Michael Love stories, Page 117
Deer Lakes’ Morrison looks to add PIAA gold to medal collection
Deer Lakes senior Adam Morrison owns two WPIAL gold medals in the Class AA boys 500-yard freestyle. He won his second straight title Feb. 28 at Pitt’s Trees Pool. Now, Morrison has his sights set on the top prize in the state at the PIAA swimming championships at Bucknell. He...
Fox Chapel’s Manelis earns bronze at PIAA Class AAA boys diving championships
Fox Chapel junior David Manelis led the WPIAL contingent with a third-place finish in the Class AAA boys diving championship Thursday at Bucknell University. The WPIAL champion finished the 11-dive competition with 472.25 points and maintained the position he held entering the three-dive finals. “I feel I did all right...
Gateway’s Livingston among WPIAL swimmers advancing to finals of PIAA swimming Day 1
Olivia Livingston is set to compete for her fourth PIAA championship in the Class AAA girls 50-yard freestyle. The Gateway senior is the third seed for Wednesday evening’s championship heat at Bucknell after a swim of 23.48 seconds in the preliminaries. She will test her mettle against the challenge of...
Fox Chapel freshman in position to claim state swimming gold
Sophie Shao was the No. 1 seed in the 100-yard butterfly at the WPIAL Class AAA swimming championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool, and the Fox Chapel freshman turned away all challengers for her first taste of championship gold. She again is a top seed in the 100 fly, this time...
Father’s recovery from injuries motivates Kiski Area swimmer Levi Hansen
Levi Hansen had one of the swims of his life Feb. 28 at the WPIAL Class AAA championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool. The Kiski Area freshman cut more than 5 seconds off his seed time in the 500-yard freestyle, set a school record with a time of 4 minutes, 44.72...
Monroeville native Dinzeo competes at U.S. Olympic Marathon Team Trials
Aaron Dinzeo has competed in many distance races in his life, but not many were like the one he ran recently with a unique prize on the line. The Monroeville native and former track and field and cross country standout at Cal (Pa.) joined a select group of 260 at...
Plum’s Decheck earns shot to compete with best in state
Joey Decheck swims this week at the PIAA Class AAA championships at Bucknell. The Plum senior caps his career among the state’s best in the 50-yard freestyle. “Joey has always gone about it the right way,” Plum coach Shawn Haupt said. “He trains year-round, works hard, and there’s not a...
A-K Valley campus clippings: Josh Yourish shines for George Mason at A-10 championships
Deer Lakes graduate Josh Yourish transitioned to distance running this winter, and he capped his freshman indoor season at George Mason by helping the 3,200-meter relay team earn bronze Sunday at the Atlantic 10 championships in Kingston, R.I. The quartet’s time of 7 minutes, 45.68 seconds trailed conference champion Rhode...
Riverview, Freeport girls basketball ready to knock off rust
The Riverview and Freeport girls basketball teams saw their stay in the WPIAL playoffs end with quarterfinal losses Feb. 20. But after two weeks away from competition, the Raiders and Yellowjackets have new life in their respective PIAA tournaments. Riverview begins state playoff action Friday against District 5 champion Everett...
Plum senior Cocca raring to go for regional bowling championships
Vincent Cocca knows all about bowling at the state championships. The Plum senior qualified for the singles tournament as a sophomore in 2018 after placing fifth at the Western Regional championships. He also moved on with the Plum boys team in 2017 and last season as the Mustangs were regional...
Fox Chapel, Knoch girls basketball see state playoff dreams fall short
The Knoch and Fox Chapel girls basketball teams gained rooting interests in their respective WPIAL playoff tournaments after both lost in the quarterfinal round Feb. 20 and 21, respectively. The Knights and Foxes, along with several other boys and girls squads in the six classifications, waited in limbo for a...
Several A-K Valley swimmers earn spots in PIAA meet
The PIAA released its preliminary psych sheets Sunday morning for the state swimming and diving championships March 11-14 at Bucknell, and the Alle-Kiski Valley is well represented. Each event will consist of 32 entries. In Class AAA, automatic bids went to 10 district champions, with the other 22 going to...
PIAA releases preliminary psych sheets for state swimming and diving championships
After two days of championship swims and other top performances at Pitt’s Trees Pool, WPIAL individuals and relays now are preparing for the PIAA Class AAA and AA meets March 11-14 at Bucknell. The PIAA released the preliminary psych sheets for both swimming and diving Sunday morning. They contain both...
Belle Vernon’s Shahan edges 100 freestyle rival to highlight WPIAL Class AA meet
Both Belle Vernon’s Ian Shahan and Neshannock’s Conner McBeth surpassed Shahan’s 100-yard freestyle WPIAL record from last year when the rivals swam neck-and-neck through Friday’s race at the WPIAL Class AA swimming championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool. Only one could end up with his name in the record books and...
Deer Lakes’ Morrison stays atop 500 freestyle mountain at WPIAL meetVideo
Adam Morrison was the hunted in the Class AA boys 500-yard freestyle at the WPIAL swimming championships Friday at Pitt’s Trees Pool. The Deer Lakes senior captured the event last year, topping club teammate and friend Andrew Pierre from Mars for the title. Indiana junior Kyle Thome and Lancer teammate...
Fox Chapel girls place 3rd at WPIAL Class AAA swim championships
The Fox Chapel girls 200-yard medley relay kicked off the WPIAL Class AAA swimming championships Thursday with a school record and a third-place medal. The Foxes’ 400 free relay closed things out with another top swim. The quartet of freshman Talia Bugel, senior Grace Gackenbach, junior Vivian Shao and senior...
Deer Lakes swimmers take second, third in hotly contested 200 free at WPIAL meet
There weren’t any floats or marching bands at Thursday’s WPIAL Class AA swimming championship meet at Pitt’s Trees Pool, but there was a sizable parade of Alle-Kiski Valley individuals and relay teams to the medal podium in the session’s six events. Deer Lakes seniors Adam Morrison and Noah Loper led...
Fox Chapel freshman brings home WPIAL swimming goldVideo
Sophie Shao was full of energy and smiling from ear to ear when she came off the podium after receiving her gold medal in the WPIAL Class AAA girls 100-yard butterfly Thursday at Pitt’s Trees Pool. About 20 minutes earlier, the Fox Chapel freshman swam to a winning time of...
Buerger’s triumph helps North Allegheny girls to Day 1 lead at WPIAL Class AAA swimming championships
Butler’s Laura Goettler was going after a four-peat in the Class AAA girls 200-yard individual medley on the first day of the WPIAL swimming championships Thursday at Pitt’s Trees Pool. But North Allegheny senior Torie Buerger had golden goals of her own. In the end, the versatile Tigers standout stood...
East Allegheny, Seton LaSalle girls clinch spots in PIAA Class 3A tournament
A pair of Class 3A girls basketball teams clinched spots in the PIAA playoffs Wednesday based on results of WPIAL semifinal matchups at West Allegheny. Seventh seed East Allegheny (13-11) and No. 8 Seton LaSalle (15-8) advanced with wins by No. 2 Mohawk over No. 3 Carlynton and No. 1...
Deer Lakes’ Morrison leads talented A-K Valley contingent into WPIAL Class AA swim meetVideo
Deer Lakes senior Adam Morrison has two main individual goals when he arrives at the WPIAL Class AA swimming championships Thursday and Friday at Pitt’s Trees Pool. One is to defend his 2019 title in the 500-yard freestyle, and the other is to claim gold in the 200 free after...
Six more WPIAL basketball teams clinch berths to states, two others stay alive
Eight WPIAL basketball teams from boys Class 5A and 2A and girls Class 6A and A punched tickets to this weekend’s championship games at the Petersen Events Center with semifinal victories Tuesday evening. The results of six of the eight contests also meant state tournament berths for teams that suffered...
Next wave of Fox Chapel freshmen set for WPIAL swimming championships
Zoe Skirboll burst onto the high school swimming scene last year as a freshman for Fox Chapel, capturing gold medals and setting records at the WPIAL and PIAA Class AAA championships. She decided not to return to high school swimming this year, opting to concentrate on training for June’s Olympic...
Baldwin, Moon claim team titles at PA Classic gymnastic championships
Baldwin and Moon brought home team titles at the PA Classic gymnastics state championship meet Saturday at Moon High School. Moon edged Thomas Jefferson for first in the Gold division. The Tigers won the beam and floor exercise and were runners-up on vault and bars, while the Jaguars won vault...
Monday’s WPIAL semifinal results clinch PIAA berths for 8 teams
With their WPIAL quarterfinal victories, 24 boys and 24 girls basketball teams kept championship dreams alive. They also secured automatic bids to the PIAA playoffs, which begin March 6-7. Under the WPIAL’s follow-the-winner format for determining additional state playoff qualifiers, eight berths also were picked up Monday by teams who...
