Michael Love stories, Page 62

When Jamee Kovacs helped get the Special Needs Aquatic Program off the ground in September, she hoped to give her son, Caleb, and others throughout the Monroeville area more opportunities to find comfort in the water. Now, seven months later, Kovacs, a board member with the Monroeville Marlins Swim Club,...

The 2021-22 season is the last for Sherry Sonetti as head coach of the Gateway swim teams, and she also is retiring from the Gateway School District at the end of the academic year in June. She said she was pleased with the ending to her tenure with the Gators....

At the midway point of the first overtime of Saturday’s 25th Cager Classic girls all-star game at Highlands, a loose ball off a missed shot caused a mad scramble involving a couple of players from both the East and West squads. Bodies collided as they hit the floor. Instincts took...

Maddie Boyer Knoch, 5-10, Sr., Guard As a freshman, Maddie Boyer helped the Knoch girls basketball team make the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs. The Knights suffered a first-round loss to Elizabeth Forward. Two years ago, Boyer increased her role at both ends of the court, and Knoch increased its standing...

Eli Yofan Fox Chapel, 6-2, Sr., Guard Eli Yofan averaged 19.3 points throughout the 2021-22 boys basketball season, but he was limited for most of Fox Chapel’s WPIAL Class 6A title game against North Hills early last month at the Petersen Events Center. But as he did all season, the...

When Robert Foster began running track and field at Highlands, he wasn’t sure where the sport would take him. With hard work and determination, it took him to championships and into the record books. Foster made his mark on the track as one of the fastest to compete at Highlands,...

Seven Plum wrestlers took part in the WPIAL/Southwest Regional Class 3A tournament March 4 and 5 at Canon-McMillan High School. The wrestling over those two days capped a strong season for the Mustangs, who displayed competitiveness and depth throughout a youthful lineup. With just two graduating — Lucas Heath and...

Sam Schohn was one of the top performers in the Class 2A boys 100-yard breaststroke all season. The Plum senior’s talent was on display at the WPIAL championships March 4 with a third-place finish behind Southmoreland’s Henry Miller and Mt. Pleasant’s Joseph Gardner. Those three kept the pace two weeks...

The Penn Hills School Board on Wednesday reaffirmed the district’s stance that its high school sports teams will not play Kiski Area opponents this spring after allegations that Kiski Area fans subjected Penn Hills players to racist taunts at a March 2 middle school volleyball game. Kiski Area’s superintendent characterized...

Dom Girardi stepped down as Highlands football coach Thursday, ending a five-season tenure with the Golden Rams. Girardi said he came to the decision over the past week and cited changes at home and at work that would take more of his time away from his coaching responsibilities. “I kept...

Highlands Little League officials announced Wednesday that the 2022 spring season has been canceled because of a lack of players registered at any of the age levels. A statement on the league’s Facebook page also informed those families who had players register that their fees would be refunded Saturday from...

Ryan Tempalski is ready to generate a spark for the Springdale football program. Familiar with a number of high school coaching systems in his 16 years as an assistant in the WPIAL, the new Dynamos head coach, officially hired at this month’s school board meeting March 15, is energized to...

Five dual matches Friday and a trio of tournaments Saturday kicked off the 2022 WPIAL boys volleyball season. In advance of seven nonsection matches Monday evening and the start of section play Tuesday, the Western PA Volleyball Coaches Association released its Week 1 WPIAL top-10 polls Monday morning. North Allegheny...

LEWISBURG — WPIAL swimmers continued to roll Saturday evening on the second day of the PIAA Class 2A championships at Bucknell. They brought home six more state titles, boosting the final tally for the two days to 13. WPIAL swimmers claimed the boys 100-yard freestyle, the 500 free, the 100...

Seniors Sam Schohn from Plum and Lexi Schrecongost from Freeport capped their high school swimming careers Saturday with medal-winning performances at the PIAA Class 2A championships at Bucknell. Both placed in the top eight in their respective 100-yard breaststroke races. Schohn, 11th in the boys 100 breast at last year’s...

It was quite the two days for the Mt. Pleasant girls swim team at the PIAA Class 2A championships at Bucknell. Paced by two state championships from freshman Lily King and a third from the 400-yard freestyle relay of King, Reegan Brown, Trinity Graft and SaraJo Gardner, the Vikings placed...

LEWISBURG — North Catholic junior Maggie Foley placed second to Marple Newtown senior Alexandra Pastris at last year’s PIAA Class 2A diving championships at Cumberland Valley High School. Foley hoped that a return to Bucknell and a rematch with Pastris on Saturday afternoon would yield different results. They held the...

LEWISBURG — After winning seven state titles on Day 1 of the PIAA Class 2A swimming championships at Bucknell, WPIAL swimmers are after more gold Saturday evening. Two Friday state champs will go head to head in the girls 100-yard freestyle as Mt. Pleasant freshman Lily King and Northgate sophomore...

LEWISBURG — Friday was a banner day for WPIAL boys and girls swimmers at the PIAA Class 2A championships at Bucknell. The district took home seven individual state titles — four boys and three girls — out of the 12 contested events. Indiana freshman Preston Kessler got the party started....

LEWISBURG - Mt. Pleasant freshman Lily King familiarized herself with the top of a swimming medals podium at the WPIAL Class 2A championships earlier this month. She was there four times in the 50 and 100-yard freestyles and also as part of the Vikings’ 200 free and 400 free relays....

LEWISBURG - Freeport freshman Kira Schrecongost swam four times on the first day of the WPIAL Class 2A championships March 3 at Pitt’s Trees Pool. She doubled that during the first day of the PIAA championships Friday at Bucknell. Schrecongost swam two relay and two individual preliminaries and came back...

LEWISBURG — Ligonier Valley senior Nick Roddy missed out on a chance to dive at the Class 2A state championships as a sophomore in 2020 as the PIAA canceled the entire Class 2A meet at the onset of the covid-19 pandemic. Last year, as the pandemic continued to toy with...

LEWISBURG — After taking the baton from Class 3A, the WPIAL swimmers from Class 2A were off and running Friday morning at the PIAA championships at Bucknell. In the first session, WPIAL boys competitors secured five top seeds for Friday evening’s championship finals. Indiana freshman Preston Kessler secured the top...

LEWISBURG — The PIAA Class 3A boys swimming and diving team title is back with the WPIAL. Seneca Valley captured its first team championship Thursday at Bucknell, and it also ended the two-year reign of District 12’s LaSalle College. The Raiders clinched the title in the final event — the...

LEWISBURG — The Franklin Regional boys 400-yard freestyle relay team had its sights set on capping the PIAA Class 3A swimming championships Thursday evening at Bucknell with a swim in the finals heat. But the Panthers quartet of senior Owen Holm, sophomores Benjamin Holm and Holden Thomas, and junior Aiden...