Other Local category, Page 75

Two Pine-Richland boys wrestlers had strong performances at the 2019 Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling Youth State Tournament on March 16-17 at Petersen Events Center. Both secured a spot on the podium in their respective weight classes. Both competed in the 11-12 age bracket, with Maclane Miller taking fourth in the 105-pound...

The Pittsburgh Riverhounds will play the third of four straight road matches to start the 2019 season Saturday when they pay a visit to in-state rival Bethlehem Steel FC. The game is set for 7:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on Pittsburgh’s CW. The teams last met in a United...

Greensburg YMCA swimmers Kaden Faychak and Patton Graziano struck gold again at the Pennsylvania YMCA state swimming championship. Faychak won the 50-yard breaststroke (30.45 seconds) and 100 breaststroke (1 minute, 6.82 seconds) and Graziano the 100 backstroke (59.15) in the boys 11-12 age group at the meet March 22-24 at...

JJ Matijevic will start his third season in the minor leagues in Double-A. The former Norwin and Arizona star was assigned to the Corpus Christi Hooks of the Texas League, an affiliate of the Houston Astros. The 6-foot, 206-pounder who bats left-handed and throws right-handed, finished last season with the...

There are few words that can describe this past season for Annie Katonka. The Chartiers Valley grad helped lead the Plattsburgh State women’s hockey team to the NCAA Division III title. The Cardinals topped Hamline, 4-0, in the championship game March 16. “It is an awesome feeling when you work...

The Western Pennsylvania Golf Association announced local qualifiers for the 2020 Drive, Chip and Putt competition that culminates in a year at Augusta National Golf Club. Registration is underway. Local qualifying sites include: Willowbrook Country Club, Allegheny Township — June 12 Green Oaks Country Club, Verona — June 13 JC...

Now that his college career is over, Kason Harrell has every intention of playing professional basketball. The wheres and whens have yet to be worked out, but the Purdue Fort Wayne senior knows he’ll be playing against some of the country’s best players in the interim. Harrell, a Hempfield graduate,...

Steve Sprague watched his son, Michael, wrestle his final college match Friday in Pittsburgh. About 30 minutes after the match ended, Steve Sprague suffered “a cardiac event” and died. Now friends are trying to raise money for the grief-stricken family with a GoFundMe page. Michael Sprague is a senior 149-pound...

Penn-Trafford graduate Dan Obremski finished strong in his first PGA Tour LatinoAmerica event Sunday. The Irwin native shot 3-under-par 69 during the final round of Buenaventura Classic in Rio Hato, Panama and finished the four-round event at 2-under 286, which tied him for 16th. Juan Alvarez won the event by...

Jason Nolf cracked a bit of a joke upon taking the podium after winning his latest NCAA championship. Asked how it felt to become a three-time national champion, the Kittanning graduate immediately responded: “Not as good as a four-time national champ, but I’ll take it.” In a sense, Nolf became...

The NCAA wrestling championships came with a warning: You’ve never seen anything like it. Wrestling fans filled PPG Paints Arena over a three-day span to watch a pair of Western Pennsylvania products win individual championships and Penn State win its fourth consecutive national title and eighth in nine years. The...

Iowa sophomore Spencer Lee calls himself a Pokemon nerd. His Iowa teammates call him the baddest man on the planet. You can just call the 2017 Franklin Regional graduate a two-time NCAA Division I champion. With many of his friends and coaches among the throng of hometown fans in attendance,...

After clinching the team championship earlier in the day, Penn State wrestlers won three national titles Saturday night during the final round of the NCAA Wrestling Championships at PPG Paints Arena. Heavyweight Anthony Cassar and Kittanning’s Jason Nolf at 157 pounds won titles while teammates Vincenzo Joseph (165) and Mark...

The 330 wrestlers who came to Pittsburgh for the 2019 NCAA Division I wrestling championship this weekend weren’t just looking to become All-Americans. They wanted to be national champions. But only 10 wrestlers could claim national-champ status once the tournament ended Saturday, and another 70 joined them as All-Americans. While...

The suspense of which team was going to win another NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship title ended early on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena. Penn State claimed its eighth team title in the past nine years during the morning session and ninth in school history. Penn State has five wrestlers...

There is something about the NCAA wrestling championship that brings out the best in Penn State junior Vincenzo Joseph. The two-time champion punched his ticket to his third final Friday by edging a familiar foe: friend, practice partner from the Young Guns Club and Arizona State junior Josh Shields. Joseph...

Spencer Lee knew he couldn’t dwell on a reversal he gave up in the second period of his NCAA wrestling semifinal match with Oklahoma State’s Nick Piccininni. He couldn’t afford to. Similarly, Lee couldn’t wallow in disappointment when Piccininni pinned him earlier this season. The Franklin Regional graduate believed to...

It was a match neither Luke Pletcher nor Micky Phillippi really wanted to wrestle, but they had to. The close friends from Westmoreland County battled in the 2019 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship quarterfinals Friday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena for the right to become an All-American and a spot...

With three sessions in the books at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, it’s time to look for the best matchups in Friday’s semifinals at PPG Paints Arena. The session will get underway at 8 p.m. These matches should be electric and have fans on the edge of their seats:...

With championship berths and All-American status on the line on all six mats, the NCAA Wrestling Championships moved into is fourth session Friday night at PPG Paints Arena. Befitting the spectacle and what was at stake, the NCAA announced the largest crowd of the tournament (18,100) Penn State, which is...

The first day of the NCAA wrestling championships saw its usual share of dominant wins and eyebrow-raising upsets. And, as is also custom at this time of the year, Penn State ended the night in strong position to win another national title. Although they weren’t immune to the upset bug...

Micky Phillippi doesn’t know how many times he’s faced Ohio State junior Luke Pletcher on the wrestling mat. “Counting the practice sessions in high school, it was probably thousands,” said Phillippi, a redshirt freshman at Pitt. But when they two square off at noon Friday in the NCAA Division I...

With the first session in the books at the NCAA Division I wrestling championships, it’s time to look for the best matchups in Thursday’s second session at PPG Paints Arena. There are going to be some good ones, especially at 133 pounds. (Wrestlers’ seeds are designated before their names.) 5-Luke...