Chris Harlan stories, Page 67

Aliquippa’s track team arrived Thursday in Shippensburg, a day ahead of the state championships, but the Quips made the trip with one fewer sprinter than they’d hoped. Antonyo Anderson wasn’t with them, yet his teammates were thinking about him, coaches Sherman McBride and Vashawn Patrick said. The 16-year-old was shot...

The state softball championships are scheduled for next month at Penn State, but there’s a chance the PIAA will need to find an alternate site. The university currently has the total capacity at Nittany Lion Softball Park capped at 190 people, PIAA associate executive director Melissa Mertz said Wednesday when...

The WPIAL baseball finalists in Class 6A and 4A will play under the lights at Wild Things Park next week. The schedule for the six championship games has North Allegheny and Hempfield playing at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, and Montour and New Castle meeting at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Also playing Tuesday...

North Allegheny’s Joe Manesiotis surely was a little surprised when Butler intentionally walked the batter ahead of him to load the bases. The senior already was 3 for 3 with three RBIs before delivering the game-ending hit, a run-scoring single in the sixth that brought on the 10-run rule as...

With two runners on, no outs and trailing by a run, Montour’s Mason Sike was told to be ready to lay down a bunt. To his surprise, the bunt sign never came. “I was really thinking it was going to happen, and he gave me the green light,” said Sike,...

Rain forced the WPIAL to revamp Monday’s playoff schedules for baseball and softball, moving some games to new sites and postponing others to Tuesday. In baseball, the Class A and 4A quarterfinals will be played Monday — some at new sites — while semifinal games in all other classifications were...

Boys basketball coach Gary Goga, who built Peters Township into a WPIAL championship program in his 15 seasons there, is ready for another challenge. His next project: Keystone Oaks. Newly hired, Goga scheduled his first open gym for Monday night, the first step in building up a basketball program that...

A few weeks after its coach resigned midseason, the Woodland Hills boys basketball team made a trip to Ringgold for a nonsection game this past winter. Woodland Hills was on its way to a winless season and lost by 10 points. But as Ringgold’s coach that day, Eugene Wilson saw...

There’s plenty about junior Dwayne Taylor that impresses North Allegheny’s track and field coaches: He’s 6-foot-5 with long limbs and the speed of a sprinter. Taylor has all the physical tools needed to be one of the state’s top jumpers. But it’s quiet conversations at practice that make coach John...

Some might consider Bethel Park sophomore John Chalus the little brother of a Division I baseball recruit, but he certainly wasn’t overshadowed Friday. Chalus drove in the winning run with a walk-off single in the seventh as second-seeded Bethel Park capitalized on a fielding error to beat No. 7 Shaler,...

When Dave DeGregorio resigned at North Allegheny five years ago to coach his sons, a part of him thought he might return someday, if the timing was right. That well-timed moment arrived Wednesday night when the school board officially rehired him for a second stint as North Allegheny boys basketball...

Hampton sprinter Gage Galuska threw his body forward at the finish line, tumbled into a somersault and stayed on the track waiting for his 400-meter time to show on the scoreboard. He wondered, was that finish enough to beat Guinness Brown? The entire WPIAL has chased after the Butler star...

The WPIAL endured a season without track and field last spring, but the championships are back. Individual champions in Class AAA and AA will be crowned Wednesday at Slippery Rock University. Here’s a breakdown of what to know and who to watch. Split schedule To fit under state covid-19 guidelines...

The WPIAL baseball committee’s philosophy is simple: The best team should win section titles and league championships, not the team with one incredibly dominant pitcher. Whether that happens here in the playoffs is impossible to predict, but the baseball committee takes steps each spring hoping for that outcome. Playoff games...

Spectators will be asked to wear masks Wednesday at the WPIAL track and field championships at Slippery Rock University despite the recent change to the statewide mandate. However, policies at other WPIAL events, including playoff games and championships, will vary by venue, WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said Monday. The...

North Allegheny’s next boys basketball coach already knows the program well. North Catholic coach Dave DeGregorio, who coached North Allegheny from 2004-16, is returning to his old job, pending school board approval Wednesday. Online board records list DeGregorio as the recommended candidate. He’ll replace Dan DeRose, who resigned after one...

Only a handful of schools reach the WPIAL team track championships each year, but the meet has become almost an annual tradition for the North Allegheny girls. Consider, the Tigers returned this spring for the 17th time since 2000, finishing second to Butler in the WPIAL Class AAA meet May...

Class 6A Favorite: North Allegheny owns seven WPIAL titles but hasn’t won since 2013, an eight-year wait that ranks as the team’s longest between hanging banners. So, maybe the Tigers are due. Duke recruit Cole Young, a junior shortstop, is batting .434 with six home runs. Hard-throwing right-hander Kyle Demi...

After enduring a year with no baseball, the WPIAL playoffs are back. The WPIAL announced postseason brackets Friday for all six classifications with North Allegheny seeded first in Class 6A, Franklin Regional in 5A, Montour in 4A, Hopewell in 3A, Seton LaSalle in 2A and Eden Christian in A. Playoffs...

The real brackets for the 2021 WPIAL baseball playoff will be revealed at 3 p.m. Friday on TribLive HSSN. Who’ll draw the No. 1 seeds? Which teams get a first-round bye? Here’s a look at what the WPIAL bracket would look like if HSSN’s Don Rebel and Chris Harlan were...

As Butler runner C.J. Singleton neared the finish line, the junior wondered how close his nearest 800-meter challenger was, so he took a quick glance behind him. “You’re usually not supposed to look back,” he admitted afterward. But it’s understandable. Butler’s top runners rarely had anyone out in front of...

If covid-related cancellations leave section standings unsettled, the WPIAL will have its steering committees determine which teams make the playoffs this spring. That was one of the changes revealed Monday when the WPIAL announced updated postseason plans for baseball, softball, lacrosse and boys volleyball. In a letter to schools, the...

Emma Pavelek had never been to a chiropractor before this past week and was skeptical one could help her painful foot. She’d been diagnosed with a sprain but after five weeks, her injury wasn’t getting any better. So, what did she have to lose? “He felt my foot for one...

The weather app on Melissa Riggins’ smartphone misled her a little. “For some reason, I never check the wind,” she said with a laugh. “I’m like, ‘Oh, 53 degrees, that shouldn’t be that bad.’” It wasn’t good. Yet the talented Shady Side Academy senior fought through steady winds and some...