High School category, Page 1103
No. 1 Fox Chapel pulls away to dump Penn-Trafford
There is a reason Fox Chapel is ranked No. 1 in Class 6A. The unbeaten Foxes didn’t flinch when Penn-Trafford made a run at them late in the third quarter Friday night. Fox Chapel showed its mettle and slowly reclaimed the momentum in a Section 3-6A battle and pulled away...
Once ‘overrated’ and ‘out of shape,’ Hempfield wrestlers march into WPIAL semifinals
When the Hempfield wrestling team was rated No. 1 early in the season, coach Tommy Dolde felt his team didn’t earn such a high praise. The Spartans then dropped a pair of matches late in December to Seneca Valley and Canon-McMillan and fell to No. 4. “Coach was right,” senior...
Burrell goes for 14th straight crown in WPIAL team wrestling finals Saturday
It is the second longest championship run in WPIAL history, and on Saturday, the Burrell wrestling team will try to extend it to another year. The Buccaneers have won 13 consecutive WPIAL Class AA team wrestling championships and are favored to make it 14 in a row Saturday afternoon at...
Trib HSSN Boys Swimmer of the Week: North Hills’ Joshua Bogniard
Joshua Bogniard continues to make his move up the swim ranks in WPIAL Class AAA. The North Hills junior owns the second-fastest time in the boys 100-yard freestyle, according to the most recent WPIAL performance lists released Monday at WPIAL.org. He clocked a time of 46.83 seconds in a meet...
Trib HSSN Girls Swimmer of the Week: Laurel Highlands’ Elizabeth Thomas
At last year’s WPIAL Class AA swimming championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool, Elizabeth Thomas was one of two freshmen to medal in the girls 100-yard backstroke. Quaker Valley’s Isabel Huang captured the WPIAL title, and Thomas, a Laurel Highlands product, placed fourth with a time of 1 minute, 1.58 seconds...
Burrell wrestling locked in on pursuit of 14th straight WPIAL team title
Over the past 14 years, teams have come and teams have gone from the WPIAL Class AA team wrestling final four. The one constant has been Burrell. And that consistency has extended to capturing the top trophy every year. The Bucs find themselves again in position to win it all....
Spotlight athlete: Fox Chapel’s Arnold Vento
Arnold Vento, a senior on the Fox Chapel basketball team, has helped the Foxes put together an outstanding season. As of Jan. 30, they had compiled a perfect record and clinched the section title with a win over Norwin on Jan. 28. Vento, a 6-foot-5 guard, has averaged double digits...
Gateway’s Tui Brown looks ahead to career at UConn
Gateway’s Tui Brown did not always know where he would end up going to college to further his football career and education. After several official visits and receiving offers from around 15 schools, Brown announced his commitment to Connecticut via twitter Jan. 27. An undeniable presence on both sides of...
New pool, new attitude for Thomas Jefferson swim team
The Thomas Jefferson swimming and diving program is thriving, thanks in large part to the school’s beautiful new 25-yard pool. The Jaguars have not had the luxury of swimming in their own home pool until this year, and the move has been great news for veteran coach John Penn and...
New pool at Thomas Jefferson gets visit from old friend Ryan Fagan
Thomas Jefferson’s new state-of-the-art pool had a distinguished visitor Jan. 21 when the Jaguars met Peters Township in a nonsection meet. Former TJ diving standout Ryan Fagan, an assistant coach at Peters Township, was in attendance, along with a large crowd. Fagan competed at TJ from 1999-2001 and was a...
Quaker Valley freshman MacDonald hits his stride at indoor rowing championship
Quaker Valley freshman Alex MacDonald is shining as a first-year rower. MacDonald, 14, earned a bronze medal in the under-16 boys final in the Pittsburgh Indoor Rowing Championship meet Jan. 25 at Carnegie Mellon. One of 28 finishers, he did 2,000 meters on an erg in 7 minutes, 21.6 seconds....
Quaker Valley freshman Fuener makes splash in freestyle
Quaker Valley freshman swimmer Ella Fuener is not super-competitive, coach Alexis Glenn said, but she’s still among the team’s best performers. Fuener has qualified for the WPIAL Class AA championship meet in late February in two events individually. Her time of 26.41 seconds in the girls 50-yard freestyle is on...
Quaker Valley, Sewickley Academy girls basketball teams gear up for playoffs
The Quaker Valley and Sewickley Academy girls basketball teams can breathe a small sigh of relief. Both programs secured WPIAL playoff berths with plenty of time to spare. Last season, the Quakers’ postseason hopes came down to their Section 2-4A finale against Ambridge. They pulled out a 45-43 victory to...
Penn-Trafford’s Prokopec leaves WCCAs with record time
Penn-Trafford junior swimmer Austin Prokopec considered himself lucky to set a meet record in the Westmoreland County Coaches Association championship Jan. 25. Prokopec came in first in the 500-yard freestyle in 4 minutes, 49.22 seconds. Franklin Regional senior Ryan McFaden (4:49.67) and Kiski Area freshman Levi Hansen (4:49.89) were less...
Hard work pays off for Pine-Richland wrestling team
January was a good month for the Pine-Richland wrestling team. It might have been the best month the program has experienced in the past decade. For starters, the Rams captured first place Jan. 18 at the Allegheny County tournament, besting a field of 37 teams for their first win at...
Norwin’s Ethan Tulenko breaks meet record at WCCAs
Norwin senior swimmer Ethan Tulenko went into the Westmoreland County Coaches Association championship Jan. 25 expecting to set a meet record, and he did. Tulenko came in first in the 200-yard freestyle in 1 minute, 41.81 seconds, close to three seconds faster than the pace set by Hempfield’s Zack Rulli...
High school roundup for Jan. 30, 2020: Beaver girls hoops topples Mohawk
It was a battle of No. 1 versus No. 2 in Class 3A as the second-ranked Beaver (16-3, 10-2) girls basketball team put on a strong defensive performance to beat top-ranked Mohawk (16-3, 10-2) for a Section 1-3A victory 54-44. After trailing 13-11 through the first quarter, Beaver outscored the...
High school scores, schedules for Jan. 30, 2020
High Schools Basketball Boys Friday’s schedule WPIAL Class 6A Section 1 Central Catholic at Butler, 7:30 p.m. North Hills at Pine-Richland, 7:30 p.m. Seneca Valley at North Allegheny, 7:30 p.m. Section 2 Baldwin at Canon-McMillan, 6 p.m. Peters Township at Mt. Lebanon, 7:30 p.m. Upper St. Clair at Bethel Park,...
Belle Vernon girls hold on for section win against McKeesport
Two days ago, Belle Vernon girls basketball coach Ronnie Drennen made a statement with the utmost confidence. “We have a big two games coming up, McKeesport and Southmoreland, and we’re going to beat one or both of them,” Drennen said. On Thursday, the Leopards checked one of those off the...
Rochester races to big lead, holds on to clinch section title
Rochester opened the game with an 18-2 run and held off Vincentian Academy down the stretch Thursday night in a 56-49 victory. With the win, the top-ranked Rams clinched the Section 1-A championship and are headed toward a top seed in the WPIAL playoffs. The Rams (19-1, 11-0) capitalized on...
WPIAL clinched: Girls basketball clinchings through Jan. 30, 2020
The WPIAL girls basketball regular season is winding down. There is less than two weeks left in section play. The playoff field is starting to grow. When the regular season ends, at least 68 girls basketball teams will earn a spot in the WPIAL postseason. Trib HSSN will once again...
Christiane Frye leads Central Valley past Blackhawk
Central Valley is right back in the Section 2-4A championship race. Christiane Frye made sure of that. The senior guard tallied a game-high 26 points Thursday night to lead the Warriors to a 58-50 win at Blackhawk in a key Section 2-4A showdown. The victory tied Central Valley (15-2 overall,...
Shaler hockey trying to salvage season
Things were admittedly bleak for Shaler Area senior Blake Kucharski and teammates. Heading into the holiday break, the Titans hockey team didn’t have much to show in the win column. Losing 10 of their first 11 contests had Kucharski, an assistant captain, and Shaler searching for answers. “I think we...
Chartiers Valley boys basketball piles up wins but searches for perfect game
Nobody is perfect. That hasn’t stopped the Chartiers Valley boys basketball team’s pursuit of that elusive ideal. A perfect record would have been nice, but, at this point, all second-year coach Brandon Sensor is looking for is a perfect game. He wants to see a night when the Colts are...
Penn Hills girls basketball team stays in WPIAL playoff hunt
Last season, the Penn Hills girls basketball team was on the doorstep to the WPIAL Class 5A championship game. This year, after all the seniors left, the Indians find themselves fighting for their WPIAL playoff lives down the stretch of the regular season. The Indians (8-11, 6-5), who have only...
