By: Ray Fisher


Sunday, June 8, 2025 | 11:01 AM

Several senior student-athletes at Sewickley Academy were honored May 21 at its spring awards banquet.

Severin Harmon (golf, tennis) and Katherine Varghese (soccer, track and field) were named as the Most Outstanding Male and Female Athletes.

Cooper D’Antonio (cross country, track and field) landed the Stan Partenheimer Sportsmanship Award while the Kate Dresher Sportsmanship Award went to Marie Bigi (softball, soccer, tennis, basketball).

Nolan Donnelly (basketball, baseball, golf) and Quincy Sirko (softball, soccer, track and field, basketball) were lauded as the Most Outstanding Male and Female Contributors.

Eden senior medals

Eden Christian Academy senior Lara DeFazio capped her high school track and field career as a PIAA medalist.

DeFazio finished fifth in the girls high jump at the PIAA Class 2A championships May 23-24 at Shippensburg University.

The versatile Eden Christian athlete also placed 10th in the triple jump and 12th in the long jump at the state meet.

One other PIAA qualifier for the Warriors was senior E.J. DiVito in the boys triple jump event.

DeFazio earned her second WPIAL gold medal in the long jump after previously winning in 2023.

DeFazio landed in first place in the long jump at this year’s WPIAL finals with a leap of 18-06.50.

Group promotes lacrosse

Sewickley Valley Lacrosse (SVLAX) is a nonprofit lacrosse association conducted for the Quaker Valley School District and surrounding communities.

It was started in 2004 and is run under the umbrella of the Quaker Valley Recreation Association.

SVLAX was formed to encourage early participation in and enthusiasm for lacrosse through age-appropriate instruction for boys and girls in first through sixth grade.

Both spring and fall programs are held. All programs are funded by registration fees, donations and the support of volunteers.

The Sewickley Valley Lacrosse operating committee consists of Judy Windle (president), Matt Chapman (vice president), Emily Bauersmith (program director), Tessa Chapman (secretary) and Devin Fisher (treasurer).

Quaker Valley’s boys middle school program for seventh and eighth graders also is run through SVLAX.

QV record breakers

Did you know that the Quaker Valley boys 1,600-meter relay and 3,200-meter relay teams and senior Davin “Macky” Gartley (300 hurdles) rewrote the record book at the WPIAL Class 2A track and field championships this year?

The 1,600 relay team, consisting Gartley, sophomore James Irwin and seniors Jackson Pethel and Clark LaLomia, posted a time of 3:22.36 while the 3,200 relay team — Pethel, Lalomia, junior River Capek and sophomore Jonah Montagnese — snapped the 2A record in 7:51.89. Riverside held the 1,600 record (3:24.26) since 2018. QV set the 3,200 mark (7:57.16) in 2012.

Gartley won with a 38.15 performance in the 300-meter hurdles, shattering the 2A district record established in 2012 by Washington’s Dustin Fuller (38.50). Gartley also reset the school record.

Both relay teams retained their WPIAL titles while Gartley, who won the 110 hurdles event in 14.36, was a four-time medalist. He was joined on QV’s third-place 400 relay team by senior Winston Clifford, Irwin and sophomore Kieran Cain.

Gartley holds three school records and has won seven gold medals in WPIAL track and one gold in cross country in his accomplished career.

Eden takes 3rd

The Eden Christian Academy (15-5) and Greensburg Central Catholic (17-3) baseball teams combined for 32 wins before meeting in the WPIAL Class A consolation game May 28 at Ross Memorial Field at Washington & Jefferson.

The Warriors defeated GCC, 10-2, to land the No. 3 seed for the PIAA playoffs; GCC received the fourth seed.

No. 2 Eden blanked No. 10 Avella (6-0) and lost to No. 6 Carmichaels (4-3) in the district postseason.

Both Eden and GCC won their section this spring, with the Warriors sharing the Section 3-A crown with Serra Catholic and Bishop Canevin and GCC finishing first in Section 1-A.

Tags: Quaker Valley, Sewickley Academy

River Falls senior Quin Andrews finished as the state runner-up in the Division 1 boys’ 800 meter run to headline a list of area athletes who reached the awards podium on the first day of the WIAA State Track and Field Championships in La Crosse Friday.

It took a state-record setting performance by Homestead junior Jay Tally to defeat Andrews. Tally set a new state record with a time of 1 minute, 51.21 seconds while Andrews was second in 1:52.49. Hudson junior TJ Pennycook also reached the podium in the race with a sixth place time of 1:53.73.

Andrews’ classmate Ty Bauschelt stood on the podium for the second straight season after clearing 6-feet, 6-inches to finish in a three-way tie for fourth place in the high jump. He cleared the same height last year to place third. Aiden Dyskstra of Germantown won this year’s title with 6-9.

Andrews and Bauschelt also teamed up with senior Jack Silloway and sophomore Charlie Burke to qualify for Saturday’s finals in the 4×400 meter relay with a time of 3:19.27, the fastest time in the 24-team field.

The New Richmond boys 4×200 meter relay team will also run in Saturday’s finals after earning the ninth and final qualifying spot in Friday’s prelims with a time of 1:28.77.

New Richmond senior Genna Gretzlock reached the podium in the girls discus with a fifth place throw of 128-08, while Tiger sophomore Miley Covey qualified for the finals in the girls 400 meter dash with a time of 58.57 seconds, seventh fastest of the 24 competitors in Friday’s preliminaries.

Earlier Friday in the Division 2 portion of the meet, St. Croix Central junior Matthew Goossens qualified for Saturday’s finals in the boys 400 meter dash with a time of 50.34 seconds.

John Pollock & Wai Ting review WWE Money In The Bank featuring this year’s MITB ladder match winners, John Cena & Logan Paul vs. Cody Rhodes & Jey Uso, and a surprise return to close the show.

Plus, John gives his thoughts on WWE-AAA Worlds Collide featuring El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Chad Gable.

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A recent graduate of Western Hills High School was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this week.Cincy Galaxy soccer coach Bryan Williams says he was attending a routine immigration check-in with one of his players, Emerson Colindres, 19, when he was ambushed and arrested by immigration authorities.According to Williams, Colindres is a Honduran national who was brought to the U.S. by his parents in 2008 and has spent 17 years of his life in the country. He is a lifelong soccer player who had just graduated from Western Hills High School a few weeks ago.The arrest appears to stem from a deportation order that the Colindres family received in 2023 after having their previous asylum claims denied by a judge.Since then, Colindres and his parents have had routine check-ins with immigration authorities, and Williams says both he and Colindres were caught off guard when they found ICE agents waiting to arrest the teen as they arrived at the meeting. Williams says that authorities plan to ultimately fulfill the deportation order and remove him from the country.”They took him away from there. I was fortunate and unfortunate that my son was there and was able to give him a hug and tell him he loved him and tell him bye,” said Williams, his voice heavy with emotion. “But Emerson was in handcuffs at the time, so that’s where we are. He’s been in Butler County Jail since then.”Williams says that he and the rest of the Cincy Galaxy soccer team plan to protest Colindres’ arrest outside of the Butler County Jail on Sunday.This is a breaking news story and will be updated as WLWT learns more.

AI-assisted summaryKimberly’s Hunter Sprangers won the D1 boys discus and shot put, while Neenah’s Celia Gentile won the D1 girls long jump and triple jump.Freedom’s Claire Helmila won the D2 girls 800-meter run and Lydia Merrick won the D2 girls high jump, helping Freedom win the D2 girls team title.Shiocton’s Paxton Kuehn won the D3 boys 100 dash and Lydia Hofacker won the D3 girls 300 low hurdles.LA CROSSE − The Post-Crescent coverage area had no shortage of champions at the WIAA state track and field championships this year.

Eight titles overall were earned by area athletes, including six June 7 at Veterans Memorial Stadium Sports Complex.

Mix in a championship relay team and a second consecutive state title for the Freedom girls track team, and it adds up to a banner day for the area.

Earning individual championships June 7 were Kimberly’s Hunter Sprangers in the Division 1 boys discus, Neenah’s Celia Gentile in the D1 girls long jump, Freedom’s Claire Helmila in the D2 girls 800-meter run, Freedom’s Lydia Merrick in the girls high jump, Shiocton’s Paxton Kuehn in the D3 boys 100 dash and Shiocton’s Lydia Hofacker in the D3 girls 300 low hurdles.

Winneconne’s D2 boys 1,600 relay team also captured gold to help the Wolves secure a second-place finish in the team competition. The Wolves finished with 42.5 points, just behind state champ Notre Dame (44).

The Neenah girls also finished as D1 state runner-up with 46 points. Arrowhead won the D1 girls title with 51.

Sprangers, Gentile headline area individual champs

Sprangers and Gentile also won titles on the first day, with Sprangers winning the shot put and Gentile the triple jump.

They were at it again on the second day, with Gentile recording a leap of 19 feet, 6.5 inches in winning the long jump and Sprangers capturing the discus title with a throw of 196-2.

Gentile, a sophomore, placed second last season in the long jump and this season was determined to do better. She recorded her winning jump on her fifth attempt, which put her far ahead of second-place finisher Makena McGarry of Onalaska (18-11).

“It’s a lot more rewarding to get first place this year,” she said. “That’s what I was coming here to do, so getting the gold is great.”

Gentile was on point in both of her championships, as she didn’t scratch on any of her 12 jumps.

“My coaches always like pounding on consistency,” she said. “So knowing that this is the biggest meet of the year, I want to get all my jumps in and all the possibilities to win.”

Sprangers trailed De Pere’s Connor Fontaine from the start in the D1 discus, with Fontaine recording a 193-0 throw on his first attempt with Sprangers following with a 192-11.

The Kimberly senior then found the right mix on his fifth attempt, recording a heave of 196-2 that netted the title.

“Going in to it I felt real good,” he said. “Mental clarity, it was unbelievable. I felt amazing. I never felt that good. I just knew it was going to take one good throw and it was going to take a throw that was just gonna click.

“After the throw I just knew. Mid-air, ‘Oh yeah.’ And it came down 196 and I lost my mind. It was awesome.”

Sprangers, who will compete at Penn State next season, said he and Fontaine may look like rivals during competition, but the two are actually good friends.

“It might look like we hate each other, but at the end of the day we’re best friends,” Sprangers said. “We’re just competing and at the end, we’re congratulating each other and it’s just a good time all around.”

Merrick, Helmila spark Freedom girls

Helmila’s state title in the D2 800 run was something she has dreamt of for quite some time.

The Freedom senior won the event with a time of 2:12.76 and led for nearly the entire race. She finished a little over two seconds ahead of Lancaster’s Maddie Driscoll (2:14.98).

“It’s been my dream to be a state champion individually and it just means the world to me,” she said. “It shows the work that I put in, but also the work that the people put into myself. And to be able to reward those people with something like this, it means the world to me.

“The coaches, my parents and my teammates that have all brought me to this moment and most importantly, to show how God has worked in my life through all the highs and lows and to be able to overcome those and get a state championship.”

Helmila’s title, along with Merrick’s championship in the high jump, was a big reason why Freedom was in contention for the state team title. The Irish would repeat as D2 state champs by finishing with 40 points, just getting past second-place University School of Milwaukee (37).

Merrick secured the high jump title — an event she also won as a sophomore — with a leap of 5-6. It was a big moment for the Freedom senior, who placed sixth in the event last year.

“It was just so fulfilling,” Merrick said. “Winning my sophomore year and taking sixth last year, getting back to the podium is a dream and I did it. I’m so proud of myself.”

Merrick fended off Hayward’s Helen Thompson, who took second with a 5-6 but lost out to Merrick, who accomplished the feat in fewer attempts.

“I’ve been jumping with her since sophomore year,” Merrick said. “We’re friends. All of the girls over there are friends. It was amazing competition and amazing sportsmanship.”

Hofacker, Kuehn lead Shiocton in Division 3

Lydia Hofacker let her hard work do the talking in winning the D3 girls 300 hurdles.

The senior had the top time heading into the state meet and put together a fine showing in the finals, finishing with a time of :44.35. That allowed her to eke out the championship over McDonell Central’s Elyse Bushman (:44.56).

“I was really, really nervous but worked really hard to get here,” Hofacker said. “And I walked into finals ranked No. 1 and knew that I couldn’t give up that ranking. I went into that race with running as hard as I could.

“(Bushman) is super sweet and we push each other. It was really awesome. We talked after the race and we both really helped to push each other. Awesome to have such supportive people around you and everyone just runs their hardest.”

Hofacker, who will be competing at UW-Oshkosh in college, left it all out on the track.

“This was my last time running the 300 hurdles,” she said. “It was awesome, a really rewarding feeling that all the hard work I put into during the season really paid off.”

For Kuehn, winning the D3 boys 100 dash could be seen as a dose of redemption. The junior qualified for the 100 final last June, but said a pulled hamstring kept him from competing.

“That was not good,” he said. “But I kept working and getting in the weight room and followed the directions of the coach and staying positive and praying and getting strength from the Lord.”

Kuehn won the title with a time of :10.99 seconds. His personal-best time is :10.89. He was able to fend off Unity’s Payton Merrida (:11.12), who finished second.