Chris Harlan stories, Page 34

South Fayette senior Maddie Webber, a Villanova recruit who led the Lions to a WPIAL title and a PIAA runner-up finish this winter, was named the state’s Class 5A girls basketball player of the year by all-state voters. Webber was one of 21 WPIAL athletes who earned all-state honors Monday...

Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Seneca Valley, 9-1, 2 2. Norwin, 11-2, 3 3. Hempfield, 11-2, 1 4. North Allegheny, 10-4, 4 5. Canon-McMillan, 4-7, 5 Out: none Class 5A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Shaler, 12-0, 1 2. Armstrong, 11-1, 2 3. Trinity, 10-1, 3 4. West...

Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. North Allegheny, 9-2, 2 2. Pine-Richland, 11-4, 3 3. Seneca Valley, 11-2, 1 4. Hempfield, 9-4, 4 5. Butler, 6-5, 5 Out: none Class 5A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Shaler, 10-3, 1 2. Bethel Park, 8-4, 2 3. North Hills, 10-2, 3...

After not running track for a year, North Allegheny sprinter Khiryn Boyd was curious about the times being run this spring and how his compared with his competitors. He learned two things: One, you can’t always trust your competitors. And, two, he’s still fast. “I asked a kid before a...

Statewide efforts to recruit and retain high school game officials are seeing some positive results, said a PIAA administrator who oversees the men and women in stripes. “From Sept. 1 until today, we’re up 500 officials in Pennsylvania,” said PIAA assistant executive director Patrick Gebhart, who spoke Wednesday at the...

The WPIAL saw an increased number of applicants for the James Collins Scholar-Athlete Award this year, and Wednesday announced 20 winners from the 162 nominees. The selection committee chose 10 boys and 10 girls. Each receives a $1,000 scholarship. The boys winners were Trinity’s Ty Banco, Waynesburg’s Michael Church, Aquinas...

Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Seneca Valley, 9-0, 1 2. North Allegheny 5-2, 2 3. Pine-Richland, 9-3, 4 4. Hempfield, 7-3, NR 5. Butler, 5-5, 3 Out: Central Catholic (3-5, 5) Class 5A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Shaler, 9-1, 1 2. Bethel Park, 6-3, 5 3. North...

Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Hempfield, 9-1 3 2. Seneca Valley, 7-1, 1 3. Norwin, 8-2, 4 4. North Allegheny, 8-3, 2 5. Canon-McMillan, 3-5, NR Out: Pine-Richland (2-8, 5) Class 5A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Shaler, 9-0, 1 2. Armstrong, 8-1, 2 3. Trinity, 8-1, 3...

Mars girls basketball coach Dana Petruska is retiring after 37 years and more than 500 wins, in part because there were too many wannabe coaches in the stands. Petruska said this was a frustrating winter for various reasons, some being nobody’s fault. The team lost a top player to a...

Recent history says the North Allegheny girls have a good chance to repeat as WPIAL team track champions later this spring. Consider, in the past 30 years, no Class 3A girls champion has won the title only once. Teams tend to win it again and again. For instance, the Butler...

South Park’s new football coach is already very familiar with the program. Longtime assistant Brian Abbey, who won a state championship with the Eagles as a player, was promoted to head coach, the school announced Friday. A 2001 graduate, Abbey returned to his alma mater as an assistant in 2004...

Moon has hired a new athletic director to replace Ron Ledbetter, who is retiring this summer after a 33-year career as an educator. The school on Thursday announced the hire of current Beaver athletic director Alan Alcalde. Alcalde, who spent four years at Beaver, starts June 1. “Moon has a...

When Butler’s Braylon Littlejohn committed to Miami (Ohio) on Tuesday, folks weren’t asking him about his choice of schools, but rather his choice of sports. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound junior will play defensive back for the RedHawks football team. “Everyone was texting me, ‘You committed for football?’” Littlejohn said. “I don’t...

Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Seneca Valley, 5-0, 1 2. North Allegheny, 7-2, 2 3. Hempfield, 6-1, 3 4. Norwin, 6-2, 5 5. Pine-Richland, 2-5, NR Out: Mt. Lebanon (2-3, 4) Class 5A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Shaler, 7-0, 2 2. Armstrong, 5-1, 3 3. Trinity, 6-1,...

Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Seneca Valley, 7-0, 3 2. North Allegheny, 3-1, 4 3. Butler, 4-3, 5 4. Pine-Richland, 6-3, 2 5. Central Catholic, 3-4, 1 Out: none Class 5A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Shaler, 7-1, 4 2. South Fayette, 7-1, 1 3. Franklin Regional, 7-1,...

The North Allegheny softball players were individually asked by their coaches to pick one word to describe the program. It wasn’t a serious task, just a light-hearted word-association game. When a majority chose “family,” that certainly made coach Morgan Vescovi smile. “That’s so important for how much time these girls...

Penn State landed its first WPIAL running back recruit since Miles Sanders when Belle Vernon’s Quinton Martin committed to the Nittany Lions. Martin, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound junior, announced his decision Friday on Twitter. He chose Penn State from a list of college offers that included both Pitt and West Virginia,...

Scoring 1,000 points in a high school career remains an impressive feat in WPIAL basketball, but remarkably, the league saw its first 3,000-point scorer this winter. Combined, the 10 members of the TribLive Terrific 10 accounted for nearly 15,000 career points and they’re not done yet. The list includes five...

2023 Boys Basketball Player of the Year Meleek Thomas Lincoln Park 6-4, sophomore, guard When Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari visited a Lincoln Park practice this winter, he stressed the importance of having a good floater. “He said to shoot a right-hand floater and a left-hand floater,” sophomore Meleek Thomas...

South Fayette won a second consecutive WPIAL girls basketball title this winter, North Allegheny won its third in four years and North Catholic won its sixth since 2017. Those powerhouse teams and more are represented here in the TribLive HSSN girls basketball all-stars for 2023. Terrific 10 Maddie Webber South...

Eighteen years ago, Steve Lodovico applied to be Blackhawk’s boys basketball coach, hoping to replace his legendary mentor John Miller, who was retiring. Instead, the school offered Lodovico the girls program. “I really wanted the boys job at that point, so I turned it down,” he said. “I didn’t want...

Class 6A 1. Seneca Valley, 1-0, 1 2. North Allegheny, 5-1, 5 3. Hempfield, 4-1, 3 4. Mt. Lebanon, 0-1, 2 5. Norwin, 4-1, NR Out: Pine-Richland (2-3, 4) Class 5A 1. North Hills, 5-0, 4 2. Shaler, 5-0, NR 3 Armstrong, 3-1, 1 4. Trinity, 4-1, 3 5. Latrobe,...

Class 6A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. Central Catholic, 1-1, 1 2. Pine-Richland, 5-1, 2 3. Seneca Valley, 4-0, NR 4. North Allegheny, 1-0, 4 5. Butler, 2-2, 5 Out: Mt. Lebanon (0-4, 3) Class 5A Rank, Team, W-L, Last 1. South Fayette, 2-0, 1 2. West Allegheny, 3-0, 3...

The Philadelphia Catholic League opponent Deer Lakes faced in the state basketball finals played tremendous defense, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone, the Lancers’ coach said. “I could put together one hell of a defensive team right now if I could make some phone calls for next year,” coach Albie Fletcher...

The senior-heavy lineup that won a state championship has graduated. The head coach who led the program for two decades has retired. Yes, this is a season of change for the North Allegheny boys volleyball team. The defending WPIAL and PIAA champions have only two seniors on the roster. Fortunately,...