Michael Love stories, Page 14
Plum’s Sarah Kvortek turns from gymnastics to bodybuilding to fuel competitive fire
Plum graduate Sarah Kvortek made a name for herself in gymnastics at both the club level with Ultimate Gymnastics in Delmont and representing Plum at championship meets, including WPIALs. While the possibility of continuing her gymnastics career in college was there, she opted to attend Slippery Rock and concentrate on...
Knoch’s Lavorini successfully defends 100 breaststroke title at WPIAL Class 2A championships
Giona Lavorini knew the emotion of putting a gold medal around her neck at the WPIAL Class 2A swimming championships. She did it last year by outracing two-time defending champion Peyton Scott from Indiana in the 100 breaststroke. Lavorini, a senior at Knoch, was back on the top step of...
Unbeatable at WPIAL meet, Mt. Pleasant star Lily King joins elite list with 8th gold medal
Eight is great for Lily King. The Mt. Pleasant senior and N.C. State commit, one of the WPIAL’s all-time greats, joined an ultra-exclusive club Friday at the WPIAL Class 2A championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool. King captured the 100-yard freestyle for the fourth time in 47.65 seconds, shattering her own...
Title defense in 400 free relay caps another strong WPIAL Class 3A swimming championships for Fox Chapel girls
The Fox Chapel girls 400-yard freestyle relay put an impactful capper on a successful two days at the WPIAL Class 3A swimming championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool. The quartet of seniors Sarah Pasquella and Grace Kovach and sophomores Josie Stanczak and Charlotte Rusche swam to a school-record time of 3...
Mt. Pleasant’s Lily King sets another Pitt pool record to highlight Day 1 of WPIAL Class 2A championships
Lily King will swim at N.C. State in the ACC starting next year. She has a good start at filling up collegiate record boards. The Mt. Pleasant senior already had the Pitt pool record in the 100-yard freestyle set at last year’s WPIAL Class 2A championships. On Thursday afternoon, King...
Freeport’s Kira Schrecongost wins WPIAL gold, sets school record
For three years, Freeport’s Kira Schrecongost had a goal of breaking 55 seconds in the WPIAL Class 2A girls 100-yard butterfly. She did just that Thursday afternoon with a school-record swim of 54.85. That time also brought her a third WPIAL title in the event out of four attempts. She...
Sarah Pasquella defends 200 free title on good day for Fox Chapel at WPIAL 3A swimming
Sarah Pasquella was the hunted in the final heat of the girls 200-yard freestyle Thursday morning at the WPIAL Class 3A swimming championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool. The Fox Chapel senior and Michigan commit wasn’t about to let anyone prevent her from defending her title. Pasquella lowered her school record...
A-K Valley swimmers ready for hard work to pay off at WPIALs
Sarah Pasquella won’t have to wait long for the chance to defend her WPIAL Class 3A title in the 200-yard freestyle. It is the second event Thursday morning at Pitt’s Trees Pool, and the Fox Chapel senior and Michigan commit, a four-year qualifier to the WPIAL championships, is ready for...
A-K Valley’s best swimmers to clash at WPIAL championships
Knoch’s Giona Lavorini and Indiana’s Peyton Scott certainly are no strangers in the swimming pool. The senior standouts in the 100-yard breaststroke have been together at the top of the medals stand at the WPIAL Class 2A championships the past three years. As freshmen, Scott won the 100 breast title,...
11 new members set to join Armstrong Sports Hall of Fame
The Armstrong Sports Hall of Fame will celebrate its Class of 2025 on April 27. A distinguished collection of the county’s athletic greats — Ted Faber, W. David Hoff, Tye Desiderio, Gary Montebell, Terra Schall, Joe Diani, Paul Noonan, Denny Wolfe, Jackie Huth, J. Gary DeComo and Al King —...
Former Westminster coach, College Football Hall of Famer Joe Fusco dies at 87
Wilkinsburg native Joe Fusco, a 2001 College Football Hall of Fame coaching inductee and one of the most successful coaches in the history of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, died Saturday. He was 87. Fusco served as Westminster’s head coach from 1972-99 and led the Titans to four NAIA...
With a biopic planned, Mt. Lebanon native Kurt Angle opens up about his wrestling triumphs, personal journey
A movie is in the works that will profile Kurt Angle’s life story. The film will chronicle the Mt. Lebanon native’s journey from his youth and his start in amateur wrestling, his accomplishments in the sport in high school and college at Clarion to international success, including his Olympic gold-medal...
Gateway bowlers advance to regional tournament
With the WPIBL team and singles championship tournaments in the rearview mirror, the Gateway boys bowling team has its sights set on big things at Western Regionals this weekend. The senior-laden Gators will have five compete Friday in the singles event at Bowlero Pittsburgh, formerly Noble Manor Lanes, in Carnegie,...
Despite early playoff exit, future bright for Gateway boys basketball
The Gateway boys basketball team hoped to get out fast at Moon in a WPIAL Class 5A first round game Feb. 18. The No. 12 Gators came into the game with a high degree of momentum after closing the regular season with three straight wins, including an overtime triumph against...
After falling just short of playoff berth, Riverview boys look toward future
The Riverview boys basketball team finished with a 4-3 record in games played on its home court at Riverview High School. The Raiders played there just three times through Jan. 17. The final home game, a senior-night contest against Section 1-2A foe California on Feb. 7, marked the final opportunity...
Plum girls wrestling trio advances to PIAA regional tournament
Alaina Claassen knew Valley’s Arianna Bernard well by the time they met for the 190-pound championship at the WPIAL girls wrestling championships Feb. 15 at North Allegheny High School. Claasen, a Plum junior and last year’s WPIAL champion in the 235-pound weight class, beat Bernard twice during the regular season,...
No. 10 Mars gets past No. 15 Penn-Trafford in Class 5A Cinderella showdown
When the Mars and Penn-Trafford boys basketball teams met Friday in a WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinal at Fox Chapel, a double-digit seed was guaranteed to punch its ticket to the final four. That double-digit seed ended up being the No. 10 Planets, who got a game-best 19 points from senior...
Jackson Hagler leads strong contingent of Fox Chapel divers at WPIAL championships
Jackson Hagler dove at WPIALs as a freshman, placed sixth overall and qualified for the PIAA championships at Bucknell University. The Fox Chapel senior and Bucknell commit followed that first WPIAL experience three years ago with a fourth as a sophomore and a silver medal last year while adding two...
North Catholic boys beat Deer Lakes for 3rd time this season
It’s often said it’s a challenge to beat the same team three times in a season. The North Catholic boys basketball team bucked that belief Wednesday in a WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal against section rival Deer Lakes on its home court at the Graham Events Center. Three players scored in...
Rochester stages huge rally in 2nd half, defeats Riverview in girls 2A 1st-round game
The Rochester girls basketball team trailed Riverview by 15 points with 4 minutes, 6 seconds left in the third quarter of Tuesday’s WPIAL Class 2A first-round playoff game at Kiski Area High School. But the 10th-seeded Rams roared back. They controlled the boards, forced turnovers and made shots in the...
A-K Valley basketball playoff preview capsules: Games for Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025
WPIAL basketball playoffs Tuesday’s local games Boys Class 5A First round 9-Latobe (18-4) at 8-Kiski Area (15-6) 7 p.m. Tuesday Winner plays: Winner of 16-Franklin Regional (11-11)/1-Montour (21-1) Friday (time, site TBD) in quarterfinals Players to watch: Max Butler, Latrobe; Colin Keller, Kiski Area Layup lines: Latrobe is back in...
Rashid Hassan Tennis Center opens in Monroeville
Rashid Hassan has trained top-level junior tennis players through his tennis academy for more than two decades. Without a place to call his own, he often would be at the mercy of another facility to rent space and time. Despite that, he said, he always was grateful for the opportunities...
Gateway swimmers prepare for WPIAL championship meet
Gateway swimming and diving coach Glenn Raymer took a step back last Wednesday at the start of his team’s afternoon practice and marveled at how fast the season has gone from the start of preseason workouts in late November. Now that all the regular season meets and invitationals have concluded,...
Plum bowlers shine at WPIBL team championships, turn attention to individual finals
Once the Plum boys bowling team hit its stride, nothing was getting in its way. After losing their first game of the semifinals, the Mustangs reeled off wins in the next four games of the bracket playoffs to claim the WPIBL boys team championship Feb. 12, at AMF Mt. Lebanon....
Narrow late-season losses prevent Plum boys from reaching postseason
With experience returning to the lineup and new faces giving his team a shot of adrenaline, first-year Plum boys basketball coach Dave Pucka said the pieces were in place for a run to the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs. He said he saw his team compete hard and battle in many...
