Michael Love stories, Page 41

LEWISBURG — Talia Bugel couldn’t contain her excitement after she and her Fox Chapel teammates finished the 400-yard freestyle relay final Saturday afternoon at the PIAA Class 3A championships at Bucknell. The Foxes quartet — Bugel, sophomore Sarah Pasquella and seniors Payton O’Toole and Sophie Shao — was second after...

LEWISBURG — With only eight-tenths of a second separating the No. 1 and No. 8 seeds in the championship final of the boys 100-yard backstroke Saturday evening at the PIAA Class 3A championships, predicting the final order of finish was a little more difficult than one might have originally thought....

LEWISBURG — Isaiah Clerkley hit his sixth and final dive – an inward 1½ somersault pike with a 2.4 degree of difficulty – to move into first place in Saturday’s PIAA Class 3A boys championship meet at Bucknell University. The Seneca Valley junior and WPIAL champion finished with 302.95 points....

LEWISBURG – WPIAL swimmers in Class 3A are gearing up for consolation and championships heats Saturday afternoon and evening on the final day of the PIAA state meet from Bucknell University. Mt. Lebanon sophomore Sylvia Roy, second Friday in the 50-yard freestyle, has positioned herself as the top seed for...

The Franklin Regional boys 200-yard medley relay team had some unfinished business as it arrived at Bucknell for the first day of the PIAA Class 3A swimming championships. The Panthers quartet of junior Holden Thomas, senior Aiden Bunker, junior Ben Holm and senior Jason Tosh swam a time of 1...

The Franklin Regional boys 200-yard medley relay team had some unfinished business as it arrived at Bucknell University for the first day of the PIAA Class 3A swimming championships. The Panthers quartet of junior Holden Thomas, senior Aiden Bunker, junior Ben Holm and senior Jason Tosh swam a time of...

Sophie Shao and the 100-yard butterfly go hand in hand. The Fox Chapel senior closed out her four-year run in the event as a four-time WPIAL champion, the WPIAL Class 3A record holder and a two-time state champion. Shao, an Ivy League commit at Brown University, added her second straight...

LEWISBURG — The WPIAL populated the medals podium Friday afternoon at the PIAA Class 3A girls diving championships as all four entries from the district earned medals. North Allegheny senior Christina Shi led the WPIAL quartet with her third straight state championship. Latrobe senior Hannah Polosky was second, North Allegheny...

LEWISBURG — WPIAL swimmers are positioned for several championship finals swims on Day 1 at the PIAA Class 3A championships at Bucknell. Mt. Lebanon, North Allegheny, Fox Chapel and Upper St. Clair are seeded second through sixth, respectively, in the girls 200-yard medley relay. North Allegheny senior Lexi Sundgren is...

WPIAL swimmers didn’t slow down Thursday as the PIAA Class 2A swimming championships continued at Bucknell University. They won seven more state titles, bringing the WPIAL’s total gold-medal haul to 14 for the two days of competition. Indiana sophomore Preston Kessler captured two of the championships as he added the...

LEWISBURG — After receiving their PIAA Class 2A championship trophy Thursday at Bucknell, the coaches and swimmers of the Mt. Pleasant girls team jumped into the water to celebrate. It was a repeat of the plunge they made at WPIALs as the Vikings swept both postseason team accolades. “So many...

Parker Sterlitz finished outside the top 16 in last year’s Class 3A boys 500-yard freestyle at the PIAA swim championships at Bucknell. What a difference a year makes. Sterlitz, the WPIAL Class 2A champion in the 500 and the No. 1 seed after a successful preliminary swim Thursday morning, captured...

To Katie Armstrong, it seems like just yesterday the Burrell softball team was making its run in the WPIAL and PIAA playoffs en route to a 14-3 final record. “It was so cool to see what we did because we were so young to start the season with a number...

A trio from the WPIAL took their places on the medal podium at the conclusion of the PIAA Class 2A boys diving championship meet Thursday afternoon at Bucknell University. WPIAL champion Brecken Finkbeiner, a junior from Blackhawk, led the WPIAL contingent with a fourth-place finish with 219.35 points, 15 points...

LEWISBURG — After a strong opening day of the PIAA swimming championships Wednesday, WPIAL Class 2A boys and girls swimmers returned to Bucknell on Thursday morning and carried the momentum into some top preliminary swims in the 100-yard freestyle, 500 free, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 400 free relay ....

WPIAL swimmers had a banner day Wednesday to open the PIAA Class 2A championships at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. The WPIAL came away with seven state titles – two relays and five individuals – and earned numerous other top medal-winning performances. Southmoreland senior Henry Miller went 2 for 2 Wednesday...

A perk of being the No. 1 seed for a PIAA swimming finals heat is getting to pick the walk-up music that is played while the eight finalists make their way to the starting blocks. Southmoreland senior Henry Miller had that opportunity twice Wednesday evening as he was the top...

Freeport sophomore Kira Schrecongost and South Park junior Katie Jackovic know the power of Bedford junior Leah Shackley. Schrecongost placed third in the girls Class 2A 100-yard butterfly with a time of 56.16 seconds Wednesday at the PIAA swimming championships at Bucknell. Jackovic was second in a time of 55.51....

North Catholic senior Maggie Foley had gold on her mind Wednesday afternoon at the PIAA Class 2A girls diving championships at Bucknell University. She finished runner-up the past two years to Marple Newtown graduate Alexandra Pastris. But the Pitt commit’s rise to the top of the podium was cut off...

The WPIAL will be well represented Wednesday afternoon and evening in the championship finals at the PIAA Class 2A swimming championships at Bucknell University. On the girls side, the Mt. Pleasant 200-yard medley relay of sophomore Kiersten O’Connor and seniors SaraJo Gardner, McKenna Mizikar and Reegan Brown (1:48.29); King in...

The Armstrong Sports Hall of Fame is back. After a three-year hiatus because of the covid pandemic, the hall of fame will host an induction banquet April 30, at Laube Hall at Freeport Community Park. The Class of 2023 is John Bartolovic (football coaching, Ford City), Pamela Hobaugh (basketball, Ford...

Mt. Pleasant sophomore Lily King reigned supreme at the WPIAL swimming championships March 2 and 3 as a strong contingent of Westmoreland County and Alle-Kiski Valley Class 2A and Class 3A competitors made their marks at Pitt’s Trees Pool. Now, they hope to do the same at the PIAA championships...

Members of the Gateway boys and girls swim teams are at Bucknell this week competing at the PIAA Class 3A and 2A championships, and they hope to build on strong individual and relay performances from the WPIAL meet at Pitt two weeks ago. “All of the kids are pumped for...

When the Gateway softball team faced Thomas Jefferson for the first of two Section 2-5A matchups last year, the Jaguars stung the young Gators, 15-0, in three innings. Three weeks later, Gateway took TJ to the full seven innings in a 9-0 loss. To second-year Gators coach Donny Holl, that...

The Highlands girls basketball team dug itself an early hole in a PIAA Class 4A first-round playoff game Saturday against District 6 champion Penn Cambria at Mt. Aloysius. The Golden Rams, playing in the program’s first tournament, fought their way back from a 15-point deficit in the second quarter and...