvania High School Softball...
1st-time head coach Perry intent on turning around St. Joseph baseball team
After a 4-10 season this spring, the St. Joseph baseball team was in search of a new coach to lead the program. Athletic director Sally Ackerman and her staff believe they have found their man in Jordan Perry. The opportunity to get his foot in the door and make a...
Lance Maha hired as West Mifflin’s athletic director, resigns as Norwin boys basketball coach
Lance Maha is as West Mifflin as Kennywood. So, him staying home to be the high school’s athletic director should not come as a surprise. He lives there, has worked there and put roots down decades ago. Now, he will run the sports programs at his alma mater. Maha, a...
Armstrong’s Emma Paul named 2023-24 TribLive HSSN Girls Athlete of the YearVideo
Emma Paul discusses her gold-medal year with TribLive HSSN’s Don Rebel on the Rebel Yell podcast. • • • • • About nine days was how long Emma Paul had to transition seasons from basketball to softball, but the Armstrong senior was largely responsible for that quick turnaround. She had...
Butler’s Drew Griffith named 2023-24 TribLive HSSN Boys Athlete of the YearVideo
Drew Griffith discusses his record-setting year with TribLive HSSN’s Don Rebel on the Rebel Yell podcast. • • • • • Butler senior Drew Griffith broke a national record on a track in Boston and smashed another record at the state championships in Shippensburg. Yet, neither is necessarily his favorite...
PIAA asking Commonwealth Court for emergency stay to force Aliquippa football to Class 5A
With football season only weeks away, the PIAA has asked the Commonwealth Court for an expedited hearing that could force Aliquippa into a higher classification. The PIAA wants to promote the Quips from Class 4A to 5A under its competitive-balance rule, but that move was blocked in May by a...
Mt. Pleasant’s Scott Giacobbi retires after 19 seasons coaching girls basketball
A military man, Scott Giacobbi is saluting the Mt. Pleasant girls basketball program one last time. The longtime authority of the Vikings is retiring from coaching and teaching. He became coach in 2005, and his career spanned 19 seasons, 13 of which saw the Vikings reach the WPIAL playoffs. Mt....
Mt. Pleasant swimmer King selected to compete in Junior Pan Pacific Championships
Mt. Pleasant rising senior Lily King had planned to participate in a couple of big swimming meets this summer. Traveling to Australia to compete in the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in late August wasn’t on her original agenda. King was one of 20 girls selected to represent the United States...
2024 Pa. State Baseball Coaches Association all-state team includes 44 players from WPIAL, City League
More than 40 WPIAL and City League baseball players earned all-state recognition Monday as chosen by the Pennsylvania State Baseball Coaches Association. Twenty-two of those players earned first-team honors, including three from recent WPIAL champions: Bishop Canevin’s Tyler Maddix (Class A), North Catholic’s Blake Primrose (4A) and Seton LaSalle’s Gio...
Breaking down changes to the 2024-25 WPIAL girls volleyball alignment
The WPIAL released new section alignments for the next two-year cycle in all sports, and changes will be implemented starting this fall. This summer, the Tribune-Review will break down changes for each of the WPIAL sports. Here’s a look at the upcoming WPIAL girls volleyball season. 2023 WPIAL championships Class...
WPIAL football coaches, players highlight importance of being multi-sport athletes
Seneca Valley football coaches were sitting around the table in their coaches’ room going over a list of athletes on their roster and realized a lot of multi-sport athletes decided not to play this season. “There’s a lot of kids who said they wanted to play basketball and soccer or...
Enthusiasm growing in Fox Chapel football program
Dave Leasure saw a referendum on how the Fox Chapel community was responding to the rebuilding process. During the early part of summer, Leasure said the high school program saw more kids come out for workouts and commit to playing than last year. During Leasure’s first summer in charge, he...
