High School category, Page 534
Girls relay teams push pace for Quaker Valley swimmers
The stars of the show for the Quaker Valley swim program were the girls relay teams. All three relay units were medalists at the WPIAL Class 2A championships March 3-4 at Pitt’s Trees Pool. The 200-yard freestyle relay team, consisting of senior Ella Fuener, sophomores Kwilai Karto and Paige Juliano...
Senior scorer steps up during Quaker Valley playoff run
Maria Helkowski had a memorable run in the WPIAL playoffs for the Quaker Valley girls basketball team. The gritty 5-foot-6 senior guard was the Quakers’ leading scorer in all three games, a 52-39 win at home over Knoch in the Class 4A quarterfinals, a 51-40 loss to Blackhawk at North...
Penn-Trafford sends record number of wrestlers to states
Waynesburg assistant coach Scott Rhodes said he was surprised when he looked in the PIAA individual championship brackets and saw that Penn-Trafford qualified five wrestlers for the state tournament. “I thought we had the most (five), but they had a heck of a tournament,” Rhodes said. “I was shocked that...
Penn Hills boys learn from past losses to climb all the way to top of WPIAL mountain
Make no mistake, Penn Hills senior guard Noah Barren appreciated the pomp and circumstance. The Indians boys basketball team was treated to the full cycle of congratulations after winning its sixth WPIAL title. Penn Hills, which beat Peters Township, 70-65, on March 2 at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center to win...
Penn Hills baseball sets simple goal: Playoffs
Rodney Stubbs made the goal for the Penn Hills baseball team a succinct one. “I better get in the playoffs this year,” Stubbs said. Stubbs, who stated the goal with a laugh, believes some of the upgrades the program was able to make will help the Indians out. Penn Hills,...
Hard work pays off in WPIAL gold for Pine-Richland swimmer
Sarah Anne Shaffer realized a dream at the WPIAL swim meet when she crossed the finish line first at Pitt’s Trees Pool to win her first individual title. Shaffer, a sophomore at Pine-Richland, had the fastest seed time in 100 breaststroke going into the district meet and backed it up...
From Sidney Crosby’s youth program to PIHL playoffs, Peacocks make Pine-Richland proud
Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has had a major impact on many youth hockey players in Western Pennsylvania and a couple of good examples are Pine-Richland seniors Ryan and Shawn Peacock. The Peacocks, who are twins, got their start on the ice at age 6 through Crosby’s Little Penguins Learn...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for March 11, 2023
High schools Basketball Boys PIAA playoffs Class 6A Saturday’s results First round Upper Darby 66, Bethlehem Liberty 64 (2OT) Archbishop Wood 61, CB East 37 North Penn 64, Central 52 Central Catholic 50, Wilson 28 Chambersburg 68, Plymouth-Whitemarsh 56 Coatesville 68, Scranton 58 Landisville Hempfield 62, Emmaus 59 New Castle...
High school roundup for March 11, 2023: Penn-Trafford girls stun District 3 champions
Torrie DeStefano made a free throw with 8.1 seconds remaining as Penn-Trafford knocked off District 3 champion Greencastle-Antrim, 40-39, in the first round of the PIAA Class 5A girls basketball playoffs Saturday. The Warriors (18-9), the seventh seed out of the WPIAL, intercepted a pass on the next possession for...
Latrobe’s Vinny Kilkeary wins 3rd PIAA wrestling title; 3 others from WPIAL claim championships
HERSHEY — You never know what type of celebration you’ll get from a wrestler after winning a PIAA title. Latrobe senior Vinny Kilkeary’s celebration was uplifting Saturday at the Class 3A championship at Giant Center. After Kilkeary beat Canon-McMillan junior Andrew Binni, 8-5, to win the 127-pound class, coach Mark...
Saulle constructed hall of fame resume while building Freeport girls program
Expectations weren’t high when Tom Saulle became the Freeport girls basketball coach in 1977. “Everyone said that I was crazy, that we would never win,” he said. Saulle took a small step toward proving the doubters wrong in his first season. “We won two games that year, which was (then)...
Gritty New Castle stops Erie in PIAA 1st-round battle
New Castle leaned on past state playoff successes and a tough defense to eliminate District 10 champion Erie, 60-50, in a PIAA Class 6A first-round battle Saturday afternoon at the Ne-Ca High Fieldhouse. One year after reaching the Class 5A state championship game, the Red Hurricane and their four starting...
Deer Lakes boys open state playoffs with dominant win on home floor
The stairs that lead from the Deer Lakes locker room to the gym floor are quite steep, but the Lancers were confident they wouldn’t stumble on this day. A so-called “hangover” has tripped up some previous WPIAL champions, but those teams weren’t playing a state tournament game in their home...
Yough boys blitzed by Penn Cambria in fourth quarter in PIAA defeat
CRESSON — Yough was up by nine points with six minutes to play in its first PIAA boys basketball playoff game since 2005. The Cougars, though, didn’t feel comfortable. There was something about this Penn Cambria team, with its nonstop hustle and rapid-fire 3-point shooting, that had Yough on edge...
Burrell’s Cooper Hornack backs his guarantee with Class 2A state wrestling championship
HERSHEY — Sometimes guarantees don’t come true. But Burrell junior Cooper Hornack made sure he delivered on his guarantee. Hornack (43-9, 112-19) used a takedown with a minute left in the 127-pound finals to defeat Bentworth senior Chris Vargo, 2-1, in the PIAA Class 2A wrestling championships Saturday at Giant...
Early deficit too much for Highlands girls to overcome in 1st PIAA playoff game
The Highlands girls basketball team dug itself an early hole in a PIAA Class 4A first-round playoff game Saturday against District 6 champion Penn Cambria at Mt. Aloysius. The Golden Rams, playing in the program’s first tournament, fought their way back from a 15-point deficit in the second quarter and...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Highlands’ Jimmy Kunst, Freeport’s Julia Cummings
Julia Cummings Class: Senior School: Freeport Sport: Bowling Report card: Cummings finished second at the Western Regional girls singles bowling championship Friday at AMF Noble Manor Lanes. Cummings rolled a five-game series of 995 to lead in the qualifying round. She then won her semifinal match before falling in the...
Plum girls get into championship act, win Western Regional team bowling title
After seeing Plum’s Cade Schimmer win the WPIBL title and Sean Endler take the Western Regional crown in boys singles competition already this postseason, the Mustangs girls bowling team got into the championship act Saturday afternoon. Plum defeated Norwin, 171-168, in the decisive game of the best-of-three finals to win...
Latrobe’s Vinny Kilkeary, Waynesburg’s Mac Church to wrestle for 3rd PIAA 3A titles
HERSHEY – There are 65 wrestlers in the state of Pennsylvania that have won at least three PIAA titles. Out of that list, 13 are four-time champions. The list of 52 three-time winners will grow by three if Latrobe senior Vinny Kilkeary and Waynesburg senior Mac Church in Class 3A...
Coach optimistic after Franklin Regional sends 3 wrestlers to states
Franklin Regional wrestling coach Matt Lebe said he didn’t know how many Panthers would qualify for the PIAA individual tournament this year. His best guess was between one and five. It all depended on matchups. Well, Lebe headed to Hershey with three wrestlers — junior Tyler Kapusta (114 pounds), senior...
Hampton junior Meghan Murray eclipses milestone but Talbots fall short of PIAA playoffs
Bored, restless and stuck at home during the lockdown three years ago, then-Hampton eighth grader Meghan Murray grabbed a notebook and jotted down five goals for high school basketball. “One of them was ‘Get 1,000 points by junior year,’ ” she said. Check. Murray reached her goal on a free...
Hampton freshman Gabriella Elk thriving at diving
When Hampton freshman Gabriella Elk made the transition from gymnastics to diving, one part of the switch proved to be tricky. “I was never used to landing on my head,” she said. “That took some getting used to.” Elk has landed among the best young divers in Hampton history. Despite...
Fox Chapel swimmer leaves seed time in dust in dominant performance at WPIAL meet
Fox Chapel swimming coach Dan Taylor was more than pleased with how sophomore Christian Dantey attacked the 200 freestyle at the WPIAL Class 3A championships at Trees Pool. Coming in seeded fifth with a qualifying time of 1 minute, 44.54 seconds, Dantey blew away the field and won his first...
Fox Chapel boys battle their way into PIAA tournament field
Asher White knew that Fox Chapel basketball wasn’t going to be the same before this season started. The 6-foot-3 sophomore forward would need to be one of many players who needed to step into roles to make sure the Foxes were on the right track. “Last year, I played very...
Westmoreland County athletes of the week: Norwin’s Josephine Dollman, Southmoreland’s Henry Miller
Josephine Dollman School: Norwin Sport: Wrestling Class: Freshman Claim to fame: Dollman, who goes by Jojo, won a title at the inaugural MyHouse Western Regional girls championships at Kiski Area. She needed 2 minutes, 39 seconds to pin Saegertown’s Kacie Mook to capture the 136-pound title. She had three consecutive...
