Chris Harlan stories, Page 89

Until this week, Jeff Ackermann coached basketball at Pine-Richland, lived in South Fayette and taught at Chartiers Valley, a commute that saw him and his family crisscross the county. With an 8-year-old son, a daughter who’s 6 and another son who’s 2½, that arrangement couldn’t last forever. “The drive kind...

Three WPIAL basketball teams will be forced to play in a higher classification next season unless those schools can win a PIAA appeal. The Chartiers Valley girls, North Catholic girls and Lincoln Park boys are among 15 teams statewide that the PIAA marked for promotion under its competitive-balance rule. It...

The Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet will be postponed until next year, organizers announced Monday, in response to the covid-19 outbreak. The banquet was rescheduled for May 16, 2021. The 45th induction class includes Sam Bechtel (sports journalism), Ron Brown (basketball), Barry Cox (football), Arthur Jason DeLuigi...

Baldwin’s boys basketball team hasn’t won a WPIAL playoff game since 2003. The Highlanders reached the postseason only four times in the 17 years since, with four first-round losses. Clearly, there’s room to improve. This past winter they went winless in the section, a year after finishing 1-9. But Baldwin...

There’s a third Division I basketball player in the Washington household. Quaker Valley’s Corinne Washington, one of the WPIAL’s top juniors, committed Sunday to Boston University over offers from Duquesne, Robert Morris and others. Her brother, Coletrane, was a sophomore this winter at Drexel and her father Jesse played basketball...

Butler’s Ethan Morton’s quest for a PIAA basketball title was cut short, but the senior earned statewide recognition Saturday as the state’s Class 6A Player of the Year in a vote of Pennsylvania sports writers. The Purdue recruit was the first WPIAL athlete to win the award in the PIAA’s...

Three years ago, Bethel Park’s Liv Westphal and her family took an unofficial recruiting visit to Duquesne before her freshman year of high school. The Dukes were the first women’s basketball team to show interest in the future Black Hawks star. “We were in coach Dan Burt’s office for like...

Mars’ Michael Carmody and Laurel Highlands’ Rodney Gallagher, whose teams clashed in the WPIAL boys basketball finals, were named first-team all-state Friday. They were the only WPIAL players selected to the Class 5A team in a vote of Pennsylvania sports writers. For Carmody, a Notre Dame football recruit, it was...

Highlands’ Johnny Crise and Central Valley’s Isiah Warfield will play different sports in college, but right now they’re both all-state basketball players. The two WPIAL stars were selected all-state in Class 4A on Thursday in a vote of Pennsylvania sports writers. Warfield was named to the second team and Crise...

Two months after celebrating a WPIAL basketball title, North Catholic’s Dave and Isaac DeGregorio are sharing some statewide recognition. Isaac DeGregorio, a senior guard, earned second-team all-state honors in Class 3A and his father Dave DeGregorio was named as the classification’s top coach Wednesday in a vote of Pennsylvania sports...

Basketball sections for next season are almost ready, but WPIAL players, coaches and fans must wait a little longer to see them. The WPIAL board approved updated section alignments at its April meeting, said associate executive director Amy Scheuneman, but those included multiple contingencies in case the PIAA competitive-balance rule...

OLSH junior Dante Spadafora and sophomore Jake DiMichele earned first-team all-state honors Tuesday, and the Chargers’ Mike Rodriguez was named the state’s top coach in Class 2A. In all, four WPIAL players were selected in a vote of Pennsylvania sports writers. Sto-Rox’s Malik Smith and California’s Malik Ramsey earned second-team...

If the PIAA competitive-balance rule forces the Lincoln Park boys basketball team into a higher classification next season, coach Mike Bariski thinks that’s unfair. “We’re not averse to going up,” he said. “I just totally disagree with the process.” Two months ago, Bariski would have accepted the promotion without objection....

Cornell’s Kaden DiVito, who saw his senior season cut short two wins away from the PIAA finals, earned statewide recognition Monday as the Class A boys basketball player of the year. A 5-foot-11 guard committed to Washington & Jefferson, DiVito averaged 20.8 points for the WPIAL runner-up. In the state...

The PIAA canceled spring sports across the state, but Jeannette School District still will pay the officials scheduled to work its games. It is a gesture of appreciation, said Paul Sroka, the district’s business manager. Officials will receive $37.50 for each Jeannette game on their schedule, half of the typical...

The WPIAL has had at least one former player picked each year in the NFL draft since 1994, a remarkable streak that could be extended again this week. New Castle’s Geno Stone (Iowa), Cornell’s Dane Jackson (Pitt), Imani Christian’s Kenny Robinson (West Virginia) and McKeesport’s Khaleke Hudson (Michigan) are the...

Former Upper St. Clair football coach Jim Render, who retired last summer with the most wins in WPIAL history, was among 12 individuals chosen for induction into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame this fall. The 2020 class also includes professional hockey player R.J. Umberger of Plum, Steelers assistant coach...

Ellis School junior Natalie Jasper and Bishop Canevin senior Diajha Allen, who led their teams deep into the playoffs, earned all-state honors Wednesday in Class 2A girls basketball. Jasper was named to the second team and Allen made third team in a vote of Pennsylvania sports writers. Bishop Canevin went...

Rochester teammates Alexis Robison and Corynne Hauser, who repeated as WPIAL girls basketball champions, drew statewide recognition Wednesday by earning all-state honors in Class A. Robison, a junior, made the first team and Hauser, a sophomore, made second team in a vote of Pennsylvania sports writers. Rochester went 26-1 and...