Ray Fisher stories, Page 44

Their priority is to win, and keep winning. With halfback Angelo Priore and quarterback Mason Stahl in the backfield once again, Baldwin’s quest to secure a playoff berth appears doable. Priore is a 5-foot-10, 220-pound senior and third-year starter. He is all muscle and he has speed, posting a 4.52...

News from around the Thomas Jefferson campus: • Michael “Doc” Kulish is beginning his 27th year as coach of the boys soccer program. He has 364 wins in his career at TJ. His son, Michael Jr., is starting his 18th season as the junior varsity coach. Michael Jr. has registered...

Three senior volleyball players at Thomas Jefferson from last season — defensive specialists Julia Fiedor, Mia Como and Julia Micklo — were lauded in April as Outstanding Young Citizens by Trib Total Media. Fiedor and Micklo were three-year letter-winners in volleyball. Como earned two varsity letters. I was able to...

The phrase “Big Man on Campus” could have applied to Eric Fairman at Cal (Pa.) this year. Also, possibly, the “Big E.” Fairman, a former three-sport standout at Thomas Jefferson, recently wrapped up an outstanding four-year career with the Vulcans baseball program. And he elevated it to sensational level this...

It was time for a summer facelift. Baldwin Stadium has a new and refreshed look to it, accented with a deep, rich purple color. By the end of July, new stadium turf — with new logos from the district — and a new surrounding asphalt sidewalk had been installed. The...

Baldwin senior Anna Baloh has taken her game to another level. Baloh, an athletic 5-foot-5 outside hitter and third-year starter on the girls volleyball team, recently competed with BIP Chicago at the 15th annual Global Challenge held in Pula, Croatia. “I’m actually in Croatia playing in the Global Challenge with...

The Baldwin football team is highly motivated. Moreso than most. The Fighting Highlanders’ 2018 season ended with a bitter taste, as they missed out on a WPIAL Class 5A playoff berth by one game. They are laser-focused on advancing to the postseason this fall. “We have been doing just about...

They are the reigning 11U state champions, and they are eager to defend their crown. The girls on the West Point Little League softball team will kick off their quest for back-to-back titles soon. Beginning Friday, West Point Little League of Pennsylvania Section 2, District 26, is hosting the 11U...

As sophomores, they captured a section title, advanced to the WPIAL second round and posted 12-2 record. In their junior season, the Baldwin netters again won a section crown, advanced to the WPIAL finals and PIAA first round, and finished 15-3. The Highlanders, loaded with experience and depth, will be...

For years, students entering the Thomas Jefferson athletic office were greeted by secretary Stephanie Campano. Campano worked in the athletic office alongside athletic director and football coach Bill Cherpak, cordially known as Cherp, from 2002-19. She seemingly always greeted anyone going into the office with a smile or kind word....

Mike Huber is fixated on his senior season with the Thomas Jefferson baseball team. Even in the summer months. Huber, a junior first baseman at TJ this past spring, competed recently for the Renegades Elite 17U team, traveling to tournaments in Atlanta, Cincinnati and Columbus. Along with Huber, the Renegates’...

Sporting a 4.101 GPA and top-10 class rank while serving as Technology Student Association president, Simon Accamando wasn’t flummoxed by much during his 2018-19 senior year at Brentwood. However, he was pleasantly surprised by the announcement at the Brentwood High Athletic Boosters all-sports banquet that he was named senior male...

The final tally is in for the borough winners at the 36th annual Brentwood Firecracker 5K Run. For the fourth consecutive year, Neil Christopher, 24, took first place in the male division. His time was 18 minutes, 19 seconds. His best mark (17:53) was attained in 2017 . He also...

One of the leading competitors at the 2019 Brentwood Firecracker 5K Run was diminutive Gina Bolla, a Whitehall resident and a rising junior at Baldwin. Bolla, 16, placed second in 15-18 female age division with a time of 20 minutes, 27 seconds, behind only Gionna Quarzo, 16, of Vanderbilt, who...

Two things that can be counted on to take place on the morning of the Fourth of July holiday are: 1) the Brentwood Firecracker 5K Run and 2) that it will be hot and humid. It was more of the same in 2019 at the 5K race Thursday that annually...

Plum’s Junior Legion baseball team prepped for the playoffs in fine fashion. The Junior Mustangs blanked Riverview, 16-0, and Lower Burrell, 9-0, last week to end the Westmoreland County Youth Legion regular season with a 14-2 record. Plum and Monroeville finished with identical records atop the North Division, but Monroeville...

The Monroeville Junior Legion baseball program hopes to end the summer season batting .500. Monroeville won its first Westmoreland County Youth Legion championship last year in the program’s third year of existence. Another title this summer will make it two in four years. “It was a highly successful season, and...

Julianna Winkowski participated in two sports in high school. But there’s no doubt about which one she enjoyed the most. “My favorite sport was swimming,” said Winkowski, a recent Brentwood graduate. “The amount of peace and relaxation that being in the water brings me is impossible to describe. I love...

Notebook items from around the Baldwin campus: • Baldwin graduate Taylor Dadig secured a starting job at shortstop in her freshman season on the George Mason softball team. A four-year starter in high school, she led all shortstops in the Atlantic 10 with a .960 fielding percentage on 179 total...

Gateway coach Mark Wardzinski has taken over Monroeville’s Legion team this summer. There are familiar faces at every position as every member of the club competed for the Gators this spring or have ties to the high school program. After an 8-2 start, Gateway’s varsity team advanced to the WPIAL...

Notebook items from around the Thomas Jefferson campus: • The final numbers are in. The TJ softball team advanced to the WPIAL playoffs for the fourth year in a row and fifth time in six seasons this past season. The Jaguars finished second in Section 2-4A, then advanced to the...

Zach Wagner knows how to make a grandiose exit. At the final meet of his high school track career at Thomas Jefferson, Wagner broke a 27-year-old record at the WPIAL Class AAA championships at Slippery Rock. Wagner posted a time of 22.26 seconds in the 200-meter dash to narrowly beat...

The Monroeville Junior Legion baseball team won its first Westmoreland County Youth Legion championship last year in the program’s third year of existence. Monroeville is looking to make it two titles in a row this summer. The Junior Gators ended last week on a 10-game winning streak and with a...

Julia Fiedor, a 2019 Thomas Jefferson graduate, embodies the definition of a positive athlete. On June 17, Fiedor, representing girls volleyball, was the recipient of the Positive High School Athlete Award. The Sen. John Heinz History Center and Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum hosted the eighth annual awards ceremony. Student-athletes representing...

Baldwin’s loss is Morehead State University’s gain. Paige Ernst, a 2019 graduate, will continue her cheerleading career at Morehead State. Practice starts this summer. Ernst is the first Baldwin student to land an NCAA Division I scholarship for cheerleading during Taryn Madden’s coaching tenure, which started in 2009. “We are...