Best of Sports MVPs

It didn’t matter how much opponents schemed to stop Christian Clutter. The McGuffey senior running back made sure all those efforts were unsuccessful. In a breakout final year with the Highlanders, Clutter finished with 1,548 rushing yards and 28 rushing touchdowns out of McGuffey’s flex off…

The fleetest feet belonged to Emily Carter this track season as the Bethel Park sophomore raced to new heights. During the PIAA Championships held at Shippensburg University, the 16-year-old broke the state record in winning the gold medal in the 3,200-meter run. She won the eight-lap race i…

It was appropriate that Daniel Layton competed in the high hurdles and pole vault because no one had more ups and downs to his track & field season than the senior from Waynesburg. Layton was caught in the web of WPIAL bureaucracy when a simple mistake was made. While finalizing the perf…

While many area boys basketball teams experienced success this season, extending the campaigns into the playoffs, Mt. Lebanon had a banner year, winning a WPIAL championship before falling to eventual state champion Kennedy Catholic in the PIAA tournament. The driving force for Lebo in the p…

Hill is a four-letter word found in Emily Carter’s vocabulary. “Everybody says they hate hills but I tell myself that I love hills, especially while I’m going up them,” she said. That approach proves the difference between Carter and the rest of the pack during a cross country race. The Beth…

While Bethel Park has been one of the best boys volleyball programs in the WPIAL, the Black Hawks reached a new pinnacle this spring. They advanced to the Final Four in the PIAA tournament before finishing with a 20-2 overall record. Max Cooley again played a pivotal role in the Hawks’ rise.…

Considered one of the most polished, complete players to come out of Western Pennsylvania, Makenna Marisa used her senior season as a final curtain call. What an encore it turned out to be. The Penn State recruit led Peters Township as the Indians became the first girls high school basketbal…

Like the spring weather in Western Pennsylvania, South Fayette’s Luke Lestini got a little better each week during the golf season. That led the South Fayette junior to some impressive finishes. Lestini’s big year began last summer when he won the Tri-State Section Boys Junior PGA Championsh…

Kylie Airesman leaves a pretty good legacy at Bishop Canevin. A four-year letterwinner, the 5-9 outside hitter and McDonald native had an immediate impact. She helped the Crusaders win a PIAA championship as a freshman. During her career, the Crusaders compiled a 77-26 record, complete with …

Mia Gorman proved a fast learner in her first season of varsity tennis. That’s not so surprising, though, because she picked up a racket when she was only three. Last fall, while playing for Bethel Park High School, Gorman demonstrated why she was ranked No. 6 among all freshmen in the state…

Pitching in Class 6A, especially rugged Section 3, is difficult for any sophomore but Bethel Park’s Eric Chalus made it look easy. A prototypical crafty lefthander, Chalus pitched Bethel Park to the section title, the WPIAL semifinals and a 15-5 record. Chalus had a 5-0 record in the regular…

Caroline McConnell was a model of consistency for South Fayette High School’s girls golf team. The talented freshman played her best golf when it mattered most, finishing tied for third in the WPIAL Championships, second in the West Region and fourth in the PIAA Championships. At the state e…

Anna Vogt’s sport involves ups, downs, twists and turns. The Ringgold High School senior, however, was as steady as a diver could possibly be this season as she went straight to the top of the leaderboard in the postseason and stayed there to the end. Vogt repeated as the WPIAL Class AA divi…

Mike Agostinella has coached for 53 years and he’s known all along what the state learned about Patrick Anderson this cross country season. “He’s the best all-around kid that I’ve had,” Agostinella said. “He’s a very, very aggressive runner. We knew that he was going to be pretty good but he…

Connor Bruce and Ellian Ascencio had big dreams for tennis this spring. Because neither could play individually in the postseason, the pair pooled their talents and achieved their objective. Over Memorial Day weekend, Bruce and Ascencio became state champions. The Peters Township duo defeate…

As Josh Matheny approached the starting blocks, AC/DC’s Thunderstruck blared throughout the speaker system. Less than a minute later, the Upper St. Clair sophomore astonished everybody in the Bucknell University Kinney Natatorium. In winning his second straight 100-yard breaststroke race dur…

There is an old sports adage that goes like this: Offense sells tickets but defense wins championships. The Peters Township field hockey team put the latter part of that saying to the test this season and proved it to be true. With a stifling and relentless attack, Peters Township used a def…

Gavin Teasdale took wrestling fans with him on a memorable journey, filled with drama, personal challenges and, finally, a triumphant ride into the PIAA history books. Four state finals, four victories. Perfect. With a 2-0 decision over Josh Jones of Saucon Valley in the 126-pound finals of …

The Upper St. Clair senior dominated the cross country scene, capturing every invitational in her run up to back-to-back medal performances at the WPIAL and PIAA Championships. She finished runner-up in the district and third in the state. An all-state selection for two seasons in a row, Sha…

With a score of 200-20x, Phillips, a Waynesburg Central High School junior, earned a two-shot victory over the field to win the WPIAL Individual Rifle Championships at Dormont-Mt. Lebanon Sportsmen’s Club. The junior had the only perfect score in the event and that earned her and Waynesburg …

Hunter Bruce continued the tradition of excellent boys golfers at Peters Township when he tied for second place in the PIAA Class AAA Championships at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort and Conference Center in York. The Penn State commit and Franklin Regional’s Palmer Jackson each shot 71-73–14…

Madison Clayton led Waynesburg Central High School to a landmark season as the Raiders became the first team from Greene County to win a WPIAL soccer championship, taking the Class AA title with a 4-2 win over defending champion Freedom in the title game. A Pitt recruit and senior forward, C…

Two of the three best girls lacrosse players in southwestern Pennsylvania played at Mt. Lebanon and had sisters who were 100-goal scorers. Yet that did not stop Ally Klaber or Lexi Gibbons from leaving their mark on the program. Klaber finished with 118 career goals and 55 assists while Gibb…

Field hockey is a family affair for Veronica (Nica) Schratz. Her assistant coach at Peters Township is her sister, Courtney, who played at Robert Morris University. Older sister Sami plays at Ohio University. Another sister, Greta, will be a senior at Peters Township next fall and has commit…

Nothing motivates Connor Bruce more than the fear of failure. “Connor hates to lose more than he likes to win,” said Peters Township coach Brandt Bowman. “He’s a fighter. He has an unbelievable will to win that you need to be top notch.” So far, the attitude has worked for the Peters Townshi…

Kylie Airesman appears as sweet as the cookies she peddles as a Girl Scout but beware, she’s dangerous. She has recorded 413 kills on the volleyball court. She enters her senior season at Bishop Canevin on pace to reach No. 2 on the school’s all-time kills list. Currently, the McDonald nativ…

Bethel Park has one of the best boys volleyball programs in the WPIAL, winning eight straight section titles. Hence, tradition does not graduate. And it still won’t as Max Cooley returns for another season. The rising senior led the Hawks to a banner years with 172 kills, 28 blocks and 24 di…

Though Peters Township was unable to repeat as Penguin Cup champion, Gielarowski had an outstanding season for the Indians, who were the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League’s Class 3A regular-season champion with a 14-4 record. A senior, Gielarowski tied for the team scoring lead with…

Beginner’s luck? That’s hardly the case for Josh Matheny. The Upper St. Clair freshman sailed onto the high school swimming scene after leaving a wide wake on the amateur stage. At age 14, he shattered the Allegheny Mountain Swimming record in the 100-meter breaststroke and submitted the bes…

In lacrosse, ground balls win games. They mean possessions. More possessions mean more scoring opportunities. Because Nicholas Phelps was the Ground Ball King at Peters Township with more than 300 this spring alone, the Indians scored enough to win their first section title and back-to-back …

The numbers look like they came from a video game but they are real. Pitcher Bailey Parshall, a senior lefty for Belle Vernon, capped an incredible career this season – one of the best in WPIAL history – by leading the Leopards to a second consecutive Class 4A title and to within two victori…

It wasn’t the most successful year for local girls golfers, but that speaks more for the increasing quality and depth throughout the WPIAL than it does about the talent in the area. Taylor Waller of Canon-McMillan has developed into one of the best female players in the area, even if she doe…

Aces were wild whenever Golda Gershanok stepped onto the tennis courts for Mt. Lebanon. “She has a big serve,” said Mt. Lebanon coach Paul Skrok. “She’s a very strong girl and she can overpower you with her strength.” For four years, Golda did just that for the Blue Devils. She helped Lebo c…

Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend but silver and gold proved dear to Abby Matheny during the WPIAL swimming championships at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees Pool. The Upper St. Clair senior grabbed gold in the 200-yard freestyle, winning the race for the second time in her career wit…

Aidan Cain had a career in a year because the Mt. Lebanon senior lost his sophomore and juniors seasons, the result of back-to-back ACL tears that required reconstructive surgery. Last fall, Cain shattered multiple records to become not only the school’s best wide receiver but also the great…

There have been several good baseball pitchers in the area in recent years, but none has been good in as many big games as Canon-McMillan’s Zach Rohaley. The senior right-hander pitched the Big Macs to the WPIAL Class 6A championship and PIAA finals this year. Entering the Big Macs’ state ch…

Daniel Layton had a track season filled with ups and downs. The junior from Waynesburg High School had more ups, finishing third in the pole vault and eighth in the 110-meter hurdles in the PIAA Class AA Track & Field Championship at Seth Grove Stadium on the campus of Shippensburg Unive…

Brenna Cavanaugh’s attempt to defend her PIAA title in the Class AA 100-meter hurdles was dashed when she clipped the final two hurdles and finished fourth at Seth Grove Stadium on the campus of Shippensburg University over Memorial Day weekend. Cavanaugh crossed with a time of 14.58. The se…

Sam Snodgrass was Superman during the WPIAL Cross Country Championships. When the gun sounded to begin the Class AA boys race, the South Fayette senior shot out of the starting gate faster than the proverbial speeding bullet and coasted to victory on the hilly course at Cooper’s Lake. His wi…