Michael Love stories, Page 21

WPIAL Class 2A swimmers took the baton from their Class 3A counterparts Friday morning at the PIAA swimming and diving championships at Bucknell University. Several of them over the six boys and six girls preliminary events punched their tickets to the evening’s championship finals heats with shots at state titles....

A trio of North Allegheny divers got the ball rolling Thursday afternoon with points scored in the PIAA Class 3A competition. Juniors Juliet Hood and Lola Malarky and sophomore Maggie Lapina finished second, third, and 10th, earning 40 points to the overall team total. Then the Tigers swimmers took over...

Holden Thomas owned the top seed in the Class 3A boys 100-yard backstroke and had his sights set on big things in the preliminaries Thursday morning on Day 2 of the PIAA swimming championships at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. The Franklin Regional senior, the WPIAL champion in the event with...

Fox Chapel junior Sarah Pasquella entered the finals of the girls Class 3A 100-yard breaststroke Thursday evening at Bucknell University as the second seed to North Allegheny’s Natalie Sens. Hoping to add a state title to her portfolio of accomplished swims, Pasquella swam to an all-time best in the finals...

A new PIAA Class 3A girls diving champion was guaranteed to be crowned Thursday afternoon at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. The champion the past three years, North Allegheny’s Christina Shi, graduated and is now diving at Harvard. Last year’s runner-up, Latrobe’s Hannah Polosky, also moved on and is at Pitt....

LEWISBURG — WPIAL swimmers will go after titles and additional medals Thursday evening on Day 2 of the PIAA Class 3A championships at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. Preliminary swims Thursday morning will give way to the consolation and championship finals this evening. Boys Upper St. Clair sophomore Nazar Zoukovski is...

Sylvia Roy won silver in the 50-yard freestyle at last year’s PIAA Class 3A swimming championships. In her return to Bucknell University on Wednesday, the Mt. Lebanon junior wanted gold. But in a fast 50 free championship heat, Roy was edged out for the title by State College sophomore Molly...

The Latrobe girls 200 free relay of Lauren Bell, Destini Homan, Hannah Carasia and Maggie Elder arrived at the PIAA Class 3A swim championships at Bucknell University on Wednesday seeded 14th. They had designs on improving their time of 1 minute, 38.42 seconds recorded in taking fifth at WPIALs on...

Fox Chapel junior Sarah Pasquella swam a time of 1 minute, 51.08 seconds in the preliminaries of the girls 200-yard freestyle Wednesday on Day 1 of the PIAA Class 3A championships at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. The time was identical to the one she swam in winning the WPIAL title...

Seneca Valley senior Isaiah Clerkley ended his high school diving career on the highest of high notes. The Penn State commit finished the 11-dive PIAA Class 3A championship meet Wednesday afternoon at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium with 570.40 points, roughly 80 points clear of the field, including runner up Alex...

WPIAL swimmers fared well in Day 1 preliminary swims at the PIAA Class 3A championships Wednesday morning at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. Several qualified for this evening’s championship heats involving the top-eight finishers from the prelim heats. Boys The North Allegheny boys 200-yard medley relay of William Gao, Gus Miller,...

Holden Thomas made his PIAA debut three years ago at Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg, 70 miles from Bucknell, the traditional site of the state swimming and diving championships. As a freshman in 2021, Thomas was the lead backstroke leg of Franklin Regional’s boys 200-yard medley relay that finished...

For Abby King, it was like mother, like daughter at the WPIAL Class 2A championships March 1 at Pitt’s Trees Pool. King’s mother, Daina (Cleveland) King, helped the 1991 Apollo-Ridge girls basketball team win the WPIAL Class 2A title and advance to states. Daina was on hand at Trees Pool...

Gateway sophomore Gunner Raymer briefly faced a measure of adversity right before his 200-yard freestyle swim at the WPIAL Class 3A championships Feb. 29 at Pitt’s Trees Pool. He had a minor equipment failure as his goggles broke. “That kind of gave me an adrenaline rush,” Raymer said. “You obviously...

When the Gateway boys bowling team wrapped up the Western Regional championship title March 2 at AMF Noble Manor Lanes, coach Joe Bowman got a message from two members of the last Gators team to qualify for the state tournament. “They (Mark Kuehn and Dominic Beau) shared a picture of...

There was history being made by both St. Joseph teams coming into their PIAA Class A first-round game Saturday in Natrona Heights. The St. Joseph Spartans, the senior-laden WPIAL runner-up, had done so much that had never been done before in program history the past several years. But Saturday’s game...

The Plum girls swim team fared well in a number of events at the WPIAL Class 3A championships Feb. 29 and March 1 at Pitt’s Trees Pool. The Mustangs clinched three PIAA appearances — the two freestyle relays and junior Giuliana Ricciuti in the 200-yard freestyle — and were close...

It was quite a turnaround this season for the Plum hockey team. The Mustangs were 3-16 a year ago. The organization’s board of directors felt a coaching change was needed, and Plum hockey alumnus Jon Gratton came on board. The returning team members hit the ice together in August and...

Slippery Rock sophomore pitcher Mackenzie Borkovich, a Fox Chapel graduate, was named the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday for her work against Shippensburg and Shepherd in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference doubleheaders over the previous two days. She was in the circle as a...

PIAA basketball playoffs Boys Class 3A First round Bishop Guilfoyle (23-4) at Burrell (16-9) 1 p.m. Saturday District seeds: Bishop Guilfoyle 6-3; Burrell 7-2 Winner plays: Winner of 10-1 Girard (23-2)/7-6 Derry (15-7) Wednesday in second round (time, site TBD) Players to watch: Jude Haigh, Bishop Guilfoyle; Macky Bennis, Burrell...

Coming off WPIAL consolation wins over Section 1-4A rivals Greensburg Salem and Knoch, the Highlands girls basketball team is preparing for what lies ahead in PIAA tournament play. The win over the Golden Lions got them in, and the Golden Rams’ victory over Knoch on Feb. 29 solidified the fifth-place...

Something had to give as the Carrick and Deer Lakes hockey teams came into Tuesday’s PIHL Varsity D2 quarterfinal at Ice Castle in Castle Shannon riding multi-game win streaks. The Cougars won five in a row to close the regular season, and the Lancers entered the playoffs having won four...

A change has been made to the order of finish between Mt. Pleasant junior Kiersten O’Connor and Hampton sophomore Lainey Sheets after their Class 2A 100-yard backstroke race Friday at the WPIAL championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool. Initially, O’Connor was the winner as her time of 55.37 seconds flashed on...

The Norwin and Fox Chapel hockey teams have gotten to know each other pretty well over the past three years, both in the regular season and in the Penguin Cup playoffs. On Monday at Palmer Imaging Arena in Delmont, the Knights and Foxes met for the third straight year in...

Sarah Corrie came close to securing a spot at the NCAA Division II indoor track and field championships. The Slippery Rock graduate student captured the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference shot put title Feb. 19 at Lehigh and helped her team win its seventh PSAC team title. Her season-best of 14.21...