By: Michael Love


Sunday, June 22, 2025 | 11:01 AM

Dino Nadarevic was to throw the shot put and discus one more time in a high school event last Thursday and Friday at New Balance Nationals before transitioning to a new journey at Duquesne.

It was the culmination of a high school career that began in obscurity but with promise two years ago and blossomed into one of the most decorated in Gateway history.

He celebrated last month with two WPIAL and two PIAA championships.

Nadarevic turned away all the challengers at Shippensburg on May 23-24, winning the shot put with a top distance of 58 feet, 8.5 inches before claiming the discus with a best attempt of 180-2.

“I knew it was my last state meet, and I wanted to make the best of it, and I did,” Nadarevic said after returning from Shippensburg with the first-place hardware.

Nadarevic first set the school record in the discus with a 172-3 in an early season tri-meet with Connellsville and Hempfield and added to it before WPIALs.

At Slippery Rock, he won the discus by 20 feet, finishing with a top throw of 187-0.

He fell just short of his goal of also setting a school record in the shot, but his best throw at WPIALs was the competition’s best as he unleashed a winning toss of 59-1.

The future Gateway Sports Hall of Fame inductee is the final athlete to represent the Gators in a 2024-25 academic year filled with many special Gateway moments.

Gateway boys tennis golden this spring

Not often does one WPIAL tennis team sweep the singles, doubles and team titles in the same season.

But Gateway achieved that in Class 3A.

Senior Adam Memije claimed his first WPIAL singles crown after finishing runner-up last year. Senior Zidaan Hassan and junior Logan Memije defended their WPIAL doubles titles, and the Gators won their second team title in three years with a 3-2 triumph over WPIAL rival North Allegheny.

Hassan won his first doubles title with Adam Memije in 2023.

Gateway represented in all three PIAA tournaments in Hershey with Zidaan and Logan Memije capturing state doubles bronze for the second time.

Boys volleyball earns outright section title

With its win over Fox Chapel on May 8, the Gators wrapped up the Section 4-3A boys volleyball title with an 8-2 record.

While many in the program felt the team would receive a home playoff game for the WPIAL first round, the selection committee instead tabbed it as the No. 9 seed and sent it to Mt. Lebanon.

Coach Phil Randolph said he was pleased to see his team’s fight against the Blue Devils, but it was not able to pick up the win. Mt. Lebo prevailed 3-1 with set scores of 25-19, 16-25, 25-14 and 26-14.

Gateway finished its season at 10-3, and 6-foot-3 senior outside hitter Darious Farrar was selected to the All-WPIAL Class 3A second team. Seniors Owen Echegaray (libero) and Tom Nikou (setter) and junior Daniel Bozicevic (outside hitter) also received Section 4 first-team laurels.

Senior-laden boys bowling team excels

When the Gators punched their tickets to the boys bowling state championships in March by qualifying for the finals of the regional team tournament, they also knew they clinched a return trip to nationals in Indiana.

It was one final event in one of the most successful runs in the history of the Gators bowling program.

Seniors Allon Wallace Jr., Josh Zlokas, Landon Lohr, Joey Jurcak and Chris Roseberry, along with junior Chase Owens, finished 32nd at nationals in a talented field of 55 boys teams.

Wallace Jr. then took 40th out of nearly 400 who were in contention for the singles crown.

Girls flag football
returns to playoffs

Five straight wins to cap the regular season propelled Gateway to the Pittsburgh Girls Flag Football League playoffs for the second year. The streak included a 7-0 victory over rival Plum to determine the final playoff berth from the East Division.

Gateway ended the regular season 8-3 and hoped for good things in the playoffs, but Woodland Hills ended those hopes with a 12-0 win in the first round.

Gateway’s three seniors, Kaitlyn Karpuszka, KC Glaze and Shavonne Williams, will play on collegiate flag teams.

Raymer makes swim finals at Bucknell

Hunter Raymer capped a successful high school swim career by representing the Gators in the finals of the Class 3A 200-yard individual medley and the 500 freestyle at the PIAA swim championships in March at Bucknell.

Raymer swam in the consolation final of the 200 IM on Day 1 and placed 14th overall with a time of 1 minute, 53.30 seconds.

He then came back on Day 2 and qualified for the consolation final of the 500 free. He placed 10th in his final high school race with a time of 4:34.19.

Raymer, the WPIAL champion in the 500 free as a freshman, will swim in college at Denison.

Football misses
playoffs on
committee decision

While the Gators didn’t finish with an automatic WPIAL Class 5A football playoff berth from the Big East Conference — those bids went to Woodland Hills, Penn-Trafford and Franklin Regional — they were in the mix for one of the three 5A wild card spots to be determined by the WPIAL playoff pairings committee.

Gateway tied Latrobe and Kiski Area for fourth in the conference at 2-4. In the end, the committee selected Latrobe for the playoffs, along with Moon and South Fayette from the Allegheny Six Conference.

It was a tough pill to swallow by coach Don Holl and his coaches and players who suffered one-point losses to Woodland Hills and Latrobe in their final two conference games.

Gateway, which finished 3-7 overall, also fell to Franklin Regional by just two points, 36-34.

Boys basketball clipped in WPIAL
first round

Gateway’s Moon shot was unsuccessful as the homestanding Tigers, the No. 5 seed, topped the Gators, 49-42, in the WPIAL Class 5A boys basketball first round at Moon High School.

Gateway came into the playoffs with a high degree of momentum after closing the regular season with three straight wins and victories in eight of 10.

Gators coach Alvis Rogers said that he was surprised to see where his team landed as the No. 12 seed with how it played down the stretch in the regular season and its tie for second in Section 1 with Latrobe at 10-4 behind undefeated Uniontown (14-0).

Gateway hockey
returns to varsity level

The Gators found a winning formula in their first season playing PIHL varsity hockey after several years growing the program at the JV level.

Gateway started out 0-6 as it settled into its season before winning four straight to get back in the Division II mix.

The Gators, led by 10 seniors, ended the regular season on a six-game win streak and clinched a playoff spot. Senior CJ Evans led the team with 43 points on 22 goals and 21 assists.

Their playoff experience didn’t last as long as they had hoped as powerful Morgantown stopped Gateway, 11-0, in the first round.

Boys soccer continues playoff streak

For the fifth straight season, the Gateway boys soccer team qualified for the WPIAL playoffs, this time after finishing tied for second in Section 1-4A with Central Catholic behind WPIAL power Plum.

The Gators entered the playoffs hoping to make some noise as the No. 9 seed, but No. 8 Canon-McMillan had other ideas on its home turf and jumped out to a 4-0 lead at halftime en route to a surprising 6-0 victory.

Gateway, led a senior group that included the likes of James and Nick LoCoco and Owen Echegaray, finished 8-8 overall and scored 47 goals in its 16 games.

Munyon represents at WPIAL cross country

Freshman Piper Munyon capped her first season with Gateway cross country with a personal-best time of 20 minutes, 7.5 seconds at the WPIAL Class 3A championships at White Oak Park.

The time placed her 43rd in a deep 3A field. She improved her time nearly 15 seconds from her first race at White Oak at the Tri-State championships a week earlier.

Girls volleyball
a playoff qualifier

Gateway won eight Section 5-3A girls volleyball matches and finished third behind Indiana (12-0) and Greensburg Salem (10-2) in the section standings.

That finish lifted the Gators to the WPIAL tournament where they earned a tough draw against No. 1 Beaver in the first round.

Despite its best efforts, the Bobcats, the eventual WPIAL runner-up, scored a 3-0 win which concluded Gateway’s season at 9-6 overall.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Gateway

It’s preparation time for the San Luis Obispo Volleyball Club (SLOVBC), as the 15 and under girls volleyball team gears up for a national championship competition.

The team of 14 and 15-year-old players spent Sunday morning practicing at Cal Poly’s Mott Gym, perfecting their techniques for the USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championships in Dallas, Texas.

KSBY stopped by the team’s practice to see how players are feeling ahead of the competition.

“It’s very competitive. We see a lot of great talent from people our age, above, even younger, and it’s just really awesome to see how we’re competing with that,” Sally Weisenberg, a player and student at Mission College Preparatory Catholic High School, said. “We’re from such a small town with a very little population, [and] we’re up there competing with them.”

SLOVBC coach Dede Bodnar tells KSBY that the team finished in third place at the national championships last year, adding that players are going for the gold this time around.

The matches are set to kick off in Dallas on Wednesday.

OMAHA, Neb. — Coming out of last season, LSU coach Jay Johnson couldn’t have foreseen the national championship this group of tenacious Tigers is taking back to Baton Rouge.

“It was probably a year ago today,” he said, “we had 12 players in our program that actually played on the field for us in 2024. Twelve.”

Then, quoting his mentor and LSU baseball patriarch Skip Bertman, Johnson said: “We ended up with some really good fortune.”

LSU knocked previously unbeaten Coastal Carolina ace Jacob Morrison out of the game with a four-run fourth inning and the Tigers won their second national title in three years Sunday with a 5-3 victory in the College World Series finals.

The Tigers (53-15) completed a two-game sweep of the Chanticleers (56-13), who entered the finals on a 26-game win streak and on Sunday saw coach Kevin Schnall and first base coach Matt Schilling ejected in the bottom of the first inning.

LSU gave the Southeastern Conference its sixth straight national title in baseball and 11th in 16 years. It was LSU’s eighth, all since 1991 and second most all-time behind Southern California’s 12.

Johnson became the first Division I coach to win two titles in his first four years at a school. No other coach had accomplished that feat in fewer than eight seasons.

“It’s not to be taken for granted, being here two years ago,” Johnson said. “That was special. Greatest night of my life. This is equal and maybe even tops in some ways.”

The 2023 team was led by Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews, the top two picks in the MLB amateur draft that year, and slugger Tommy White. It was built to win a championship.

The good fortune Johnson referred to was mixing those 12 returning players from last season with a talented freshman class that mostly showed up intact after the draft and was rated No. 1 in college baseball, along with 10 transfers — including three ranked in the top 10 in the portal rankings. The team coalesced quickly.

“We went through probably the hardest schedule in college baseball and we had one hiccup — one. A little speed bump at Auburn,” Johnson said, referring to being swept in a three-game series in April. “But other than that, they dominated the season and they dominated the schedule.”

Coastal Carolina won the national title in 2016 and was trying to become the first team since 1962 (Michigan) and the fifth all-time to win the championship in its first two CWS appearances.

“To get us just back to Omaha after what we did in 2016, and then to come to Omaha and play the way we did and get us back to the World Series finals is really incredible,” Schnall said. “These two games won’t define what this team was.”

With five-time champion coach Bertman watching from the stands, LSU tied it at 1 in the third on Ethan Frey’s RBI double and went up 5-1 in the fourth on two-run singles by Chris Stanfield and Derek Curiel.

Coastal Carolina pulled within 5-3 in the seventh against LSU starter Anthony Eyanson when No. 9 batter Wells Sykes hit his fourth homer of the season.

That brought on Chase Shores for his fourth appearance of the CWS. The 6-foot-8 right-hander touched 100 mph with his fastball while retiring the first five batters he faced before Dean Mihos, who homered in the second, singled through the right side leading off the ninth.

With Tigers fans on their feet and chanting “L-S-U, L-S-U,” Shores struck out Ty Dooley and got Sykes to ground into a game-ending double play. The Tigers’ dugout emptied and the celebratory dogpile behind the mound ensued, and the players then walked around the warning track in a line high-fiving fans leaning over the wall.

The 87-year-old Bertman came onto the field in a wheelchair and walked with assistance to have pictures taken with coaches and players.

The Chanticleers had won 15 straight when Morrison (12-1) started. Morrison’s 3 2/3 innings marked his shortest start of the season and the five runs against him were the most he has allowed.

LSU entered having won 13 games in a row in which one of its top two pitchers — Kade Anderson and Eyanson — started.

Anderson, one of those 12 holdovers, was selected the Most Outstanding Player of the CWS after allowing one run and six hits and striking out 17 in 16 innings over two starts in Omaha.

Anderson threw a three-hit shutout in LSU’s 1-0 win in Game 1 of the finals, and Eyanson (12-2) was mostly sharp over his 6 1/3 innings. The three runs against him came on seven hits and a walk. He struck out nine.

“I remember hugging my parents right now with the natty hat and shirt on,” said Eyanson, a UC San Diego transfer. “Even on my (recruiting) visit, looking at all the history on the wall, this is what I dreamed literally — throwing pitches, starting the final game of the national championship.”

Schnall, in his first year as head coach after taking over for the retired Gary Gilmore, had not been ejected this season before Sunday.

Walker Mitchell was at bat with two outs and Sebastian Alexander had just stolen second base when Schnall went to the top steps of the dugout, gestured at plate umpire Angel Campos with three fingers and began shouting at him.

The NCAA said Schnall was arguing balls and strikes, was given a warning and thrown out when he did not leave immediately. Schilling was tossed for comments he made as the confrontation with umpires continued near the plate.

“And that’s why I feel a little gutted right now,” Schnall said, “because the talk is going to be about the ejection, not this team. And it’s not right. The front-row seat should be the 2025 Coastal Carolina baseball team, not what happened in the first inning.”

___

AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

North Central incoming freshman Maycee Walker (left) and Pettisville incoming freshman Miriam Richer pose for a photo after the duo helped the Team Pineapple Volleyball Club 14U team, based out of Angola, Indiana, finish second in the 14U Premier Division at the AAU Girls National Volleyball Championships from June 17-20 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The club went 8-4 on the week.

PENTA MODENA

10

POLICE CERTALDO

5

(1-1 3-1 2-2 1-1 – 3-0)

PENTA MODENA: Bertesi, Montante 1, Sorbini, Cojacetto, Rametta 1, Martelli 1, Prampolini, Andrè 2, Gavioli, Gandolfi, Rivhetti 2, Lorenzoni, Cavazzoni, Torri, coach: Selmi.

POL. CERTALDO: Desideri, Martini 1, Nesi 3, Toncelli, Lupi, Baldinelli D., Frosecchi 2, Ulivi, Matteucci 1, Lotta, Cocca, Spacone.

REFEREE: Bacelle M.

NOTE: Baldinelli D. and Righetti definitively ejected for temporary triple, Lorenzoni for brutality.

Penta chooses the most difficult path to bring Modena back to the water polo that counts, through the crazy lottery of penalties that, however, thanks to the potatoes of an unsurpassable Fabio Cavazzoni, turns into a wonderful parade with three penalties converted by the Modena team, compared to three penalties saved by the Tuscans, who still deserve the honor of arms for having tried until the end. Penta builds its advantage in the second half, tightening the defense, and resisting the assaults of the Tuscans who see their dreams shattered with two minutes to go, when Lorenzoni is sent off for brutality, and Modena is forced to play with one man less until the end, when the ‘rumba’ of penalties begins, where Cavazzoni takes the stage, crowning the team’s beautiful dream.

mc

The Southeastern Conference fined schools for field storming in 2004, it didn’t work then and is it really going to do anything now? The SEC has ramped up fines yet again for field storming but the college football tradition doesn’t seem to go down easily. 

The SEC flexed their muscles when they announced that rushing the field will now cost a home team a whopping $500,000. Commissioner Greg Sankey defended the decision, stating “…the motivation was ‘field rushing is field rushing, the first time or the 18th time.’”

Recently, there’s been a steady rising increase of posts that showcase students rushing the field. This newfound popularity has college students waiting for the opportunity to cause chaos themselves. Contributing to the excitement,Vanderbilt’s students tore out and actually carried around goalposts after their upset against No. 1 Alabama this year. 

In the past, the fines were issued on an escalating basis — first time offenders paid $100,000, the second fine was $200,000 and finally $500,000 on the third offense. 

Despite this widely unpopular new rule, there was one interesting caveat: the SEC can waive the fine if the visiting team is allowed to safely return to their locker room with no contact from the home team fans. 

This loophole was enforced during the most recent basketball season as multiple teams required fans to wait until the visiting team made it to the locker room before storming the court. Will this really  work in football, with the blood-pumping adrenaline of the students? Even if you could somehow get the fans to wait, it takes a lot longer to get roughly 80 players back through a tunnel. . 

Let’s be honest, this rule is only going to give college students a bigger adrenaline rush when attempting to rush the field, and give them more of an incentive to keep the tradition alive despite the consequences — which the students won’t even have to pay. 

Sure, colleges may have more security and barriers in their stadiums which might keep the students from rushing the field for some games, but with the rage of a rivalry game or an upset of a No. 1 seed, I doubt barriers will keep dedicated fans at bay.

After Arkansas beat Tennessee last year, it incurred a $250,000 fine for students rushing the field and Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said, “I think the AD’s going to be mad, or maybe he won’t be. I don’t know, but right now, I don’t care.” 

If this is the kind of attitude we have from coaches, imagine the energy of riled-up, drunk college students in the stands.

Field rushing is tradition, and tradition is what makes people keep coming back for college football. This new rule may reduce field rushing, but it will only increase the special and rebellious nature of the tradition, ultimately creating the exact opposite effect of what the SEC wants.