Michael Love stories, Page 15

The second Saturday in July usually brings hot weather for any outside activity. That was the case July 13 as the sun and heat baked Garden City Pool, the site of an annual youth swimming tradition. Despite the warm temperatures, more than 200 competitors from five area swim clubs gathered...

The Plum boys basketball team had five or six open-gym workouts in May with new coach Dave Pucka before jumping right into the Pittsburgh Basketball Club summer league at Central Catholic and Gateway high schools. “We only had one offensive set in and, I think, two out-of-bounds plays. That was...

At this time of the year, Chuck Sarver is full of anxious anticipation and optimism. The president of the Freeport International Baseball Invitational, which begins Monday evening at James E. Swartz Sr. Memorial Field in Freeport Borough, is ready to greet more than two dozen youth baseball teams to the...

Last summer, Ian Benson marveled as he looked out on the then-brand new outdoor basketball courts along Barnes Street in New Kensington. It was the first time in the five years of the Kings & Queens of the Court summer youth basketball program that it was held there as more...

A total of 15 contenders, including Captain Albano, the Dan Patch Award Winner for 2-year-old male pacers as well as Pennsylvania’s champion, will enter Saturday’s pair of eliminations for the Delvin Miller Adios Pace for the Orchids at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows. The elimination heats, both of which will...

Even before Raevaan Mottley arrived at Apollo-Ridge as the new varsity girls basketball head coach in late May, his players were taking part in open gyms. A pair of games in the St. Joseph spring/summer league also were scheduled. “Apollo-Ridge, they were doing things right,” said Mottley, a Greensburg Salem...

The start of high school football practices throughout the state begin in less than a month, and Thomas Jefferson two-way lineman Shep Turk has a singular focus when it comes to being ready to start his senior season. Conditioning and agility training, weight room work, and play study are what...

Last year in its inaugural season, the Gateway Gators Youth Track and Field club began with 60 athletes ages 7 to 18 before that number tailed off somewhat as the season progressed. But both the coaches and athletes were able to draw a lot of positives from that first season,...

The America’s Mile on Friday evening on the North Shore was a new take on an annual summer running tradition. But while the name changed — it formerly was the Fleet Feet Liberty Mile — and the location moved from the Cultural District Downtown to a finish line in the...

Garett Huff is no stranger to high-level wrestling competition. The rising sophomore from Plum hopes to make his mark with a new venture next weekend, one that is steeped in tradition for the quality matches it produces every summer. USA Wrestling’s U.S. Marine Corps Junior and 16U Nationals in Fargo,...

Rich Nesbit had a routine he followed thousands of times. As the owner of his family’s namesake Nesbit’s Lanes in Plum, he would arrive at the facility, make sure all the machines were on, get the snack bar started, check to see if all the bathrooms were clean and do...

From June 5 to July 3, the Lower Burrell American Legion baseball team played 18 District 31 league games. It was a four-week sprint to the finish, and while the Post 868 Bulldogs, one of the younger teams in the 14-team league, didn’t finish with the record it had hoped,...

Shane Kuhn left it all out on the field and on the mat for the Kiski Area football and wrestling teams. The 2014 graduate earned eight varsity letters across both sports while garnering numerous accolades for his performances. Kuhn was a two-time all-conference tight end and was all-state as a...

Brice Flenory and Tonya (Pryor) Norman wowed fans of the Valley basketball teams during their time on the high school hardcourt. Norman graduated from Valley in 1989 and went on to a collegiate hoops career at Duquesne. Flenory graduated in 1998 after a playing career that included back-to-back Valley News...

Joe Hohman may not be the biggest name in area basketball coaching circles, but the long-tenured varsity boys coach at St. Bernadette’s school in Monroeville, now Divine Mercy Academy, has built a successful winning resume for 35 years while also serving as a trusted mentor to hundreds of players who...

Player of the Year Sydney Selker Freeport, Senior, Pitcher When Sydney Selker was forced to miss the last half of her junior softball season because of injury, thoughts turned forward to this past spring and how she would rebound and be a driving force in getting Freeport back to the...

Lola Abraham enjoyed one of the most prolific high school careers in WPIAL girls soccer history, and that included a 2023 senior season when she scored 77 goals and added 20 assists to help lead the Riverview girls soccer team to the WPIAL and PIAA title games. A bevy of...

When Josh Shields stepped down as Burrell head wrestling coach a couple of weeks ago, he wanted to convey to the returning underclassmen that while he won’t have the same title, he wants to be present to help them reach their goals. “Hopefully, I will be able to volunteer at...

Temperatures hovered in the mid 80s under a setting sun as Team Gold and Team Black gathered Tuesday evening for a celebration of the 2024 WPIAL softball season. Many of the region’s best senior players tested their skill in the inaugural Western PA Softball All-Star Game, a relaxed and fun...

Last month, Jarrett Heilman entered the transfer portal after three successful seasons with the Mercyhurst baseball team and a fourth that never materialized because of an elbow injury and subsequent surgery. The Freeport graduate, the 2023 PSAC West Pitcher of the Year, now has a new home for his final...

Many of the top senior softball players in the WPIAL will gather Tuesday evening for an all-star game at Plum High School. The inaugural Western PA Softball All-Star Game between Team Gold and Team Black is set for 8 p.m., a change from the original 6 p.m. start time. Players...

The Gateway boys bowling team finished fourth overall at the Pennsylvania State Championships in March at Leisure Lanes in Lancaster. But it wasn’t the final event of the season for the team, which returned to Leisure Lanes on June 8-10 for the U.S. High School Bowling Foundation’s National Championships. “We...

The Monroeville Junior Legion baseball team concluded the 2023 season in the Pennsylvania state playoffs, capping a successful summer that saw them win 19 of 30 games. Post 820 started the run by surviving a rugged regular season and playoff tournament in the Westmoreland County League. Monroeville coach Mark Rawls...

Members of the Plum Junior League baseball team are playing a lot this month between their community team and travel baseball. It is keeping them on their toes, and second-year coach Markus Cestra hopes that by the end of the month, his team, with players mostly from seventh through 10th...

Gabe Norris and Michael Sullivan have been friends for close to 16 years as they got to know each other on the soccer pitch at 5 or 6 years of age. No matter the travels through life on and off the field, it has been a bond that’s hard to...