Westmoreland County campus clippings: Ligonier Valley grad sets javelin record

It looks like Miles Higgins is glad to get outside again.

The sophomore from UNC-Wilmington opened the outdoor track and field season with a bang by winning the javelin title at the UNCW Seahawk Invitational.

Higgins, a Ligonier Valley graduate, set a school record with a toss of 64.97 meters.

Last year, Higgins was an NCAA qualifier and finished 40th (199-1) at the NCAA East preliminary.

He holds the freshman school record of 214-6.

Just a year ago, Higgins set the then-freshman record at the Seahawk Invitational (211-6 1/2).

Men’s indoor track and field

Saint Vincent: Senior Tim Patterson finished eighth in the mile at the AARTFC Championships with a time of 4 minutes, 17.48 seconds, the fourth-fastest time in program history.

Women’s indoor track and field

Duquesne: Seniors Sadie Wetzel (Latrobe) won a title and Hannah Seitzinger (Belle Vernon) broke a school record at the IC4A/ECAC Championships on Boston. Wetzel captured the high jump by clearing 5 feet, 6 1/2 inches for her first medal at the meet. Seitzinger ran a time of 2 minutes, 8.16 seconds in the 800-meter preliminaries to break a 10-year-old mark. She finished fourth in the finals. Seitzinger also helped the 1,600-meter relay to a first-place finish in 3:44.85.

Saint Vincent: The distance-medley relay of Casey Lanza, Miranda Guthrie, Lily Murphy and Miranda Cincotta broke its own school record en route to a top-10 finish at the AARTFC Championships. They finished in 12:47, smashing the old mark by 13 seconds.

Seton Hill: Grad student Natasha Bernett qualified to compete in the NCAA Division II indoor championships March 8-9 at the Robert W. Plaster Center in Pittsburg, Kan. She will compete in the pentathlon, an event in which she holds the 16th-best mark in the nation with 3,708 points.

Men’s swimming

Saint Vincent: The Bearcats had a number of athletes make the All-PAC first team: sophomore Jacob Dzurica (Hempfield), freshman Liam Randolph (Hempfield), sophomore Jacob Bacasa, junior Robert Harrington and sophomore Colin Spehar (Latrobe). A second-team pick for the Bearcats was sophomore Alex Leskovansky.

Washington & Jefferson: Freshmen Daniel Jeffries (Hempfield) and Nathaniel Harden (Hempfield) were named to the All-PAC first team.

Women’s swimming

Chatham: Sophomore Ali Cowan (Derry) was named to the All-PAC first team after winning a title in the 1-meter dive.

Saint Vincent: Freshman distance swimmer Rachel Hutchinson was named the PAC Newcomer of the Year. All-PAC first team selections included Hutchinson, junior Abby Leskovansky, sophomore Emma Martz (Hempfield), and junior Sarah Alexander. Second-teamers were freshman Valerie Clabaugh, junior Lily Holsey and Teresa Grimm.

Baseball

Cal (Pa.): Sophomore pitcher Jake Kramer (Hempfield) picked up his second save of the season, working two innings of relief in a 3-0 victory over Hillsdale (Mich.).

Seton Hill: It took extra innings and some tense moments late, but Seton Hill pulled the biggest upset so far of the NCAA Division II baseball season with a 6-5 victory over No.1-ranked and previously undefeated Tampa on Monday before 300 at UT Baseball Field in Tampa, Fla.

Junior Max Mandler went 3 for 5 with a home run, freshman Jakob Haynes (Penn-Trafford) added two hits and grad student Owen Sabol (Norwin) scored two runs as the Griffins (7-3) rallied from after the Spartans (17-1) scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to send it to extra innings.

Seton Hill took a 5-3 lead into the home half of the ninth after Mandler’s solo shot.

In the top of the 11th, senior Noah Sweeney (Greensburg Salem) grounded into a double play, but senior Aidan Shephard (Norwin) scored on the play to make it 6-5.

Evan Rossi came on to work a scoreless 10th before junior Christian Zilli (Hempfield), the fifth pitcher of the afternoon for the Griffins, worked a 1-2-3 11th, with a strikeout, to earn his third save.

Senior Braden Durham, Sabol, Shephard, Sweeney and Mandler had doubles.

The Griffins scored three times in the top half of the seventh inning on the way to a 10-9 victory over Minnesota State in Florida.

Durham and freshman Owen Mandler homered and drove in three runs apiece, sophomore Jack Whalen (Norwin) went 3 for 4 with three runs, and grad student Jack Oberdorf (Greensburg Salem) and junior Matt Frazetta had two hits each in the victory.

Zilli picked up his first save for the Griffins.

In other team news, senior pitcher Aidan Layton was named the PSAC West Division Pitcher of the Week. He tossed six shutout innings in a win over Ohio Dominican. He struck out 12 and walked four.

Pitt: Sophomore shortstop Jake Kendro (Norwin) went 2 for 4 with a home run, four RBIs and three runs, and grad student designated hitter Josh Spiegel (Penn-Trafford) doubled and drove in two in the high-scoring Panthers’ 19-9 win over Oklahoma. Kendro homered again in a 19-7 win over California. Kendro and Spiegel are newcomers to the Panthers. Kendro transferred from Tennessee, Spiegel from Penn State.

Westminster: Senior third baseman Donald Shimko (Latrobe) had two RBIs, scored two runs and walked three times in a 9-4 victory over La Roche in the Titans’ home opener.

Softball

Bloomsburg: Junior pitcher Callie Sowers (Hempfield) was named the PSAC East Pitcher of the Week. She went 4-0 with a 0.31 ERA in 22 1/3 innings for the Huskies. Sowers struck out 11 and allowed two hits in a win over Clarion, before getting two wins against defending GLIAC champion Saginaw Valley State. She was averaging better than 10 strikeouts a game.

Marist: Grad pitcher Kiley Myers (Latrobe) tossed a complete-game four-hitter, striking out a career-high 11 and walking two as the Foxes (6-4) defeated Hampton, 9-2. Myers then posted her 10th career shutout, allowing one hit in an 8-0 win over Farleigh Dickinson.

Ohio: Junior catcher Emma Hoffner (Hempfield) launched a three-run home run and scored three runs in a 15-2 rout of IUPUI.

Penn State: Junior outfielder Haylie Brunson (Mt. Pleasant) went 2 for 3 with a home run, a double and two RBIs, and her five-pitch walk in the bottom of the seventh led to the winning run in a 3-2 victory over Northwestern State. Penn State (15-1) continued its best start in program history with its seventh straight win.

Robert Morris: Junior center fielder Jess Matheny (Southmoreland) went 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run, and senior pitcher Jane Garver (Ligonier Valley) earned her first win of the season as the Colonials defeated ETCU, 4-1.

Saint Vincent: Junior Olivia Bushore and sophomore Jackie Brace combined to pitch a two-hit shutout, freshman Alyssa Henderson went 2 for 3 with a pair of RBIs and freshman Kendall McConnell drove in two as the Bearcats opened the season with a 10-0 win over Elms.

Seton Hill: After going 8 for 17 over six games, junior third baseman Grace Parades was named the PSAC West Athlete of the Week. She had five home runs, eight RBIs and seven runs for the Griffins (8-2).

St. Francis (Pa.): Senior infielder Ashley Orischak (Hempfield) was hitting .296 with four runs and three RBIs in 14 games for the Red Flash.

Women’s lacrosse

Grove City: Freshman attacker Gwen Shilling (Franklin Regional) had an assist in a 16-3 victory over Gordon in Clearwater, Fla.