Michael Love stories, Page 32
Plum softball team bounces back from opening loss to blank Derry
The Plum softball team’s season debut against Ligonier Valley on Friday was, in the eyes of the coaches and players, not their best outing. But the Mustangs shook off the loss and rebounded in all three phases Monday at home against Derry. The Plum offense collected eight hits, and the...
After busy tournament weekend, Shaler, Mars remain atop coaches’ volleyball polls
Shaler captured the Meadville Tournament championship Saturday, and the victory strengthened the Titans’ hold on the No. 1 spot in the latest Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association Class 3A poll released Monday morning. North Allegheny battled state power Central York in the semifinals finals of Saturday’s North Allegheny Tournament. Despite...
Competition fuels Forest Hills resident Sarah Mitchell as part of Steel City Surge women’s semi-pro volleyball
Lee Yong Ok rose to the top of her chosen sport in her native South Korea. She worked her way up the ranks in women’s volleyball, and her work paid off to where she was selected to play in and represent her country for the 1988 Olympic Summer Games in...
WPIAL swimmers claim 6 more golds to wrap up successful PIAA Class 2A meet
WPIAL swimmers brought home six more PIAA Class 2A state championships Saturday evening to cap a highly successful two-day meet at Bucknell University. North Catholic junior Luke Lamb won his second individual crown in as many days with a victory in the boys 100-yard backstroke, while Mt. Pleasant junior Joseph...
Knoch’s Giona Lavorini wins duel for gold at PIAA Class 2A swim meet
Knoch junior Giona Lavorini bested rival Peyton Scott, a junior from Indiana, for the WPIAL Class 2A title March 1 at Pitt’s Trees Pool. Scott then got the better of Lavorini at a YMCA district meet last weekend. But Lavorini was back on top Saturday evening in the finals of...
Mt. Pleasant girls repeat as PIAA Class 2A team swimming champions
The Mt. Pleasant girls 400-yard freestyle relay of Lainey Brown, Maddie Barrick, Riley Shinsky and Lily King took fifth (3 minutes, 36.90 seconds) in the championship heat Friday night at Kinney Natatorium at Bucknell University. The 28 points the relay earned capped another strong day for the Lady Vikings and...
Hampton’s Gabby Elk takes 2nd at PIAA Class 2A diving championships
LEWISBURG — Hampton sophomore Gabby Elk sat in fifth place after the second round of dives Saturday afternoon at the PIAA Class 2A championships at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. But she made a final push over the final three dives, scoring 121.40 points to move to second in the final...
5 WPIAL swimmers, 2 relays to go for PIAA Class 2A gold as top seeds after Day 2 prelims
LEWISBURG — Day 2 of the PIAA Class 2A swimming championship Saturday morning at Bucknell University brought more fast times from WPIAL swimmers, and they will be well-featured in this evening’s championship heats in the 100-yard freestyle, 500 free, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 400 free relay. Girls Mt. Pleasant...
Plum seniors cap careers at PIAA wrestling tournament
Mike Tongel wrestled at the PIAA Class AAA tournament as a senior in 1984. He went 4-1 at 155 pounds and took third place overall. Forty years to the week, his son, Jack, a senior at Plum and a Pitt commit, took his first steps onto a wrestling mat at...
WPIAL swimmers dominate field on 1st day of PIAA Class 2A meet
Indiana’s Preston Kessler knows nothing but PIAA championships in the Class 2A boys 200-yard freestyle. The junior freestyle specialist won his third state title Friday evening with a time of 1 minute, 38.57 seconds. While it wasn’t his best time in the event – he swam a 1:38.26 at WPIALs...
Mt. Pleasant adds 6 state swimming gold medals to trophy case
WPIAL individual swimmers and relays captured nine out of a possible 12 state titles on the first day of the PIAA Class 2A championships Friday at Bucknell University. Mt. Pleasant claimed six of the nine and added a state record to the program portfolio. Junior David Mutter was a big...
Freeport’s Schrecongost takes PIAA silver in 100 butterfly
Leah Shackley is fast. Very fast. The senior from Bedford in District 6 has owned the PIAA Class 2A girls 100-yard butterfly for the past several seasons and came into this year’s meet as the state record holder. She crushed her own record in the finals Friday night at Bucknell...
Blackhawk, Derry divers medal at PIAA Class 2A championships
Blackhawk senior Brecken Finkbeiner and Derry junior Jacob Hauser finished 1-2 at the WPIAL Class 2A diving championships Feb. 23 at North Allegheny. The standout duo, both diving at the PIAA championships for the third time, led the seven-diver WPIAL contingent Friday afternoon at Bucknell University’s Kinney Nataorium. Finkbeiner captured...
WPIAL swimmers in good position after Class 2A preliminary swims at PIAA meet
WPIAL Class 2A swimmers took the baton from their Class 3A counterparts Friday morning at the PIAA swimming and diving championships at Bucknell University. Several of them over the six boys and six girls preliminary events punched their tickets to the evening’s championship finals heats with shots at state titles....
With brilliant final session, North Allegheny girls win back-to-back PIAA team titles
A trio of North Allegheny divers got the ball rolling Thursday afternoon with points scored in the PIAA Class 3A competition. Juniors Juliet Hood and Lola Malarky and sophomore Maggie Lapina finished second, third, and 10th, earning 40 points to the overall team total. Then the Tigers swimmers took over...
Franklin Regional, Penn-Trafford swimmers end illustrious careers side by side on PIAA medal stand
Holden Thomas owned the top seed in the Class 3A boys 100-yard backstroke and had his sights set on big things in the preliminaries Thursday morning on Day 2 of the PIAA swimming championships at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. The Franklin Regional senior, the WPIAL champion in the event with...
Fox Chapel junior’s best time good for 2nd to North Allegheny star at PIAA swim meet
Fox Chapel junior Sarah Pasquella entered the finals of the girls Class 3A 100-yard breaststroke Thursday evening at Bucknell University as the second seed to North Allegheny’s Natalie Sens. Hoping to add a state title to her portfolio of accomplished swims, Pasquella swam to an all-time best in the finals...
Tigers still populate podium after North Allegheny reign ends in PIAA Class 3A girls diving
A new PIAA Class 3A girls diving champion was guaranteed to be crowned Thursday afternoon at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. The champion the past three years, North Allegheny’s Christina Shi, graduated and is now diving at Harvard. Last year’s runner-up, Latrobe’s Hannah Polosky, also moved on and is at Pitt....
Mt. Lebanon’s Sylvia Roy, North Allegheny’s Natalie Sens earn top times at PIAA swimming Day 2 prelims
LEWISBURG — WPIAL swimmers will go after titles and additional medals Thursday evening on Day 2 of the PIAA Class 3A championships at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. Preliminary swims Thursday morning will give way to the consolation and championship finals this evening. Boys Upper St. Clair sophomore Nazar Zoukovski is...
Mt. Lebanon’s Sylvia Roy leads medal-winning WPIAL contingent at PIAA swim meet
Sylvia Roy won silver in the 50-yard freestyle at last year’s PIAA Class 3A swimming championships. In her return to Bucknell University on Wednesday, the Mt. Lebanon junior wanted gold. But in a fast 50 free championship heat, Roy was edged out for the title by State College sophomore Molly...
Latrobe relay team outswims seed to earn PIAA medal
The Latrobe girls 200 free relay of Lauren Bell, Destini Homan, Hannah Carasia and Maggie Elder arrived at the PIAA Class 3A swim championships at Bucknell University on Wednesday seeded 14th. They had designs on improving their time of 1 minute, 38.42 seconds recorded in taking fifth at WPIALs on...
Fox Chapel swimmers start medal collection on 1st day of PIAA meet
Fox Chapel junior Sarah Pasquella swam a time of 1 minute, 51.08 seconds in the preliminaries of the girls 200-yard freestyle Wednesday on Day 1 of the PIAA Class 3A championships at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. The time was identical to the one she swam in winning the WPIAL title...
Seneca Valley senior goes out on top with PIAA diving gold
Seneca Valley senior Isaiah Clerkley ended his high school diving career on the highest of high notes. The Penn State commit finished the 11-dive PIAA Class 3A championship meet Wednesday afternoon at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium with 570.40 points, roughly 80 points clear of the field, including runner up Alex...
WPIAL swimmers off to fast start at PIAA meet
WPIAL swimmers fared well in Day 1 preliminary swims at the PIAA Class 3A championships Wednesday morning at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. Several qualified for this evening’s championship heats involving the top-eight finishers from the prelim heats. Boys The North Allegheny boys 200-yard medley relay of William Gao, Gus Miller,...
Franklin Regional, Mt. Pleasant swimmers among high seeds for PIAA championship meet
Holden Thomas made his PIAA debut three years ago at Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg, 70 miles from Bucknell, the traditional site of the state swimming and diving championships. As a freshman in 2021, Thomas was the lead backstroke leg of Franklin Regional’s boys 200-yard medley relay that finished...
