John Grupp stories, Page 6

Three days after Christmas, the Hampton boys basketball team wasn’t feeling very joyful. The Talbots were tied with upset-minded Grove City, 28-28, midway through the third quarter of the Hampton Holiday Tournament championship game. Star senior guard Peter Kramer was in foul trouble and still hadn’t scored a point. So...

Hampton senior Caleb Rihn heard “a large pop” from his left knee during club wrestling practice in early November. “It was pretty bad,” he said. “We kind of knew right away that it was my ACL.” Rihn was certain of something else — he wasn’t going to miss his final...

The Hampton girls basketball team flew to California over Christmas break for a three-day tournament and visited several popular spots around San Diego. The Talbots want their next trip to be a return visit to the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs. Hampton shrugged off a 1-4 start to win five out...

Former Hampton star Laryn Edwards was sitting in the Providence women’s basketball office in late November when coach Erin Batth entered in a bit of a pickle. Her starting point guard had suffered an injury, leaving the Friars with only two healthy ball handlers, both freshmen. Batth asked Edwards, a...

Hampton didn’t have to look too far to find its new softball coach. There was someone in the Talbots’ own backyard. Kate Hedderman, a private softball instructor who runs a training facility in Hampton, was hired in late November to replace longtime coach Ron Fedell. “I know a lot of...

Hampton’s Lainey Sheets was the only freshman in the state who finished top five at last season’s PIAA Class 2A Swimming championships. And she did it twice. Sheets, who placed third in the 100 backstroke and fourth in the 200 IM, is back for her sophomore season having already established...

Hampton swimming coach Morgan Zweygardt can count on two hands the number of boys on her roster this season. Two years removed from winning back-to-back WPIAL Class 2A titles, the Talbots are in rebuilding mode with just nine swimmers. It is the leanest roster in Zweygardt’s eight seasons, and it...

Playing at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center each of the past two seasons was a dream come true for the Aquinas Academy girls basketball team. Now they just want the dream to have a better ending. The Crusaders return their top four scorers from last season’s team, which lost at the...

The Aquinas Academy boys basketball team spent more time this offseason in the weight room than ever before. They were getting ready for some heavy lifting. Vinnie Cugini, who scored 3,189 career points to shatter a 30-year-old WPIAL mark, has graduated, leaving behind a nearly 44-point-per-game hole in the Crusaders’...

The Hampton wrestling team’s season-ending banquet last March was more about eyeing the future than remembering the past. Returning seven WPIAL qualifiers from last season’s senior-less roster, the Talbots turned their focus to ending a three-year playoff drought and contending for the Section 5-2A team title. “We didn’t have any...

Hampton star point guard Meghan Murray is being realistic when she expects the Talbots to start slow this season. With two-fifths of their starting lineup playing deep into November for the school’s WPIAL champion and PIAA finalist volleyball team, the Talbots girls basketball team got a late start to cohesive...

The journey began innocently enough, at a spring-time middle school volleyball tournament at Montour. A team of seventh-grade Hampton girls, competing together for the first time, surprised everyone by winning the title. “We were brand new to volleyball,” said senior Avery Koontz, who would develop into an all-WPIAL libero. “I...

Hampton boys basketball coach Joe Lafko called it the “X factor” this season. Coming off a 24-win season, the Talbots are looking for complementary scorers behind star senior guard Peter Kramer. Hampton lost first-team all-section guard Eric Weeks, the team’s second-leading scorer at 13.1 points per game, and three-year starting...

Hampton hockey coach Buck McKee knew some growing pains awaited his young Talbots this season. With a combined 12 freshmen and sophomores on the 18-man roster, experience was the biggest missing ingredient. “They are all very talented, and as far as the skill level goes, I think we are deeper...

The Hampton boys soccer team prepared for the 2023 season by attending soccer camp in mid-August in Edinboro that included a trip to a nearby water park. Then the Talbots made a splash. Hampton put together another memorable season, rolling to the Section 1-3A title, returning to the WPIAL finals...

The Hampton girls volleyball team gathered Wednesday afternoon to watch videos of their PIAA championship opponent, Pope John Paul II. They could have been looking at a mirror. “I think we’re the two most offensively powerful teams in the state,” Hampton all-state senior outside hitter Emmy Schrom said. “Both of...

On their way home from the PIAA Class 2A cross country championships in Hershey, the Hampton boys were met at the turnpike by township fire trucks and escorted to the high school three miles down Route 8. Their long journey ended in style. The Talbots, coming off their third consecutive...

Hampton’s Peter Kramer was cold, standing in nearly a half-foot of snow with a shovel in his hands. With gyms closed during the covid lockdown, Kramer was digging out the little concrete basketball court in the backyard of his Hampton home so he could practice in the winter of 2020....

Every player who scored a goal this season for the Hampton girls soccer team has one thing in common — she’ll be back. The Talbots will return all 10 starting field players and a bunch of key reserves from this season’s 14-5 WPIAL playoff qualifier. “I would like to think...

The Hampton football season began with an injury and ended with an insult. The Talbots lost their starting quarterback to a season-ending knee injury in training camp and then narrowly missed the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs on a tiebreaker. “It was definitely challenging,” second-year coach Steve Sciullo said. “We can’t...

The Hampton girls tennis team stopped at a restaurant on the way home from its PIAA Class 2A playoff match Oct. 24 in Erie. The most successful season in program history had come to a halt with a 5-0 loss at Cathedral Prep. But the tears had dried, leaving only...

The first time Hampton running back Brock Borgo touched the football in a meaningful varsity carry, he raced 58 yards for a touchdown. He was a sophomore at the time and, after getting only four varsity carries as a freshman, burst onto the scene against Valley in the 2021 opener....

Aquinas Academy missed the WPIAL Class A boys soccer playoffs this season, but the Crusaders kept opposing goalies busy. Aquinas scored 47 goals, the most in coach Mat Anselmino’s five-year tenure, capped with a 5-0 victory over California on Oct. 16 in the season finale. “There was definitely more emphasis...

Since last season’s fourth-place finish at states, the Hampton boys cross country team has been focused on a return trip to Hershey. But one small hurdle remains — The WPIAL Class 2A championships. The loaded Talbots are overwhelming favorites to claim their third consecutive district title Thursday (Oct. 26) at...

The only running Nathan Garrett did at last year’s WPIAL cross country championships was to urge on his Eden Christian teammates. He will be much busier this year. Ineligible for last year’s postseason after transferring from Hampton, Garrett will enter the 2023 WPIAL Class A championships Oct. 26 as one...