Dec 31, 2024
Penn State tight end Tyler Warren (44) runs for a touchdown against Purdue during the second half of an NCAA college football game in West Lafayette, Ind., Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
By John Hartsock
jhartsock@altoonamirror.com
The 2024 calendar year was a very special one for many individual area athletes, sports teams and their fans.
An expanded College Football Playoff format paved the way for a special season for the Penn State Nittany Lions, who have reached the quarterfinals of the playoff tournament and will play Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl tonight in Glendale, Ariz.
The Nittany Lions had been snakebitten after the NCAA had adopted a four-team playoff format back in 2014.
Despite winning a Big Ten Conference championship in 2016, the Nittany Lions were excluded from the four-team playoff field by the NCAA selection committee. Penn State was also on the playoff sidelines despite compiling several other successful seasons over the past decade.
In 2024, the NCAA adopted a 12-team playoff format for the first time, and the Nittany Lions have reaped its benefits. After reaching this year’s Big Ten Conference championship game at Indianapolis for the second time in school history and losing to top-ranked and unbeaten Oregon there, Penn State earned a sixth seed in this year’s playoff field, and the right to host 11th-seeded Southern Methodist University in a first-round playoff game on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 21 at Beaver Stadium.
Penn State improved its season record to 12-2 with a resounding 38-10 win over SMU to punch its ticket into tonight’s Fiesta Bowl quarterfinal playoff game against Mountain West Conference champion Boise State (12-1), which is seeded third in the tournament.
The 2024 calendar year was also special for two other Penn State athletic programs, as both the Penn State wrestling and women’s volleyball programs captured NCAA championships in March and December, respectively.
Penn State’s success was one of the Mirror’s biggest sports stories in 2024, but as usual, there were others.
In a realm that far transcends anything that happens in sports competition, 2024 was also special for two area athletes, Hollidaysburg football player Spencer Davis and Altoona basketball player Melana Eyer — both of whom survived life-threatening ordeals.
Davis collapsed on the practice field Sept. 18 and suffered cardiac arrest after a collision with a Hollidaysburg teammate. He survived only because of the prompt, efficient and heroic work of Hollidaysburg athletic trainer Amy Smearman and members of the Hollidaysburg football coaching staff, who had all completed training to deal with such medical emergencies.
Earlier in the year, in June, Eyer and an Altoona Area High School classmate were involved in an accident in which the side-by-side ultra-terrain vehicle that Eyer had been driving collided with a pole that was attached to a gate. Both young women were pulled from the wreckage and survived serious injuries.
It was a very special year for Bishop Guilfoyle Academy sports teams, as the football Marauders and basketball Lady Marauders both captured state championships.
Returning to the Class 1A level of football competition this year after having played the previous two seasons at the Class 2A level, Bishop Guilfoyle won its fifth PIAA Class 1A championship since 2014 by defeating previously unbeaten District 9 champion Port Allegany, 41-22, in the state title game in December at Cumberland Valley High School’s Chapman Field in Mechanicsburg.
Earlier in the year, the BG Lady Marauders basketball team won the PIAA Class 1A state championship by defeating District 2 champion Mountain View, 35-17, in the state title game last March at the Giant Center in Hershey.
The 2024 calendar year also saw many other area teams and individual athletes earn special accomplishments.
Williamsburg High School student Andrew McMonagle, competing as part of his school’s wrestling co-op with Huntingdon, won the PIAA Class 2A 189-pound state championship last March, and the Hollidaysburg Area High School baseball team made school history by becoming the school’s first baseball squad to reach the PIAA state championship game, suffering a hard-fought 2-1 loss in the Class 5A title game to Governor Mifflin last June.
Penn Cambria track star Josh Stolarski — who is now competing collegiately at Penn State — won two PIAA gold medals, in the 200 and 400 dashes, in his senior year of high school last spring.
After totally revamping their quarterback room with the offseason acquisitions of Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, the Pittsburgh Steelers enjoyed a successful season and have already assured themselves of a berth in the upcoming AFC playoffs in early January.
A closer look at the top stories:
PSU reaches quarters
In James Franklin’s 11th season as its head coach, Penn State qualified for the College Football Playoffs, and hosted a playoff game, for the first time in school history.
The Nittany Lions lived up to the moment, thrashing SMU, 38-10, in frigid weather conditions at Beaver Stadium.
Penn State’s defense played a large role in the victory, with linebackers Dominic DeLuca and Tony Rojas returning a pair of intercepted passes for pick-6 touchdowns in the first half as Penn State built a 28-0 lead by intermission.
Penn State also got two rushing touchdowns from running back Kaytron Allen and another from running back Nicholas Singleton.
Penn State reached the Big Ten Conference championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for the second time in school history but lost an offensive shootout there, 45-37, to top-ranked and undefeated Oregon on Saturday night, Dec. 7.
Penn State, which has been ranked as high as third in the country this season, has been led offensively this year by junior quarterback Drew Allar, a former five-star recruit from Medina, Ohio, who has completed 237 of 346 passes for 3,021 yards and 21 touchdowns, while also rushing for six touchdowns.
Allar announced before the SMU game that he would be foregoing declaring for next spring’s NFL draft and instead will return for a final season at Penn State. Allar’s decision prompted Allar’s backup, Beau Pribula, to enter the transfer portal and join the University of Missouri football team.
Senior tight end Tyler Warren, who has emerged as an unstoppable offensive weapon this season for the Nittany Lions, will enter the 2025 NFL Draft, and is likely to be a top pick there. The 6-foot-6, 257-pound Warren, a former high school quarterback who was mentioned in Heisman Trophy discussions all this season, has established Penn State tight end season records with a team-leading 92 receptions and 1,095 yards, while having a hand in 11 touchdowns — six receiving, four rushing and one passing.
Singleton (928 rushing yards, eight touchdowns), and Allen (892 rushing yards, eight touchdowns) have provided Penn State with a potent 1-2 ground attack.
Penn State’s defense has been led by All-American defensive end Abdul Carter, who has registered 63 tackles — including 40 solo stops — and a team-leading 11 sacks. Safety Jaylen Reed, who leads the team in tackles with 84 (including 43 solo), has made three interceptions.
Penn State enters tonight’s quarterfinal game against Boise State as a 11.5-point favorite. The winner of tonight’s game will move on to next week’s CFP semifinal round and face the winner of the New Year’s Day Sugar Bowl game between Notre Dame and Georgia. If Penn State reaches the semifinal round, their game will be held Thursday night, Jan. 9, at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
Davis, Eyer survive
On Wednesday afternoon Sept. 18, Hollidaysburg sophomore football player Davis, a 6-foot-2, 237-pound lineman, had a practice assignment of mimicking the punt team for the Golden Tigers’ upcoming opponent, Mifflinburg, when a crisis ensued during the Golden Tigers’ practice at the Longer Elementary Field.
The Tigers were doing a punt return scenario, and Davis was covering the punt as a tackler when he got hit in the chest by the shoulder of a Hollidaysburg teammate during the play.
Davis fell to the ground after the play and hit the ground hard, and after 20 to 30 seconds, he experienced abnormal and troublesome breathing.
Smearman, who was working at an eighth-grade football game at nearby Tiger Stadium, was summoned to the practice field by Hollidaysburg head coach Homer DeLattre, who immediately called 911.
Smearman grabbed her equipment, including one of the school’s several automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and made her way to Davis after Hollidaysburg’s assistant coaches and one of the players had removed his helmet.
Smearman, along with assistant coaches Joe Montrella, Rod Chism and Adam Walstrom, combined to perform CPR and set up the AED, a device which shocks the heart back into a normal rhythm during a cardiac event after CPR has been performed.
As Davis regained a pulse, an ambulance arrived and transported him and his mother, Jen, who had arrived on the scene, to UPMC Altoona. Davis was later transported to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh for further treatment.
Davis spent seven days at the Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital before being discharged. Davis was fitted there with a ZOLL LifeVest, which is a portable defibrillator that would save his life if he would go into cardiac arrest.
Davis no longer needs to wear the vest, he has fully recovered, and he has said that he will not play football again in the future. He plans to continue to play baseball, which is his favorite sport.
Davis experienced a condition called commotion cordis, which is a disruption of normal cardiac rhythm caused by an impact to the chest during a brief period of the heartbeat cycle. The condition is often fatal.
Buffalo Bills and former University of Pittsburgh safety Damar Hamlin experienced the same health crisis during an NFL game against the Cincinnati Bengals in January 2023, when Hamlin’s life was also saved by a promptly deployed AED device and CPR.
Hamlin — who has recovered and has returned to playing with the Bills — wound up reaching out to Davis as the two conducted a pre-recorded interview that was played for the public at a sudden cardiac death and CPR awareness community event that was held at the Hollidaysburg Area Senior High School gymnasium in November.
Like Davis, Altoona senior basketball star Eyer is no doubt counting her blessings as 2024 comes to a close. Now fully recovered from the June ordeal in which she was hospitalized after the side-by-side vehicle accident, Eyer is back on the basketball court for the Lady Lions this winter.
Eyer’s side-by-side collided with a metal gate near her family’s property around Mill Run Road, and a pole from the gate impaled both Eyer and her friend, Altoona senior student Megan Giles, who was sitting in the back seat of the vehicle.
Eyer lost a lot of blood from the wound in the femoral artery of one of her legs during the accident, and her father, David, arriving on the scene after being informed of the accident by another of Eyer’s friends, provided valuable assistance by putting pressure on her leg, while Giles, with the help of another friend, made and applied tourniquets.
Eyer and Giles have both fully recovered from their injuries, and Eyer, who underwent a rigorous rehabilitation regimen after a stay in the hospital, is now playing basketball again for the Lady Lions and will continue to do so next year on the NCAA Division II college level at Shippensburg University.
Tragically, two other area student-athletes, Altoona High School senior soccer player Lundyn Treece, 17, and sophomore football player Teagahn Smith-Price, 16, lost their lives in separate automobile accidents one day apart in late October.
Another title
Led by a great nucleus of skill position players, the Bishop Guilfoyle Marauders showed once again that they are the class of the PIAA Class 1A football field by making their sixth appearance in the state championship game since 2014 and capturing their fifth title.
The Marauders finished their season with a 15-1 record in Justin Wheeler’s 14th season as their head coach, suffering only one loss — a controversial setback to Penn Cambria in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference championship game — and rolling to the state title on the strength of six postseason victories.
After rolling past Juniata Valley, Claysburg-Kimmel and Northern Cambria en route to winning the District 6 Class 1A championship, BG earned its berth in the state title game with PIAA tournament wins over Pittsburgh City League champion Westinghouse and District 4 champion Muncy.
The Marauders won the state title game on a sunny but frigid and blustery Dec. 5 Thursday afternoon by scoring three touchdowns in a six-minute session of the second half to break open what had been a 14-14 game and record a 41-22 victory over previously unbeaten Port Allegany (15-1).
Junior running back Taurean Consiglio rushed for 160 yards on 15 carries and four touchdowns, and senior running back/wideout Hamilton Gates raced 65 yards down the right sideline for the go-ahead touchdown with 3:29 left in the third quarter to break a 14-14 tie, as BG racked up 302 of its 351 total yards via the rush on a day when heavy winds prohibited both teams from throwing the ball.
Consiglio scored on runs of 12, 6, 26 and 15 yards for BG, which bunched the three touchdowns in quick succession late in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter.
Gates, an outstanding all-around talent who was named the Mirror’s co-2024 Football Player of the Year with Penn Cambria’s Gavin Harrold, led the Marauders with 42 touchdowns this season, including 20 rushing and 19 receiving scores, and he also threw two touchdowns. Both were named to the Pennsylvania Football Writers All-State Team, with Gates making the Class 1A team as a wideout and Harrold making the Class 3A squad at the athlete position.
Senior quarterback Chase Kissell completed 208 of 290 passes (a completion rate of over 71 percent) for 3,358 yards and 40 touchdowns during the season, while Consiglio rushed for 1,283 yards on 168 carries and 17 touchdowns. Senior wideout Braden Reilly chipped in with 54 receptions for 788 yards and 11 TDS for the Marauders, who scored an average of over 48 points in their 16 games.
BG placed six players, including Gates, on the PIAA Class 1A Pennsylvania Football Writers All-State Team. The others were Chase Kissell (quarterback), his younger brother, Jake, a junior (tight end), senior Joe Eckenrode (offensive lineman), junior Tyson Lestochi (defensive back), and Consiglio, who earned his selection at linebacker.
Golden girls
The 2023-24 Bishop Guilfoyle girls basketball team became the school’s eighth girls basketball squad to win a PIAA state championship when the Lady Marauders claimed the Class 1A title by defeating Mountain View, 35-17, at Hershey’s Giant Center on Friday afternoon, March 22.
The young Lady Marauders, who started three sophomores — Alana Lightner, Stella Yeskey and Gia Adams — along with two freshmen, Maurie Querry and Morgan Ruggery, dominated play from start to finish in the title game, using a relentless defensive effort to limit Mountain View to just 17 points while forcing 21 turnovers.
After spotting Mountain View the opening field goal of the game, the Lady Marauders staged a 16-2 run to go in front, 16-4, and put themselves in the driver’s seat early.
Ruggery scored a team-high eight points, grabbed five rebounds, made five steals and dished out four assists for BG, which finished the season with a 29-3 record.
The Guilfoyle girls program, which made its 14th appearance in the PIAA championship game, won its second state title under head coach Kristi Kaack, who also led the Lady Marauders to the Class 1A state championship in 2021.
BG — which defeated Riverview, defending state champion Union and Williamsburg en route to the championship game — was without the services of its senior leader, guard Sarah Geishauser, for essentially the entire basketball season after she suffered a severe leg injury while playing on the school’s soccer team the previous November.
In a touching moment, Geishauser was inserted into the lineup by Kaack for spot duty on two different occasions in the basketball championship game and was greeted warmly by her teammates and coaches after appearing in her first and only game last season.
Tiger history
The 2024 season was a very special and memorable one for Hollidaysburg, whose baseball team became the first in school history to play in a state championship game.
After defeating Central Mountain in the District 6 Class 5A championship game, Hollidaysburg punched its ticket to the state title game by running through a gauntlet in the PIAA playoffs that included hard-fought wins over Franklin Regional of the WPIAL in the opening round, WPIAL champion Penn-Trafford in the quarterfinals and Monsignor Bonner of the Philadelphia Catholic League in the semifinals.
The Golden Tigers fell short in the championship game, suffering a tough 2-1 loss to Governor Mifflin at Penn State’s Medlar Field at Lubrano Park on Friday, June 14.
Hollidaysburg, which finished the season with a 17-7 record, had committed a total of only two errors in the state playoffs leading up to the state championship game, but a couple of defensive lapses cost the Tigers in the title game as Governor Mifflin (24-5), the District 2 runner-up, capitalized.
Led by veteran head coach Jon Szynal and senior pitcher Carson Kensinger, Hollidaysburg won a state playoff game for the first time ever last spring and continued to make baseball history over the following week leading up to its appearance in the title game.
The left-handed pitching Kensinger, who appeared on the mound in each of the Tigers’ state playoff games, finished the season with a 10-0 record and an earned run average of around one run per game.
Kensinger and fellow 2024 Altoona Mirror First Team All-Stars Jake Hileman and Drew Banks were among the Tigers’ solid senior contingent of players who graduated last spring and helped the team carve its own special niche in the school record books.
QB carousel
After going one-and-done in the AFC playoffs last January, the Steelers completely revamped their quarterback room for 2024, acquiring Wilson from the Denver Broncos and Fields from the Chicago Bears, and trading former Pitt star Kenny Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Steelers also released backup Mitch Trubisky, who was signed by the Buffalo Bills, and elected not to re-sign Mason Rudolph, who latched on with the Tennessee Titans.
The Steelers posted a 10-6 record through their first 16 games this season and clinched a spot in the upcoming playoffs as a probable Wild Card team.
As this calendar year comes to an end, the Steelers — after suffering three straight losses — trail the Baltimore Ravens by one full game in the battle for first place in the AFC North Division.
The NFL regular season wraps up for all teams this Saturday. In order to win the division, the Steelers must beat the Cincinnati Bengals at home and hope for a Baltimore loss when the Ravens host the lowly Cleveland Browns.
Fields was the Steelers’ starting quarterback in the first six games this season, turning in a solid effort before the veteran Wilson — who had been sidelined by a calf injury — took over as the starter in the seventh game.
Wilson has completed 197 of 305 passes for 2,334 yards and 15 touchdowns this season, while Fields — a prominent running threat who was inserted into the game in rushing situations after Wilson took over the starting role — completed 106 of 161 passes for 1,106 yards and five touchdowns this season, while rushing for 289 yards on 62 carries and five more touchdowns.
Running back Najee Harris has played in all 16 games for the Steelers this season, rushing for 1,007 yards on 251 carries and five touchdowns.
Finishing with a 10-7 record during the 2023 regular season, the Steelers clinched a playoff berth on the road as a Wild Card entry in the AFC playoffs against the Buffalo Bills last January.
The Steelers lost to the Bills, 31-17, on Jan. 15, after a snowstorm had forced the postponement of the game for one day.
Led by backup quarterback Rudolph, the Steelers closed the 2023 regular season with three straight victories, beating Cincinnati at home and Seattle and Baltimore on the road, to earn a playoff berth as the AFC’s seventh and lowest-seeded team.
The Steelers downed the Baltimore Ravens, 17-10, last Jan. 6, then clinched a playoff berth the following day when the Jacksonville Jaguars lost their final regular-season game, on the road, to Tennessee.
McMonagle wins title
McMonagle capped off a 47-win season with an exciting 8-7 victory over previously unbeaten Garrett Garcia of Southern Columbia in a battle of outstanding senior wrestlers in the PIAA Class 2A 189-pound championship match on Saturday, March 9 at Hershey’s Giant Center.
McMonagle, who has joined the NCAA Division I wrestling program at North Dakota State this year, overcame a 6-3 third-period deficit with an escape and takedown to tie the championship match, 6-6.
After letting Garcia escape, McMonagle scored a takedown with one minute left to secure the gold medal.
The entire 2023-24 season was truly a comeback effort for McMonagle, a three-time state tournament qualifier who was forced to exit the March 2023 state tourney in the first round with a severe knee injury but underwent a tireless rehabilitation regimen in the offseason to get himself ready for his season.
PSU domination
Led by four-time NCAA champions Carter Starocci (174 pounds) and Aaron Brooks (197), the Penn State wrestling team extended its dynasty by breezing to its third consecutive team championship and its 11th in the past 12 seasons under esteemed head coach Cael Sanderson, at the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships held March 22-24 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo.
Brooks, a graduating senior, defeated North Carolina State’s Trent Hidlay, a former Mifflin County High School standout, 6-1, in the 197-pound title match, while Starocci, a senior who elected to return this season with his fifth and final year of eligibility, carved out a 2-0 title win at 174 pounds over Ohio State’s Rocco Welsh.
Other NCAA champions for the Nittany Lions last March were Levi Haines at 157 pounds and Greg Kerklivet at 285.
Haines, a sophomore last season, topped Arizona State’s Jacori Teemer, 5-0, in the 157-pound title match, while Kerklivet, a senior who, like Starocci — is returning this season with a fifth and final year of eligibility — scored a 13-4 major decision over Michigan’s Lucas Davison in the 285-pound title match.
Penn State’s Beau Bartlett (141 pounds) and Mitchell Mesenbrink (165) reached the finals at their weight classes but dropped heartbreaking decisions in their title matches.
Bartlett lost a 4-1 championship bout to Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez, who scored a last-second takedown, and Mesenbrink dropped a 9-8 decision to two-time champion David Carr of Iowa State.
Penn State’s Tyler Kasak won seven straight matches in the 149-pound wrestlebacks to finish third at his weight class, and Bernie Truax placed fifth at 184.
Penn State boasted eight All-Americans to tie a school record, and the Nittany Lions racked up a new NCAA Wrestling Championships team record 172.5 points, surpassing the 170 team points that Iowa put up in the 1997 tournament. Cornell finished a distant second with 72.5 points in last season’s event.
PSU Olympians
Penn State had its share of representatives in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France, and many earned medals.
In freestyle wrestling competition, four-time NCAA champion Brooks (86 kilograms) took third place in his weight class, as did Kyle Dake at 74 kg.
Zain Retherford (65kg), a former three-time NCAA champion at Penn State, reached the bronze medal third-place match at the Olympics but was forced to medically withdraw after suffering a concussion, while Kyle Snyder of the Penn State Olympic Regional Training Center Program made it to the bronze medal match at 97 kg but lost.
Brooks, Retherford, Dake and Snyder all qualified for the Olympic competition by winning their weight classes at the United States Olympic Wrestling Trials held at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center last April.
Another former Penn State wrestler, Roman Bravo-Young, a former two-time NCAA champion, represented his home country of Mexico in the Olympics at 57kg.
Other Penn State-affiliated Olympic medalists included: goalkeeper Alyssa Naher and midfielder Sam Coffey, who were members of the U.S. women’s soccer Olympic gold-medal team; Joe Kovacs (second-place silver medal, track and field shot put); middle blocker Haleigh Washington and alternate Micha Hancock (silver medal, U.S. women’s volleyball team); Matt Anderson, Maxwell Holt and Aaron Russell (bronze medal, U.S. men’s volleyball team); Stephen Nedoroscik won a pair of bronze medals in the pommel horse event as a member of the U.S. men’s gymnastics team, and Kayla Cannett was a member of the U.S. women’s rugby team that won a bronze medal.
Former Penn State player Laura Freigang played for the German national women’s soccer team that won a bronze medal, and Renata Knapik-Miazga, an assistant coach with the Penn State men’s and women’s fencing teams, was part of the Polish national team that won a bronze medal in the epee competition.
Losing an icon
The area’s wrestling community mourned the passing of two of its coaching icons in 2024, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown coach Pat Pecora and former Altoona High School coach Marty Rusnak.
Pecora, who died at the age of 70 in September after a battle with cancer, coached the UPJ program for 48 seasons and held college wrestling’s wins mark at any level with 661 career victories. He led UPJ to a pair of NCAA Division II National Championships in 1996 and 1999, as well as 25 NCAA Regional titles and eight straight Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championships.
Pecora was named the National Wrestling Coaches Association National Coach of the Year in 1995, 1999, 2019 and 2022 and earned induction into nine halls of fame — including the Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame and the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Rusnak, who died at the age of 81 on April 20 from injuries suffered in a fall at his home, had a very successful 36-year coaching career at Altoona. His teams won a total of 317 matches, and future NFL Pro Bowl tackle Brad Benson (1973) and Steve Maurey (1974) became PIAA state champions under Rusnak’s direction.
Rusnak also earned induction into the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, the Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame and the District 6 Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame.
Volleyball titles
In what was truly an inspirational story, the Penn State women’s volleyball team helped head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in September but stayed on through the season to coach the team, become the first woman head volleyball coach to win the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championships since the event began in 1981.
Schumacher-Cawley played for and was an assistant coach to long-time legendary Penn State head coach Russ Rose, who retired following the 2021 season after leading the Penn State program to seven NCAA championships.
After rallying back from the brink of elimination to defeat Nebraska in five sets in the semifinals, Penn State won its national title Dec. 22 by defeating Louisville — the host team for the tournament — in four sets.
Led by NCAA tournament Most Valuable Player Jess Mruzik, a fifth-year senior outside hitter who scored 29 kills, Penn State won the championship matchup, 25-23, 32-34, 25-20 and 25-17.
Penn State, 35-2, won its first NCAA championship since 2014 by capturing a title match that was played before an NCAA volleyball championship record crowd of 21,860. Louisville had reached the championship match by defeating the University of Pittsburgh in the semifinal round.
The Juniata College women’s volleyball team cemented its status as a dynasty as it won its third consecutive title in the NCAA Division III Women’s Volleyball Championships by defeating the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in five sets (25-19, 25-19, 15-25, 26-28, 15-10) on Saturday, Dec. 7 at the Cregger Center in Salem, Va.
Juniata’s Kennedy Christy — who had 18 kills, 12 digs, two aces and a block assist — was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, while her teammates Olivia Foley and Mackenzie Coley joined her on the all-tournament team.
Juniata finished 35-0 in matches for the second consecutive season.
Stolarski wins gold
Penn Cambria track standout Stolarski became the school’s first-ever state champion in any sport in 2023, winning the PIAA Class 2A state championship in the boys 400-meter dash with a time of 49.09.
Last May, as a Penn Cambria senior, Stolarski outdid himself, winning gold medals in both the 400 and 200 dashes, and recording a National Federation of State High School Associations honor roll time of 47.1 seconds in the 400, which placed him among the top 50 in that event in the United States.
Stolarski finished ahead of runner-up Shakille Ferguson of Bishop McCort Catholic, who recorded a 400 time of 48.98.
Stolarski won the 200 dash in 21.98, nosing out runner-up Tristin Ohler of Meyersdale, who logged a time of 22.1 seconds. Stolarski’s win avenged a regular-season loss to Ohler in the 200.
Simply Skenes
Highly-touted right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes, who was chosen with the No. 1 pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates out of LSU in the 2024 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, more than lived up to his advance billing in his rookie season with the Bucs last season.
Skenes was named the 2024 National League Rookie of the Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America in mid-November, becoming only the second player in the Pirates’ long franchise history to earn the award. Outfielder Jason Bay, who was selected in 2004, was the other.
Summoned to the Pirates from Class AAA Indianapolis on May 11, the 6-foot-6, 235-pound Skenes carded an 11-3 record in 23 starts with 170 strikeouts and only 32 walks in 133 innings pitched.
Skenes’ 170 strikeouts were an all-time Pirates rookie record, and his ERA of 1.96 was the lowest for any rookie pitcher with at least 20 starts in a single season since Scott Perry accomplished the feat with the old Philadelphia Phillies over a century ago, in 1918.
Laurels for Shackley
After wrapping up a splendid high school career by winning two more gold medals at the PIAA Class 2A Swimming and Diving Championships last March, Bedford Area High School graduate Leah Shackley, who has trained at the Blair Regional YMCA in Hollidaysburg, qualified for the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in three events at Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis last June.
Shackley — who is now swimming collegiately for the NCAA Division I North Carolina State University team — reached the finals of the 100-meter backstroke with a personal-best time of 59.25 in the semifinal competition of the Olympic Trials. She placed seventh in the nationally-televised finals that were aired on NBC TV June 18, falling short of a berth in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
Shackley also finished sixth in her semifinal heat with a time of 58.44 in the 100-meter butterfly and 17th in the preliminary round of the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 2:11.52.
Shackley won two more gold medals in the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly last March in the PIAA Class 2A Swimming and Diving Championships at Bucknell University.
Shackley won her third straight state gold medal in the 100 butterfly on Friday, March 15, finishing that event in a meet and pool record time of 50.29.
On Saturday, March 16, Shackley captured her fourth state gold medal in the 100-yard backstroke by setting a new state record in 50.76 — breaking the previous record of 51.61 in that event that she had established in 2023.
Shackley is an eight-time gold medalist in the District 6 Championships.
Local baseball
Three area youth baseball teams made their marks in qualifying for national competition this past August.
The Altoona Teener League ages 14U Babe Ruth team earned a third-place finish in its World Series competition that was held in Eagle Pass, Tex. The Altoona team, managed by Brad Hatch, finished 6-1 in the 16-team tournament after placing fourth in the 2023 ages 13U World Series in Glen Allen, Va. Many of the same players on those two teams won three games for the Hollidaysburg entry in the 2022 Little League World Series that was held in South Williamsport.
The Altoona Teener League ages 18U team, managed by Brian Bell, made its second consecutive appearance in the Babe Ruth World Series held in Cape Girardeau, Mo. last summer, finishing tournament play with a 3-3 record.
The Hollidaysburg entry, managed by Charlie Burger, won the Little League Baseball 10U overall East Regional Invitational Tournament’s championship at Cranston, R.I. Hollidaysburg, the Mid-Atlantic Regional champion, defeated Rhode Island, 13-1, in the East Regional championship game.
In memory
Former Altoona Area High School track and cross country coach Richard Stauffer, 97; Dick Buckley, 92, Blair County Sports Hall of Fame inductee and former varsity boys basketball coach at Williamsburg, who coached the Blue Pirates to the PIAA Class C state championship in 1966; Former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Al McBean, 85; Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Andy Russell, 82; Former long-time Altoona High School wrestling coach Marty Rusnak, 81; Former Hollidaysburg High School wrestling coach Kim Buterbaugh, 80; Former Johnstown Area high school boys basketball coach Paul Litwalk, 79; Former Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic High School and Marshall University football player Pete Naputano, 73; Former Altoona High School football player John Withers, 73; Former Pirates catcher Ed Ott, 72; Longtime University of Pittsburgh Johnstown wrestling coach Pat Pecora, 70; Former Pirates shortstop U.L. Washington, 70; Former Pirates pitcher Jose DeLeon, 63; Former Altoona High School athletic trainer Jeff Blake, 60; Blair County Judge Fred Miller, 54, who was involved in several area athletic organizations, including overseeing the Tyrone High School holiday basketball tournament that is sponsored by Blair Kiwanis and Reliance Bank. The tournament is now named in Miller’s honor … Former Altoona Curve employee Ken Plisinski, 54; Former Central High School athlete and coach Wade Heuston, 53, who was also a longtime PIAA basketball official; Former Pittsburgh Penguins player Konstantin Koltsov, 42; Former Pittsburgh Steelers wideout Jacoby Jones, 40; Former George B. Kelley Federation baseball manager Ben Shaffer, 36; Former Penn State football cornerback A.J. Lytton, 24; Saint Francis University football player Devon Walker, 18; Altoona High School girls soccer player Lundyn Treece, 17; Altoona High School football player Keagahn Smith-Price, 16; Mark Scalice, 59, Bishop Guilfoyle Academy boys and girls golf coach.
BUTLER — Despite outscoring Knoch in three of the four quarters, Bishop Guilfoyle Academy fell, 62-57, when BG …
From Mirror reports Cambria Heights senior defensive lineman Garrett Jasper was selected to the Pa. Football …
BUTLER — The Altoona girls basketball team used a 22-8 showing in the third quarter Saturday to beat Butler, …
MIDDLETOWN — The Altoona boys basketball team was outscored, 20-8, in the third quarter Saturday in a 62-47 loss …
EBENSBURG — The Central High School wrestling team went 6-0 at the Central Cambria Red Devil Duals on …
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