Westmoreland campus clippings: Latrobe grad Austin Butler eclipses 1,000 points

It took Austin Butler less than four years to reach 1,000 points when he played at Latrobe.

The basketball standout hit the fast track to the milestone in college, too.

Butler, a junior point guard at Holy Cross, scored his 1,000th career point for the Crusaders in a 74-60 loss to Loyola. He hit the milestone with a putback of his own miss with 11 minutes, 12 seconds to play in the second half.

He is the 52nd player to score 1,000 points at Holy Cross.

Pitt-Greensburg: The Bobcats remained unbeaten at home this season with a 99-79 victory over Penn State Altoona as sophomore Jojo France scored a team-leading 21 points, senior Brady Kingston added 19, junior Cam Seigfreid (Penn-Trafford) had 17, senior Cody Spaid 13 and junior Matt Johnson 12.

In the following game, UPG (18-4, 14-3 AMCC) downed Medaille, 86-77. France scored 21, Spaid had 20 and Johnson added 19. Seigfreid had seven points, eight rebounds and seven assists and became the 10th player in UPG men’s basketball history to score 1,000 career points.

Saint Vincent: Senior guard Josh Duda hit a 3-pointer with six-tenths of a second remaining to lift the Bearcats to a 74-72 victory over Westminster.

Junior Shemar Bennett scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds, junior David Stephen added 17 points and Walter Bonds had 15 for the Bearcats (10-11, 5-7 PAC).

Women’s basketball

Grove City: Sophomore forward Allison Podkul (Hempfield) tied a team high with 19 points in an 86-61 victory over Chatham. She made 8 of 12 shots from the field for the Wolverines (18-2, 10-2 PAC).

La Roche: Senior forward Jenna Cole (Norwin) had a season-high 28 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Redhawks (15-5, 15-1 AMCC) to a 73-66 win over Penn State Behrend.

Point Park: Junior point guard Michelle Burns (Hempfield) broke the school record for 3-pointers made in a season with her 66th, but the Pioneers fell to IU-Kokomo, 63-47.

Saint Vincent: Junior Jenna Lafko had 17 points, junior Carlee Kilgus added 14 points and 12 rebounds and senior Madison Kollar chipped in 13 points for the Bearcats (15-6, 11-1 PAC) in a 61-48 victory over Westminster.

Wrestling

Iowa: Michael Kemerer’s attention-grabbing victory Jan. 31 — and a second against another nationally ranked opponent that followed Feb. 2 — earned him national recognition.

Kemerer, a senior at Iowa and a Franklin Regional alum, was tabbed the USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week.

Ranked No. 2 in the nation at 174 pounds, Kemerer scored an 11-6 decision over Penn State’s Mark Hall, who was No. 1 at the time. The pair since has traded spots in the Intermat NCAA Division I rankings, with Kemerer vaulting into the top spot.

Kemerer, who also was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Week, also picked up a 13-3 major decision against No. 23 Layne Malczewski of Michigan State. 

Ohio State: No. 1-ranked 141-pounder Luke Pletcher (Latrobe) improved to 23-0 with a win Sunday against Northwestern.

Penn State: Sophomore Jarod Verkleeren (Hempfield) scored an upset for the second-ranked Nittany Lions in a 29-10 win over No. 4 Wisconsin. Verkleeren clipped No. 15 Cole Martin with a late takedown in the 149-pound bout.

Pitt: Redshirt sophomore Micky Phillippi (Derry), the No. 6-ranked 133-pounder in the country, scored an 8-4 decision against No. 20 Louie Hayes as No. 10 Pitt upended Virginia, 23-10.

Phillippi has beaten six top-25 opponents this season.

He added his fifth major decision when the Panthers pummeled Davidson, 51 to minus-1.

Women’s swimming

Saint Vincent: Freshman Lauren Connors was named the PAC Swimmer of the Week after she won the 100- and 200-yard freestyles in a conference win at Penn State Behrend. She also swam the butterfly leg for the winning 200 medley relay.

Men’s indoor track & field

Allegheny: Freshman Jacob King (Latrobe) took second place in the weight throw at the Oberlin BSN Invitational with a toss of 43 feet, 7 3/4 inches.

Thiel: Freshman Isaac Evans (Belle Vernon) helped the distance medley relay finish third in 11 minutes, 24.71 seconds at the Tiffin Dragon Invite.

Women’s indoor track & field

Point Park: Freshman Anna Eisaman (Greensburg Central Catholic) finished eighth in the 60-meter hurdles to help the Pioneers to a third consecutive River States Conference Women’s Indoor Track & Field Championship.