Bill Beckner stories, Page 176
Washington & Jefferson grad Nick Vento earns Division III baseball all-decade honors
Coronavirus times gave D3baseball.com a chance to shine a spotlight on its best players a little ahead of schedule. With the pandemic wiping out the 2020 college season, the website had more time to compile a list of the top talent of the past 10 years. A former WPIAL player...
Passion for sport drives Seton Hill grad Jenna Kaufman to pro hoops career in Ireland
Jenna Kaufman was ready to sling her basketball high-tops over the telephone wires when she returned home to Damascus, Md. from Ireland following a year in the Victory Scholar program. By all accounts, her basketball career was complete. But after more time passed — more time that did not include...
WPIAL girls golf preview: GCC dynasty sets sights on 6th straight title
Since WPIAL girls golf went to two classifications in 2012, eight team champions have been crowned. But one team has hoarded the trophies handed out each October at Cedarbrook Golf Course. Greensburg Central Catholic has won the last five titles and has its sights on a six-peat as a new...
Northgate aims to end lengthy losing streak
Northgate had a young roster last year when it struggled and finished winless. The Flames’ losing streak, which dates to 2017, reached 24 games. But hope flickers on the eve of a new season. “We’ve been young the last couple years,” third-year coach Mike Fulmore said. “We have had some...
Greensburg native Rocco Mediate within reach of Phil Mickelson at PGA Tour Champions event
After 36 holes of the Charles Schwab Series, Phil Mickelson is in prime position to win his debut on the PGA Tour Champions. But a cigar-chomping veteran from Greensburg isn’t far behind on the leaderboard and is out to spoil Lefty’s fun at the rare, early-week tournament. Rocco Mediate followed...
Norwin track coach Harry ‘Bucky’ Hickle included family in passion
A championship family man and a championship coach, Harry Hickle was loyal to his loved ones and his student-athletes. If Norwin’s track and field teams were winning — and they won a lot — he was happy. Victories by the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pirates and Notre Dame didn’t hurt, either. Watching...
Seton Hill product Trevor Blondin reaches goal of professional basketball contract
Plan B never was an option for Trevor Blondin. The former Seton Hill basketball standout wanted to play his sport professionally. Make that, expected to play his sport professionally. “It’s something I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid,” Blondin said. “Anybody that’s ever asked me, ‘What do you want...
Charlie Swink leaving post as Southmoreland AD with pride
Charlie Swink was there to see the football team’s breakthrough season. He witnessed the championship run of the softball team, a state-championship wrestler and he looked on as the girls basketball team made history. But Swink’s days around the Southmoreland athletic department are over, at least for now. Swink recently...
Norwin grad Max McDowell earning his stripes with Yankees taxi squad
One day Max McDowell was out of a job, a pro baseball catcher with nowhere to play. The next he was wearing pinstripes and practicing on the hallowed grounds of Yankee Stadium. McDowell, a former Norwin standout who played with four teams in five years in the minor leagues but...
Gordon Vietmeier rallies to win Tri-State PGA Senior title
Gordon Vietmeier started the second round of the Tri-State PGA Senior Section Championship three shots behind Jim Cichra, who posted a pace-setting 65 to open the tournament. But as Cichra faded Friday, Vietmeier seized the opportunity and rallied for a one-shot win over Cichra and Joe Boros at Green Oaks...
Whole country might be watching what Pennsylvania decides about fall sports
The PIAA will meet at 3 p.m. Friday, presumably to make its final decision on the fate of fall high school sports in Pennsylvania. To play or not to play? The association’s action finally will give member schools a concrete initiative with which to move forward. It is not hyperbole...
Westmoreland County H.S. notebook: Another school, Southmoreland, needs an AD
Another Westmoreland County school district is looking for an athletic director. The local AD carousel continues to turn as Southmoreland has a vacancy after the resignation of Charlie Swink. The head of Scotties athletics since 2010, Swink plans to stay as the district’s transportation director. This means six county schools...
Western PA Bruins players continue to gather basketball offers
An extended “dead” period in NCAA recruiting during the covid-19 shutdown did not stand in the way of the Western PA Bruins girls AAU basketball program. The Bruins continue to be a prime target for Division I college coaches who know where to take their scholarship offers. Those offers have...
Ligonier Valley’s football schedule down to 5 games
Ligonier Valley is set to makes its WPIAL debut for its second stint in the league this fall. The Rams have not played in the WPIAL in 50 years. But the football team is hurting for games. The Rams will open the season — should it be played — with...
Oakmont’s Devin Gee wins Tri-State PGA match play event
Devin Gee continued his sizzling summer on the golf course. The head professional at storied Oakmont Country Club downed five opponents to capture the three-day Tri-State PGA OMEGA Match Play Championship at Southpointe Golf Club in Canonsburg. Gee, who earlier this season won the Tri-State Open, held off Sharon’s Denny...
New coach takes over successful Greensburg Central Catholic girls soccer program
Olivia Kruger is new to the Pittsburgh area, but she knows a lot about Greensburg Central Catholic girls soccer. Even from halfway across the state, in Chambersburg, Kruger followed the program’s dominance in the WPIAL and PIAA. It was hard not to notice the Centurions come postseason time. “I knew...
Yough hires Scott Morrison as athletic director
Scott Morrison plans to take sports at Yough in a different, fresh direction. That’s not to say his longtime predecessor, Tom Evans, did not have things running smoothly as athletic director in Herminie. It was quite the contrary. Evans is well-respected in WPIAL circles for his decades-long work as an...
Nick Novak, Jake Biss help team of ex-WPIAL standouts to ‘dream’ season
This dream team had to earn its distinction. When a crop of talented local basketball players were thrust onto a summer-league roster, many of whom didn’t know one another and had not played together, the thought of doing something special on the court did not exactly cross their minds. While...
Former Franklin Regional standout Todd Summers to finish college career at Duquesne
Todd Summers plans to play his final year of college football closer to home. The former Franklin Regional standout who entered the NCAA transfer portal a few weeks ago with the intention of leaving Villanova has a new destination. He announced Monday he will enroll at Duquesne, where he will...
Walkers, runners take to refurbished track at Jeannette’s McKee StadiumVideo
A social media post about the completion and opening of the new track at Jeannette’s McKee Stadium Monday was viewed over 11,000 times. People in the community have been walking and jogging on the oval all week. “All of the feedback we have received from the community has been positive,”...
Memorial bench honors late Penn-Trafford pitcher
Maclean Maund will forever be memorialized on the Penn-Trafford campus. The late Warriors baseball star, who was killed in an auto accident in January not far from the high school, has his own memorial bench overlooking the baseball field near the school’s entrance. The marble bench, perched on top of...
Even with many meets canceled, GCC’s Corinn Brewer finds a way to win this summer
Corinn Brewer went into her first — and last — track competition of the summer with an all-or-nothing approach. Why would she not? She had been training for the AAU Junior Olympics during the first five months of the covid-19 pandemic, and the rising junior at Greensburg Central Catholic wanted...
Norwin grad Jack Salopek in holding pattern at Western Michigan after MAC postpones season
Jack Salopek has been enamored with Division I football for years. It’s driven him to work extra hours, grind in the offseason and always perform at a high level. He has completed the most challenging part of earning a scholarship at the next level. But the former Norwin star quarterback...
Seton Hill records top GPA in NCAA Division II women’s basketball
When Mark Katarski recruits a high school basketball player, he doesn’t just make sure she can dribble with her left hand or that she plays relentless, end-to-end defense. The women’s coach at Seton Hill also looks for smarts in his prospects — on the court and otherwise. “We always put...
Locals power Westmoreland East to 32-2 record, JCBL baseball titles
Westmoreland East pulled off a championship sweep in Johnstown — in dominating fashion. Paul Carpenter Capital Advisors has a roster loaded with county players, and many of them played key roles in a tremendous summer season in the Johnstown Collegiate Baseball League. Paul Carpenter won its first league playoff title...
