Bill Beckner stories, Page 12
WPIAL well represented on Pa. High School Softball Coaches Association all-state teams
The compass pointed west Tuesday morning when the Pennsylvania High School Softball Coaches Association announced its players of the year and all-state teams. Voting showed a strong representation from the WPIAL, with six player of the year awards going to girls from District 7. Seneca Valley’s Lexie Hames, the Gatorade...
Westmoreland high school notebook: Jon Dobrinski takes over as Greensburg CC boys soccer coach
Newly hired coach Jon Dobrinski is primed to lead the Greensburg Central Catholic boys soccer team this fall. An assistant last season, he replaces Ryan Kanner, who resigned in the spring after two seasons. Kanner went 14-19-1 and led the Centurions to the playoffs both years. Dobrinski has coached for...
Norwin basketball enjoying success in summer tournaments
Just reaching a championship game isn’t as fulfilling as winning one, but Norwin will enjoy its recent tournament run just the same. The Knights boys varsity team made the championship game of the fifth annual Tre Cunningham Memorial Basketball Tournament before falling to Imani Christian, 66-57, in the title game....
Norwin grad JJ Matijevic keeps slugging in Mexican Baseball League
To follow JJ Matijevic online in the Mexican Baseball League, fans might have to make an extra click to translate the league website into English. No translation is needed when it comes to Matijevic still chasing his dream of playing at the game’s highest level. Watch him swing a bat...
Westmoreland college notebook: Athletic director Chris Snyder exits Seton Hill after 2 decades
Seton Hill is looking for a new athletic director after the departure of Chris Snyder, who led Griffins athletics for 21 years. According to a news release from the university, Snyder is leaving “to look for new opportunities and challenges.” Snyder began working at Seton Hill in 2004 as the...
Westmoreland County Campus Clippings: Coaching switch leads to Butler family reunion at West Liberty
Suddenly, Landon Butler will play for his brother next college basketball season. A Latrobe family reunion is happening at West Liberty after Butler decided to leave Coker University in South Carolina following a coaching change. He is transferring to West Liberty, where Bryce Butler is an assistant coach and former...
Latrobe’s Andy Tatsch chooses to play football at Lehigh
Once his older brother received a scholarship from an NCAA Division I program a couple of years ago, anything was possible for Andy Tatsch. That is how the rising senior from Latrobe first became interested in the recruiting process, when he bought into the idea he also could play at...
Norwin coach guiding more young wrestlers to success on national level
Despite all of his accomplishments coaching wrestling, Kyle Martin still manages to take teams to new levels. Martin, the head coach at Norwin who spends his WPIAL and PIAA offseasons training youth wrestlers, guided Team Pennsylvania to its first victory in the PA 16U Greco Roman National Duals in more...
Imani Christian goes undefeated, tops Norwin for Tre Cunningham Tournament title
The proud owner of a Most Valuable Player trophy and a $1,000 scholarship, Deston Hubbard described what an MVP should be. “Wow, that’s a great question,” the rising senior guard from Imani Christian said. “He has to be a leader. Someone who isn’t just a scorer, but someone holds the...
Westmoreland H.S. notebook: Jeannette names new boys, girls soccer coaches
The Jeannette boys and girls soccer teams will be under new leadership this fall. Jayhawks alum Luke Brummett takes over the boys team, while a veteran coach in the county, Derek Cuthbert, is now in charge of the girls. Brummett, 25, replaces Steve Pons, who resigned after two seasons. Brummett,...
Jeannette football, basketball star Kymon’e Brown named TribLive Westmoreland County boys athlete of the year
Kymon’e Brown is constantly striving. The rising senior at Jeannette aims to be a better leader each time he joins his teammates, and he is always looking to improve with an eye toward one-upping his opponents and proving himself. He wants to be great — not just good, as he...
Franklin Regional grad Chuck Tragesser having solid summer on links
From one shot to the next, one tournament after the other, Chuck Tragesser is carrying over momentum in what has been a strong summer on the golf course. The Franklin Regional alum and rising redshirt junior at Robert Morris won the 32nd Western Pennsylvania Golf Association Spring Stroke Play Championship...
Jeannette boys basketball team wants to add another, more special title to its resume
Winning a WPIAL championship last winter meant a lot to the Jeannette boys basketball team. But a different title — should the host Jayhawks win it Saturday — would carry a different meaning. Special meaning. “We want to do it for his parents,” Jeannette rising junior guard Markus McGowan said,...
Franklin Regional shortstop Luke Williams pivots to Vanderbilt
When he first decommitted from Virginia three weeks ago, it was tough for baseball player Luke Williams to mentally erase the image he had of himself in a Cavaliers uniform. Virginia and AI had already given him an idea of what he’d look like in his fresh digs and he...
Former Latrobe basketball star Austin Butler settles into new role as Hempfield coach
Granted, it was a low-key summer tournament game on just his 38th day on the job, but Austin Butler’s stomach didn’t seem to be in knots when he took the floor to coach Thursday night at Jeannette. He looked different somehow in Hempfield blue and white, but he was in...
Mark Katarski returns to alma mater as Mt. Pleasant boys basketball coach
When he was in middle school, Mark Katarski sharpened his No. 2 pencils and kept score for the Mt. Pleasant boys basketball team. He reveled in the details, the facts and figures that go into a game. “It was the 1990-91 season,” Katarski said. “My senior year, in 1995, I...
5th edition of Tre Cunningham Memorial Basketball Tournament set to tip off
“New” is the theme for the 5th annual Tre Cunningham Memorial Basketball Tournament set for Thursday through Saturday at the Jeannette elementary and high schools. New coaches and new teams will greet attendees at an event that honors late Jayhawks great Tre Cunningham, a three-sport standout who died in a...
Former Seton Hill women’s basketball coach Katarski expected to be hired as Mt. Pleasant boys coach
Mt. Pleasant will vote Wednesday to hire recommended candidate Mark Katarski, a Vikings alum, as boys head basketball coach. Katarski most recently served as interim boys basketball coach at Hempfield during last season’s investigation of former Spartans coach Bill Swan. He will replace Annie Malkowiak, who was not retained after...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Seton Hill’s Jack Whalen named to Gold Glove Team
Covering more ground than the sun some days, Jack Whalen has been a sure out in center field for Seton Hill baseball. His play has been golden. The junior was rewarded for his effort by being named to the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings Division II Gold Glove Team. He is...
Monessen playmaker TyVaughn Kershaw gets 1st Division I offer
One of the WPIAL’s top big-play threats last football season is beginning to draw NCAA Division I college attention. And he wants more schools to know his name. TyVaughn Kershaw, a rising senior running back at Monessen, has his first FCS offer after Tennessee at Martin reached out this weekend....
TribLive Westmoreland County softball all-stars: Cam Ponko’s focus helped make Penn-Trafford state champs
Player of the year Cam Ponko Sr., 3B, Penn-Trafford Tears welled up in Cam Ponko’s eyes as she reflected on a banner season. A championship season. A career season. A player-of-the-year type of season. The Penn-Trafford third baseman was flooded with emotion after a total recall of her accomplishments —...
Westmoreland high school notebook: Late Jeannette star enters national hall of fame
Posthumously, the late Zach Washington became the fifth former Jeannette standout to be inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame. Washington’s children, Zach Washington Jr. and Laurie Washington, spoke on behalf of their father last weekend at a ceremony at Umstattd Hall in Canton, Ohio. Washington was 80...
Track gold highlights memorable spring at Norwin
Norwin will remember the 2025 spring sports season for its impressive wins, highlight performances and gold medals. There was plenty to talk about at year-end banquets. Track and field was the standard bearer after a banner season. The boys and girls teams won WPIAL Class 3A championships, the boys celebrating...
Hempfield lineman picks Harvard for ‘great balance between academics and football’
Despite a number of high-end scholarship offers from Power 4 and Group of 5 schools, Brock Heisler has opted to play college football in the nonscholarship Ivy League. Don’t be too quick to judge the big bruiser from Hempfield. A 4.0 student-athlete, he probably knows something the rest of us...
State champion Penn-Trafford softball team plans youth camp
After Penn-Trafford won the PIAA softball championship Friday at Penn State, Warriors coach Denny Little had his players take photos with some younger fans celebrating from the bleachers at Beard Field. He said it would be nice to make it a tradition. The next generation of girls will have a...
