Michael Love stories, Page 77
Brian Miller named athletic director at Plum
Just a couple weeks after Josh Shoop stepped down as Plum’s athletic director, the school district’s board of directors on Tuesday hired his replacement who will guide the Mustangs teams through the remainder of the winter season, into the spring season and beyond. Brian Miller comes to Plum with more...
Fox Chapel boys, Knoch girls refocus after getting look at WPIAL playoff pairings
The WPIAL boys and girls basketball playoff brackets were released Monday, and the Fox Chapel boys and Knoch girls, as predicted, earned byes into the quarterfinals. For the Knights, who reached the Class 4A semifinals last year, a 19-2 record from the regular season and a first section championship in...
Gateway graduate Jordan Edwards finds scoring touch at High Point
Jordan Edwards Jordan Edwards has made a scoring impact as of late for the High Point women’s basketball team in NCAA Division I. The 5-foot-7 senior guard and Gateway graduate scored a season-high 14 points last Wednesday in a 65-57 victory over Radford which put the Panthers at 11-11 overall...
Gateway’s Holmes siblings look forward to WPIAL championships
Andrew Holmes has his sights set on more WPIAL gold at Pitt’s Trees Pool in a couple weeks as he hopes to add to last year’s WPIAL title in the 200-yard freestyle. But the versatile Gateway senior also is ready to dive into swimming at the next level as he...
Plum athletes off to strong start during indoor track season
Plum cross country and track and field coach Stephanie Kennedy is optimistic as she looks ahead to the outdoor track season. Those positive feelings, she said, have their genesis in the work a number of Mustangs athletes have put in this winter in advance of moving outdoors early next month....
Kiski Area girls avenge loss against Plum
When the Plum and Kiski Area girls basketball teams met Jan. 26 at Plum, the Mustangs came away with a victory. Plum hoped for a season sweep Friday as the Section 2-5A rivals rematched at Kiski Area. But the Cavaliers had other plans, and they celebrated senior night with a...
Before heading to Providence, Plum’s Glasspool has sights set on WPIAL success
Elizabeth Glasspool hopes to make a big splash in the smallest state in the country. The Plum senior swimming standout recently signed a national letter of intent to compete for Providence in Rhode Island. “My dad and I found out about the program, and we got in touch with the...
Deer Lakes girls basketball gets in playoff mode early
Nikki Fleming said she and her Deer Lakes girls basketball teammates didn’t know what to expect at the start of the season with a new coach and a new system in place. But the Lancers senior guard pointed to strong team chemistry as a catalyst to improve as the season...
Highlands girls basketball team erupts for win vs. Freeport
The Highlands girls basketball team entered Monday’s Section 1-4A matchup with Freeport averaging 54.5 points, and its previous season high of 76 points came last week in a 22-point nonsection win over Keystone Oaks. The Golden Rams blew past that season average and topped the Keystone Oaks total by one...
Gateway’s Engleka to join Division III powerhouse
The University of Mt. Union has been the standard for football success in NCAA Division III for the past three decades. The Raiders have won 13 national titles since 1993 with the most recent one coming in 2017. Undefeated records have accompanied several of those championships. Carsen Engleka hopes to...
Central Catholic’s Brown to join longtime friend at Mt. Union
Monroeville resident Jaden Brown reached out to longtime friend Jaired Lehman, a Gateway graduate, as he went through his college baseball recruiting process. Brown, a senior at Central Catholic who attended Gateway through eighth grade, was exploring Division III stalwart Mt. Union, and Lehman, a sophomore outfielder with the Raiders,...
Long time coming: Knoch wins win 1st section title in 50 years
A 50-year section-championship drought came to an end Saturday afternoon as the Knoch girls basketball team held off a furious fight from Highlands to capture the Section 1-4A crown with a 56-48 victory in front of a large and spirited home crowd. “The girls have played a couple of playoff...
Before heading to Providence, Plum’s Glasspool has sights set on WPIAL success
Elizabeth Glasspool hopes to make a big splash in the smallest state in the country. The Plum senior swimming standout recently signed a National Letter of Intent to compete for the Big East’s Providence College in Rhode Island. “My dad and I found out about the program, and we got...
Plum football standouts look forward to playing at next level
After four years of contributions to the Plum football team on offense, defense and special teams, Logan Brooks is taking his talents north to Erie. The Mustangs senior standout signed a National Letter of Intent on Feb. 2 to continue his athletic endeavors at Edinboro. The transition, Brooks said, is...
Plum seeking new athletic director after Josh Shoop resigns
The Plum School District is moving forward with plans to hire a new athletic director. Josh Shoop resigned from the post earlier this week citing family reasons for his decision. His last day at Plum was Tuesday. “I have a 6- and an 8-year-old at home, and the amount of...
Burrell wrestling teams moves 1 step closer to 16th consecutive WPIAL Class 2A title
No. 1 remains alive for No. 16. The Burrell wrestling team, the top seed in the WPIAL Class 2A tournament, took care of business Wednesday with a 57-18 triumph over No. 9 Montour. The victory sends the Bucs to the WPIAL semifinals Saturday at Chartiers-Houston and puts them a step...
High stakes as Knoch, Highlands girls set for showdown Saturday
The Knoch girls basketball team stands on the cusp of securing the Section 1-4A championship. That hasn’t happened in Saxonburg since 1972, when the Knights, as well as all other girls teams in the region, played in the Western Pennsylvania Girls Athletic League before joining the WPIAL for the 1973-74...
Freeport International Baseball Invitational looks to bring in overseas teams for 2022 event
Despite recent temperatures in the single digits and snow on the ground, officials and others connected to the Freeport International Baseball Invitational are thinking of warm and sunny weather as plans move forward with this summer’s 28th annual event. FIBI president Chuck Sarver said Monday that a team from Israel...
Fox Chapel swim teams speeding toward section titles
Payton O’Toole made a splash two years ago as a freshman at Burrell with a fifth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle at the WPIAL Class 2A championships at Pitt’s Trees Pool. She also was sixth in the 500 free. A trip to states in the 200 free was dashed as...
A-K Valley senior spotlight: Plum’s Vince Citrano
Whether it’s been by decision, major decision, fall or technical fall, Plum senior Vince Citrano has been on point with his goals for his final high school wrestling season. Led by his second Allegheny County tournament championship — he also won as a sophomore in 2020 — Citrano is 18-0...
Gateway grad Olivia Miller helping to lead Pitt gymnastics in final year of competition
Olivia Miller knew Pitt was it during her sophomore year at Gateway High School. The standout gymnast made her mark at the club level for Gymkhana in Plum before joining the Panthers program for her freshman season in 2019. Now in her fourth and final year of competition with Pitt,...
Gateway freshman Raymer hunting gold at WPIAL championship meet
There were high expectations for Hunter Raymer as he entered his freshman swim season at Gateway a couple of months ago. A distance specialist who has shown his versatility in events up and down the lineup, Raymer is meeting those expectations, and he also is hoping to exceed them with...
Plum’s Kvortek ready to score high at WPIAL gymnastics championships
Sarah Kvortek realized the fulfillment of a goal last season as she stood at the top of the podium at the WPIAL individual gymnastics championships at Moon High School. The Plum junior celebrated her second varsity season with a gold medal on bars in the Intermediate I (Gold) division. With...
Kiski Area boys make late run to get past Gateway in Section 3-5A
With four minutes left in Friday’s Section 3-5A boys basketball matchup between Gateway and Kiski Area, the visiting Gators held a one-point advantage and hoped to make a run to put the game on ice. But the Cavaliers wanted none of that. Kiski Area outscored Gateway, 15-6, down the stretch...
Kiski Area swimmers Hansen, Sterlitz have sights set on top spots at WCCA meet
As freshmen in 2020, Levi Hansen and Parker Sterlitz made a run at the boys 500-yard freestyle title at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association championships at Derry High School. Hansen took third, and Sterlitz was fourth behind then-junior Austin Prokopec from Penn-Trafford and then-senior Ryan McFaden from Franklin Regional. Fast...
