North Allegheny , Page 5

North Allegheny’s boys and girls swim teams earned a sweep over Hampton on Jan. 11 to improve to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in Section 2-3A. The boys scored a 98-78 victory, while the girls won 92-82. Divers Zoe Ky and Will Schenk finished first, along with William Gao (fly, IM),...

The MLK Day basketball showcase that recently called Woodland Hills home has shifted about 150 miles east, but this weekend’s event still has some WPIAL teams taking part. Former Woodland Hills athletic director Ron Coursey, now AD at Chambersburg, organized a three-day event at his new school and will welcome...

Jasmine Timmerson noticed her cell phone is a little quieter nowadays without so many calls or texts from college coaches. “I like it that way,” she said with a laugh. Timmerson’s recruiting process had started much earlier than most. The North Allegheny junior was still weeks away from entering high...

One of the WPIAL’s top soccer players made her college decision last week. North Allegheny junior forward Lucia Wells made a verbal commitment to Pitt. “I am so grateful to announce my verbal commitment to play D1 soccer at The University of Pittsburgh!,” she wrote on Twitter. “Thank you to...

Alex Smith knew that if North Allegheny shooter Matt McDonough didn’t cool down, he and his North Hills teammates were in trouble. “It seemed like every 3 he was shooting, he was making,” Smith said Friday night. “We know how good he is. I said before the game, if he...

Welcome to the first day of high school sports in 2022. The new year begins with a bang as there are 48 WPIAL girls section basketball games, including section openers in classes 2A and A, Monday. Six of the past seven WPIAL girls basketball champions in the highest classification have...

The year 2021 wasn’t one giant leap for mankind, but it was one big step back toward “normalcy” for all of us, especially the high school athletes from around the WPIAL. They were able to do what they love to do: compete on area fields, courts, mats and pools. They...

So, what have we learned about wrestling in the WPIAL two weeks into the season? Well, a lot. Latrobe and Connellsville look to be serious contenders in Class AAA and could challenge No. 1 Waynesburg. Latrobe, ranked No. 2, won the Hickory Tournament on Dec. 11 and placed fourth overall...

When coach Dan Heckert started a girls wrestling program a year ago at North Allegheny, he hoped someday the sport might become sanctioned by the PIAA and have teams at schools across the WPIAL. That idea just took a step closer to reality. The PIAA earlier this year created a...

Matt McDonough had a ticket to see the new Spider-Man movie, but his own heroics almost made him late. The North Allegheny senior hit a game-tying 3-pointer with eight-tenths of a second left to force overtime, where the Tigers defeated visiting Pine-Richland, 74-70, Friday night in Section 1-6A boys basketball....

Lizzy Groetsch and Paige Morningstar led North Allegheny’s girls basketball team to a season for the ages in 2020-21. It easily could be labeled the best girls basketball season in school history. The Tigers captured their first PIAA championship, won a fourth WPIAL title in five years, stormed through Section...

North Allegheny’s football team was rewarded its 7-5 season that ended in the WPIAL semifinals, when seven players were recognized last week with selection to the Big 5/6 all-conference team for Class 6A. First-team honorees included senior guard Nick Frisco, senior wide receiver Dwayne Taylor, sophomore athlete Khiryn Boyd, senior...

Blue tape forms Xs, boxes and lines on North Allegheny’s basketball court, visual guides put down by boys coach Dave DeGregorio to teach a new offense. The dribble-drive isn’t new to DeGregorio, who has used it for years and won a WPIAL title with the offense at North Catholic. But...

Thirty years ago, Penn Hills was winding down one of the most dominant stretches in district girls basketball history, winning a seventh straight WPIAL Class AAAA title. This year, North Allegheny is trying to three-peat and capture a fifth WPIAL Class 6A girls basketball championship in the last six years....

TribHSSN Fab 15 Player of the Year Kelsey Salopek Sr., F, Steel Valley As a Kent State commit, Kelsey Salopek already was on the WPIAL radar, but she took her individual talents a step farther as she led Steel Valley to its first WPIAL championship in its first try. The...

Trib HSSN Fab 15 Player of the Year Anthony DiFalco Sr., F, Franklin Regional Special talents like Anthony DiFalco don’t come along that often. So when the four-year prep career of a player of his caliber comes to a close, the accomplishments, the full body of work, tend to be...

Mt. Lebanon won its first WPIAL title in 21 years, and the undefeated Blue Devils were recognized for their season-long success with nine first-team spots on the all-conference team for Class 6A. Their coach, Bob Palko, also was honored. The all-conference list included Mt. Lebanon quarterback Joey Daniels, running back...

Franklin Regional senior Anthony DiFalco was hoping to cap his brilliant high school soccer career with another WPIAL championship and a PIAA title. While he fell short of his expectations, he was lauded just the same with his third All-American nod. DiFalco was named a United States Soccer Coaches Region...

With the district and state playoffs complete, the Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association announced its boys and girls all-state teams. The WPIAL had a number of representatives with 14 boys selections and 10 players picked for the girls list. The girls are Penn-Trafford senior forward Malia Kearns, Plum junior forward Kaitlyn...

SILVER SPRING TOWNSHIP — It is said to never wake up a sleeping bear. By beating North Allegheny in the first game of their PIAA girls volleyball championship match Nov. 20, Parkland might have woken the sleeping Tiger. North Allegheny rallied to win the next three games to claim its...

SILVER SPRING TOWNSHIP — It is said to never wake up a sleeping bear. By beating North Allegheny in the first game of their PIAA girls volleyball championship match Saturday night, Parkland might have woken the sleeping Tiger. North Allegheny rallied to win the next three games to win its...

Already a four-time defending state champion, the North Allegheny girls volleyball team earned a trip to the PIAA finals for the fifth year in a row after defeating rival Shaler, 3-1, in a PIAA Class 4A semifinal Nov. 6 at Fox Chapel. The Tigers rallied from a 25-19 loss in...

There was a time when Maura Mlecko was the freshman on North Allegheny’s cross country team, running at the state championship meet in Hershey for the first time. But like runners on that course, four years can go by fast. As a senior surrounded by freshmen, Mlecko was back in...

Citing personal reasons, title-winning North Allegheny swimming coach Patrick Wenzel resigned this fall after leading the WPIAL’s top program for eight years. The Tigers swept the WPIAL boys and girls titles in each of Wenzel’s eight seasons as coach, and the girls enter this winter as reigning state champions. To...