Michael Love stories, Page 78

Eli Yofan made the most of his athletic opportunities during the 2020-21 school year. The rising senior at Fox Chapel performed at a high level while helping navigate his teammates through seasons of covid restrictions and other related uncertainties. An all-section selection in soccer as a sophomore, Yofan made the...

The Tribune-Review and the TribLive High School Sports Network are profiling each member of the 25-player Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star team. The players will be recognized July 22 during HSSN Media Day at Kennywood Park. The future and the present both are in focus for Brandon Lawhorne-Moore. The road-grading...

As director of coaching for the Highlands Area Soccer Club, Jakub Kasprzyk is heavily involved with the area youth soccer scene. He said he has gained an appreciation for the talent in place in the Highlands School District. The Poland native, 39, now is looking forward to continuing to work...

Scott McGough has been a Mustang, Duck, Raptor, Loon, Marlin, Hammerhead, Zephyr, Tide, Isotope and Swallow, among other things, throughout his high school, college and professional careers that have spanned nearly 15 seasons. The Plum native now has added one more title: Olympian. McGough, a third-year member of the Tokyo...

When Sam Salih resigned as girls varsity head coach at Greensburg Central Catholic in April after three seasons, he said it was time for a change, and he left the Centurions program on good terms. He looked forward to a new start while staying at the high school level. Salih...

2021 Valley News Dispatch Softball All-Stars Player of the Year Jaycee Haidze Highlands, Jr., P At the start of the 2021 season, Jaycee Haidze set goals for herself and helped establish them for her team. The Golden Rams were young with only three seniors, and with 2020 wiped out, the...

When the Gateway Sports Hall of Fame enshrined its 2019 class in October of that year, the committee members already were looking forward to the next biennial induction ceremony in 2021. But the covid pandemic caused a change in plans. Now, the hall of fame is looking forward to the...

The Plum Bulldogs baseball team members are no strangers to each other. “Most of these guys have been playing together since they were 7,” coach Dan Macioce said. The high-school age squad, made up mostly of players transitioning from the Plum varsity and JV teams this spring, is hoping for...

The Fox Chapel baseball team made a run at the Section 2-5A title this spring, challenging Plum for the championship into the final week of the regular season. The Foxes ended up tied for second with Mars at 9-3, one game behind the Mustangs. Fox Chapel, 11-8 overall in 2021,...

Patrick Monteverde realized his dream of playing Division I baseball this spring, and the Fox Chapel graduate said he quickly felt right at home in the red and black at Texas Tech. “I was extremely confident when I made my decision,” said Monteverde, a former pitcher at Seton Hill who...

Leah Smith was busy this week with three swims at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb. Her finale came in the 800-meter freestyle Friday morning, and the Oakland Catholic graduate placed 10th overall in a time of 8 minutes, 36.10 seconds. Smith is the second reserve for Saturday’s final...

Chuck Sarver always is busy this time of year. The president of the Freeport International Baseball Invitational has made and answered hundreds of texts and phone calls setting up a myriad of items related to the latest edition of the weeklong festival of youth baseball from July 27-31. It can...

The U.S. Olympic Swim Trials continued Thursday morning and local products Zoe Skirboll, Bailey Bonnett and Rick Mihm took to the pool in preliminary events in Omaha. Mihm, a North Allegheny graduate and freshman on the men’s team at Stanford University, is off to Thursday evening’s semifinals in the men’s...

A weird feeling came over Jen Koprivnikar on Tuesday. For the first time since February, the Highlands softball coach didn’t have a practice to run or a game to plan. The Golden Rams’ historic season came to a close Monday with a 4-0 loss to Beaver Area in the PIAA...

Michael Grady and Alex Miklasevich have been rowing together since their freshman year at Central Catholic in the fall of 2011. They have grown together in the sport through their four years together with the Vikings program, through respective collegiate careers, with opportunities at high-level camps, and at competitions both...

Oakland Catholic and Virginia grad Leah Smith finished eighth in the semifinals of the women’s 200-meter freestyle Tuesday evening at the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials in Omaha. Her time of 1 minute, 58.22 seconds helped clinch a spot in Wednesday evening’s finals with a pair of Olympic berths on the...

The Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame has enshrined and celebrated area athletic greats for 50 years, and now the signature plaques and photographs of past inductees have a permanent display in Tarentum. The record of local sports history is housed in a gallery at the renovated G.C. Murphy Building...

In only 16 months of competition, Sophia Gentile has made a name for herself as one of the nation’s top teen powerlifters. The Franklin Park resident’s efforts have translated into competition victories and both national and world records, and she is excited to keep pushing forward in the sport. “This...

Josh Matheny made a push for a top-two finish and a spot on Team USA on Monday evening in the finals of the men’s 100-meter breaststroke at the Wave II U.S. Olympic Swim Trials in Omaha, Neb. The Upper St. Clair grad and Indiana commit swam slightly faster than his...

For Emma Smerick, the softball field at Mars is out of this world. In the WPIAL Class 5A semifinals against Fox Chapel on May 25, Smerick bunted twice for singles and scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh. Smerick, back at Mars for Monday’s PIAA semifinals against...

Runs and hits were at a premium when Highlands and Beaver met for the WPIAL Class 4A softball championship June 2. It was shaping up the same way through five innings of Monday’s rematch in the PIAA semifinals at Mars. Bobcats junior pitcher Payton List and her counterpart, Golden Rams...

Upper St. Clair’s Josh Matheny kicked off his first U.S. Olympic Swim Trials competition Sunday night with a pair of top-eight swims in the preliminaries and semifinals of the Wave II men’s 100-meter breaststroke. Those finishes propelled him to Monday evening’s finals and a chance to earn a spot on...

Jess Cekada was mobbed by her Highlands teammates as the junior shortstop crossed home plate after hitting a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning of Thursday’s PIAA Class 4A quarterfinal game against Bishop McDevitt under the lights at Central Cambria High School. An inning earlier, senior second...

Class 4A Semifinals Highlands (18-5-1) vs. Beaver (19-0) 2 p.m. Monday at Mars Coaches: Jen Koprivinikar, Highlands; Amy Haggart, Beaver Winner plays: Winner of 11-1 Bethlehem Catholic (16-8)/2-1 Tunkhannock (22-2) Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in the finals at Beard Field, Penn State University. Players to watch: Jess Cekada, Jr., SS,...

Last summer, a group of baseball players from Gateway High School and one from South Fayette formed the Monroeville Gators team in the Western Pennsylvania Baseball League. The WPBL came about after the cancellation of the spring high school season because of the covid pandemic, and players from throughout the...