Michael Love stories, Page 32
A-K Valley girls basketball teams hit reset button heading into state tournament
Coming off WPIAL consolation wins over Section 1-4A rivals Greensburg Salem and Knoch, the Highlands girls basketball team is preparing for what lies ahead in PIAA tournament play. The win over the Golden Lions got them in, and the Golden Rams’ victory over Knoch on Feb. 29 solidified the fifth-place...
Deer Lakes tops division champ Carrick in PIHL D2 playoffs, sets up meeting with Burrell
Something had to give as the Carrick and Deer Lakes hockey teams came into Tuesday’s PIHL Varsity D2 quarterfinal at Ice Castle in Castle Shannon riding multi-game win streaks. The Cougars won five in a row to close the regular season, and the Lancers entered the playoffs having won four...
WPIAL swimmers to swap gold, silver medals after 100-yard backstroke review
A change has been made to the order of finish between Mt. Pleasant junior Kiersten O’Connor and Hampton sophomore Lainey Sheets after their Class 2A 100-yard backstroke race Friday at the WPIAL championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool. Initially, O’Connor was the winner as her time of 55.37 seconds flashed on...
Norwin comes alive in 3rd period to beat Fox Chapel, reach PIHL 2A semifinals
The Norwin and Fox Chapel hockey teams have gotten to know each other pretty well over the past three years, both in the regular season and in the Penguin Cup playoffs. On Monday at Palmer Imaging Arena in Delmont, the Knights and Foxes met for the third straight year in...
Gateway grads Sarah Corrie, Shelly Jones take top 2 spots in PSAC shot put competition
Sarah Corrie came close to securing a spot at the NCAA Division II indoor track and field championships. The Slippery Rock graduate student captured the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference shot put title Feb. 19 at Lehigh and helped her team win its seventh PSAC team title. Her season-best of 14.21...
Riverview girls turn attention to PIAA playoffs
“It almost was a Cinderella story.” Those were the descriptive words from Riverview coach Jill Catanzaro as her Riverview girls basketball team came close to upending No. 2 Aquinas Academy in a battle for the third-place spot in WPIAL Class A on Feb. 28. The game at Shaler High School ultimately...
Plum, Riverview athletes benefit from indoor track and field season
Owen Proskin finished as one of the top scorers for the Plum boys basketball team this season. The 6-foot-4 sophomore also made the most of his athletic double duty this winter through indoor track and field training and competition. His versatility showed with a third-place medal in the high jump...
Gateway boys earn berth to PIAA tournament
The Gateway boys basketball team faced a do-or-die scenario for a trip to the PIAA playoffs. After a loss to No. 2 Franklin Regional in the WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinals and then a close setback at home to Bethel Park in the fifth-place consolation semifinals, the Gators were still alive...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Freeport’s Kira Schrecongost, Deer Lakes’ Wayne Love
Kira Schrecongost School: Freeport Class: Junior Sport: Swimming Report card: Schrecongost won the WPIAL Class 2A girls 100-yard butterfly title for the second time Thursday. She edged rival Katie Jackovic, a senior from South Park, by 58 one-hundredths of a second, winning in 55.37 seconds at Pitt’s Trees Pool. She...
Franklin Regional’s Holden Thomas, Mt. Pleasant pair earn WPIAL swimming titles
Holden Thomas earned a bronze medal last year in the boys Class 3A 100-yard backstroke. He stood on the third step of the award podium looking up at WPIAL champ William Gao from North Allegheny and runner-up Patton Graziano from Penn-Trafford. This time around, Thomas wanted to be the one...
Kiski Area girls capture WPIAL team swimming title
Last year, the Kiski Area boys swim team captured the WPIAL Class 2A team title at Pitt’s Trees Pool. On Friday, it was the Lady Cavaliers’ turn to lift high the first-place trophy. Leading Quaker Valley by two points and two-time defending champion Mt. Pleasant by 10 heading into the...
Mt. Pleasant girls, boys shine on Day 1 of WPIAL Class 2A swimming championships
Mt. Pleasant’s attempt to claim a third straight WPIAL Class 2A team championship started with a bang Thursday afternoon at Pitt’s Trees Pool. The Vikings 200-yard free relay, anchored by a WPIAL record-holder in junior Lily King and also featuring juniors Kiersten O’Connor, Kaylie Korpiel and Maddie Barrick, rallied past...
Fox Chapel swimmers win in record times at WPIAL championships
Fox Chapel junior Sarah Pasquella settled into her Trees Pool surroundings Thursday morning at Pitt and prepped for her 200-yard freestyle race. As the No. 1 seed, the Pitt verbal commit was confident in her chances to take home WPIAL gold but understanding of the talent that would be hoping...
A-K Valley swimmers hope to turn high seeds into gold at WPIAL championships
Sarah Pasquella accomplished a lot in her two previous trips to the WPIAL Class 3A swimming championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool. Last year, the Fox Chapel junior ascended the medals stand four times. She was a part of the WPIAL champion 400-yard freestyle relay and runner-up 200 medley relay while...
A-K Valley high school basketball playoff preview capsules for Feb. 29, 2024
WPIAL basketball playoffs Girls Class 4A Fifth-place game 6-Knoch (15-10) at 4-Highlands (17-7) 7 p.m. Thursday Winner plays: District 8 or 9 champion in PIAA first round March 9 (site/time TBD) Loser plays: District 10 champion in PIAA first round March 9 (site/time TBD) Coaches: Shane McGraw, Knoch; Shawn Bennis,...
A-K Valley high school basketball playoff preview capsules for Feb. 28, 2024
WPIAL basketball playoffs Boys Class 5A Fifth-place game 11-Bethel Park (13-12) at 8-Fox Chapel (14-11) 8 p.m. Wednesday Winner plays: The winner of the District 8-9-10 subregional March 9, in PIAA first round (site/time TBD) Loser plays: District 3 runner-up March 9, in PIAA first round (site/time TBD) Coaches: Dante...
Top-seeded Union girls overpower Riverview, earn return trip to WPIAL Class A final
If you give the Union girls basketball team an inch, it usually takes a mile. That was the case Monday in a WPIAL Class A semifinal at North Allegheny. The No. 1 Scotties built a big lead in the first half and didn’t give No. 4 Riverview any momentum in...
Butler’s Drew Griffith, Mt. Lebanon’s Logan St. John Kletter defend state indoor titles in mile
Drew Griffith initially was ruled ineligible to run in Sunday’s boys one mile event at the Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association championship meet at Penn State. The Butler senior distance star and Notre Dame commit had a performance time entered that was achieved at a meet which included competitors...
After 3 seasons in NFL, Monroeville’s Robert Hainsey continues rise with Tampa Bay
Robert Hainsey spent some time outside the U.S. earlier this month vacationing with family and friends. It was a welcomed time of relaxation for the Monroeville native who had just completed his third NFL season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “It was very nice,” said Hainsey, a former Gateway lineman...
Plum swimmers aim to contend at WPIAL championship meet
Brooke Price will again swim the 100-yard backstroke Friday on the second day of the WPIAL Class 3A championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool. The Plum sophomore swam to 17th in the event in her WPIAL debut last year. It was the only individual event she qualified for in her first...
After WPIAL playoff exit, Plum says goodbye to senior quartet
In 2021, the Plum girls basketball team defeated Lincoln Park to snap a two-decade-long win drought in the WPIAL playoffs. Last year, the Mustangs topped Montour in the WPIAL first round before bowing out to No. 2 Oakland Catholic, the eventual WPIAL runner-up, in the quarterfinals. Plum hoped to make...
Laurel Highlands pulls away from Highlands to advance to Class 4A girls semifinals
Last year, Laurel Highlands came to Highlands for a first-round playoff game and left with a 20-point defeat. What a difference a year makes. The No. 5 Mustangs were held scoreless in the third quarter, but they responded with 23 in the fourth to hold off No. 4 Highlands, 45-33,...
Cheswick Christian Academy boys vie for 1st SWCAC title since 2015
The last time the Cheswick Christian boys basketball team won a Southwest Christian Athletic Conference championship was in 2015 when it captured the second of back-to-back league crowns. Since then, the Chargers have played for the title three times, most recently last season when they fell to Natrona Heights’ Harvest...
No. 11 Burrell grinds out win over Shady Side Academy to reach Class 3A semifinals
The rubber matchup between Burrell and Shady Side Academy in a WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal Thursday went the way of the Bucs. But it wasn’t easy. None of the Burrell players thought it would be. In a grind of a game that went to the final seconds, the No. 11...
Riverview girls sink Monessen in Class A, advance to semifinals
The Monessen girls basketball team wanted to avenge a 25-point loss to Riverview from earlier this season when the teams met in a WPIAL Class A quarterfinal Thursday at Fox Chapel. But No. 4 Riverview wasn’t about to let its chance to reach the semifinals fall by the wayside. Katerina...
