Chris Harlan stories, Page 56
Moon’s Mia Cochran wins unprecedented ‘triple’ at PIAA championships, celebrates team title alone
Moon Area’s Mia Cochran admits the competitor in her likes a challenge, but she hasn’t found many on the track recently. So, she created one. The Arkansas recruit completed a distance “triple” this weekend that’s likely unprecedented, winning the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter titles at the PIAA Class 3A championship...
WPIAL runners sweep 3,200-meter races at PIAA championships
SHIPPENSBURG — Eden Christian’s Sean Aiken attempted the 3,200 meters for the first time a couple of months ago, and he really didn’t like running nearly two miles. “I personally don’t enjoy the two-mile,” he said. “I don’t know how many guys actually do, but it definitely had to grow...
Deer Lakes’ Carson McCoy celebrates another come-from-behind win at PIAA championships
SHIPPENSBURG — Carson McCoy apologized after his latest come-from-behind victory, knowing he’d just ruthlessly dashed the hopes of the same opponent for the third time. But McCoy wasn’t really sorry. The Deer Lakes senior used his strong kick to surge ahead in the final stretch and win the boys 800...
Shenango thrower Emma Callahan ties shot put record at PIAA championships
SHIPPENSBURG — The target distance on Shenango thrower Emma Callahan’s mind was 50 feet, 10¾ inches, which was the state championship record for girls shot put in Class 2A. On Saturday, she threw that distance. Exactly that distance. Callahan won the girls shot put title at the PIAA track championship...
Moon’s Mia Cochran wins 1,600 meters, wants 2 more golds at busy PIAA championship
SHIPPENSBURG — After defending her state 1,600-meter title Friday morning, Moon’s Mia Cochran revealed the top item on her afternoon agenda. “A nap,” she said. She’ll certainly need her rest. The Arkansas recruit is attempting to pull off a triple win this weekend in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 meters...
Deer Lakes’ Carson McCoy defends 1,600-meter title at PIAA championships
SHIPPENSBURG — Carson McCoy maybe isn’t a front runner, yet the Deer Lakes senior usually crosses the finish line first. His patient, wait-for-your-moment strategy worked again Friday as he surged down the stretch to defend his PIAA Class 2A title in the boys 1,600 meters at the state track championships...
As Emma Callahan chases shot put records, spotlight shines on Shenango’s success
From Emma Callahan’s view, she’d just set a WPIAL championship record, but the Shenango shot putter also knew it’s hard to see from the circle. “I was holding my breath and didn’t want to get excited too soon,” said Callahan, a senior. “I thought I had the record last year,...
Laurel Highlands’ Rodney Gallagher commits to play football at West VirginiaVideo
Keeping his family close was important to Rodney Gallagher, so he did what countless other Western Pennsylvania football recruits have done and committed to his hometown team. But for him, a junior at Laurel Highlands in Fayette County, that’s not Pitt or Penn State. That’s West Virginia. Gallagher, the state’s...
Bethel Park hires former WPIAL basketball star Dante Calabria as boys coach
Dante Calabria, a former WPIAL basketball star who won a national championship at North Carolina, was hired Tuesday as boys coach at Bethel Park. A 1992 Blackhawk graduate and WPIAL Hall of Fame inductee, Calabria has coached at the college, professional and prep school levels, most recently as an assistant...
No. 1 Mt. Lebanon breaks ‘curse’ with quarterfinal win over Seneca Valley
A seventh-inning curveball glanced off Mt. Lebanon catcher Paul Connolly’s mitt and rolled away, causing a moment of panic since there was a runner on third and a one-run lead. Coach Patt McCloskey immediately wondered if West Mifflin’s baseball field was cursed, at least for his Blue Devils, who were...
Pine-Richland relay sprints to school record, WPIAL gold medal
Luke Rudolph insisted he’s not as fast as the relay runner he replaced, but the results say otherwise. Pine-Richland’s 400-meter relay team lost its anchor to injury late in the season, yet the boys kept breaking school records. Their latest record-setting run came at the WPIAL Class 3A individual championship...
North Catholic sprinter Trevor Paschall’s season in question after WPIAL championship injury
North Catholic’s Trevor Paschall is usually sprinting around the WPIAL track championships faster than most anybody, but Wednesday he accepted help from a teammate just to walk. The senior sprinted 100 meters in 10.87 seconds to defend his WPIAL Class 2A title, but he grabbed at his right hamstring after...
Moon’s Mia Cochran adding to track legacy by winning 3 WPIAL individual titles
What more could Mia Cochran have to prove? The Moon senior and Arkansas recruit became a three-time state cross country champion in the fall, and she entered this spring as the defending outdoor track state champion in both the 1,600 and 3,200 meters. Still, she wanted more. So, Cochran decided...
Life journey of North Allegheny runners Wren and Robin Kucler covers thousands of miles
As an 8-year-old, Wren Kucler told her mom she wanted to run around the house 100 times. That’s a lot of running for a little girl, but her mom Deanna saw no reason to discourage her, so she said, “Go ahead. Knock yourself out.” She ran all 100. Next she...
South Fayette’s Tyler Pitzer dazzles Franklin Regional with 5-inning perfect game
This outing was perfect for South Fayette pitcher Tyler Pitzer in more ways than one. Shoulder soreness had the junior shut down for about a month earlier this season, but the South Carolina commit showed Tuesday night what he can do at full strength when he pitched a five-inning perfect...
WPIAL hires chief operating officer to ease workload of executive director
The role of the WPIAL executive director has changed over the years, with social media bringing more and more issues to the league’s attention, said outgoing director Amy Scheuneman. As a result, executive directors has become more than a one-person job. Now more than ever, the WPIAL staff and its...
WPIAL baseball playoff bracket breakdown
Favorite: Mt. Lebanon could win its first WPIAL baseball title since 2006. The Blue Devils started this season 1-4 before finding their stride in section play behind OF Tanner Donati (.435, 20 RBIs, 12 extra-base hits). They’ve won 10 of their past 12 games, including a 2-1 victory over North...
WPIAL announces 2022 baseball playoff brackets
Montour hasn’t won a WPIAL baseball title in 50 years, but the Spartans will start this year’s playoffs as the favorites in Class 4A. They were among six teams that earned No. 1 seeds Friday when the WPIAL revealed the playoff brackets on TribLive HSSN. The other top seeds went...
Defending champions Beaver, West Greene among No. 1 seeds in WPIAL softball playoffs
Two undefeated teams. Two more strong section champions. A defending WPIAL champion with only three losses. How do you rank them? That WPIAL softball committee faced that dilemma Thursday while trying to seed a Class 2A playoff bracket that proved the most challenging to complete. “The first five, you could...
WPIAL reveals brackets for boys, girls lacrosse playoffs
The defending champion Mars boys and Shady Side Academy girls were among the four teams that earned top seeds in the WPIAL lacrosse playoff brackets revealed Thursday. The other No. 1s went to the Blackhawk girls and Mt. Lebanon boys. The playoffs start with first-round games Monday and Tuesday. Higher-seeded...
Butler boys dominate field, win WPIAL Class 3A team track title
The Butler boys arrived at the WPIAL team championships with a mission: eliminate any suspense about who might be the winner. “That was our goal,” sprinter Guinness Brown said. “Get it done early.” Much like Brown running 100 meters, it was over quickly. The Butler boys claimed 10 of the...
Tim McConnell accepts Bishop Canevin job after resigning as Chartiers Valley coach
Tim McConnell had walked into Chartiers Valley’s gym countless times, but the longtime basketball coach felt somewhat sentimental when he entered Tuesday morning. He knew it would be his last visit as Colts coach. “When I went to meet with my team and I walked through the doors and I...
Quaker Valley’s Adou Thiero commits to play basketball at Kentucky
Quaker Valley senior Adou Thiero committed Sunday to play basketball for Kentucky and coach John Calipari, who also coached Thiero’s father at Memphis in the early 2000s. Thiero chose the Wildcats over offers from Pitt, Maryland and Xavier, having visited all four schools in the past month. He announced his...
WPIAL trio earns all-state honors in Class 6A boys basketball
The PIAA’s largest boys basketball classification is often dominated by Eastern Pennsylvania teams, but three WPIAL players made the all-state team for Class 6A. Butler senior Devin Carney, a 25-point scorer headed to Duquesne, earned first-team honors in a statewide vote of sportswriters. Carney is a four-year starter who finished...
WPIAL Hall of Fame inductee Burke blazed trail for women’s sports in Western Pennsylvania
The WPIAL has been around for more than 100 years, but the organization was exclusively for boys until Ruth Ann Burke and some like-minded colleagues insisted that must change. It was the late 1960s, and interscholastic girls sports still were an afterthought in high schools, with limited opportunities arranged by...
