Gateway grad Kiyara Sawyers hitting stride at Point Park

Kiyara Sawyers is making the most of her freshman season on the Point Park women’s track and field team.

At the Tim Weaver Invitational at West Liberty State (W.Va.) on April 1, the 2022 Gateway graduate placed fourth overall in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 5 minutes, 25 seconds, just a second off of her freshman best set a week earlier at the Carnegie Mellon Invitational.

Sawyers was one of four Pioneer women competitors who earned top-five finishes at West Liberty.

She came to the outdoor season with momentum after helping the distance medley relay quartet earn bronze at the River States Conference Indoor Track and Field championships Feb. 18 in Logan, Ohio.

The relay ran to a time of 13:22.79 and helped the Point Park women’s team capture its sixth straight RSC indoor team title. She also earned points for the team with an eighth in the 800 run (2:39.81).

Jaired Lehman

The junior right-handed hurler on the Mt. Union (Ohio) baseball team improved to 3-1 on the mound this season and helped the Purple Raiders to an Ohio Athletic Conference sweep of Heidelberg on April 2.

Lehman started Game 1 and gave up two earned runs on four hits over seven innings in the 6-2 victory.

He walked six batters and struck out two others.

It was his fifth start of the season. He owned a 4.94 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP with 21 strikeouts and 10 walks over his first 31 innings of work.

Lehman, also an infielder for Mt. Union, batted .269 with three doubles, a home run, six RBIs and 13 runs scored.

His best offensive output on the season came March 25 in the second game of a doubleheader against Marietta College.

Lehman went 3 for 3 with a double, a home run and two RBIs in a 14-4 loss to the Pioneers.

Bryce Washington

The junior thrower on the men’s track and field team at Cal (Pa.) established a personal record in the shot put and finished fourth overall at the Dave Labor Invitational, hosted by Slippery Rock, on April 1.

He recorded a mark of 14.29 meters (46 feet, 10.75 inches) on his sixth and final attempt of the competition.

The distance is an automatic qualifying mark for the PSAC Outdoor Championships as he bettered the qualifying standard by 1 foot, 7 inches.

He also surpassed the qualifying mark at the Bethany College Invitational the week before and at West Virginia University’s Stan Romanoski Open on March 18.

Deanna Gratton

Another Gateway graduate in her first collegiate season, Gratton has made 15 starts for the Washington & Jefferson softball team, which was 7-11 overall after a loss to Presidents’ Athletic Conference rival Saint Vincent on April 4.

The infielder owns three doubles, four runs batted in and has drawn five walks.

Gratton earned PAC Rookie of the Week honors March 20 for her role in her team’s 4-0 start to the season.

She compiled a .462 batting average (6 for 13) and a .692 slugging percentage. She collected an RBI double against Penn State Greater Allegheny in her collegiate debut and went 2 for 3 with a double and a run scored in the second game of the doubleheader.

Gratton went 3 for 4 with three RBIs in a 7-5 win over Manchester (Ind.) on the first day of W&J’s spring trip to Florida.

Chris Lewis

The 6-foot-2 freshman outside hitter for the Carlow men’s volleyball team delivered a team-best nine kills in a season-ending loss at Wittenberg on April 1.

He added a service ace and four digs in the competitive three-set defeat.

Lewis, who earned All-WPIAL Class 2A second-team recognition as a senior at Gateway in 2022, improved his game in the eyes of his coaches and earned playing time in 11 sets over six games — three of them starts — toward the end of the season.

He finished the season with 16 kills and 15 digs.

Emma Kennedy

The sophomore catcher on the Slippery Rock softball team went 1 for 3 with a two-out, second-inning RBI double against Gannon on April 4.

It was the lone run in a 1-0 victory for Slippery Rock which completed a PSAC sweep of the Knights and improved to 16-14 overall and 7-5 in conference play.

Kennedy, who has 19 starts in 20 games played this season, is batting .265 (13 for 49) with three doubles, a home run and four runs batted in.