By: John Grupp


Saturday, June 28, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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Whether he was defending passes in football or soaring through the air in track, Nick Humphries left his mark at North Allegheny.

Now he’s ready to make the leap all the way to Des Moines, Iowa.

The 2025 NA graduate departed in late June for Drake, where he will begin preparation for his first year with the Division I FCS football program.

“I’m very excited,” Humphries said. “It’s a new chapter in my life. Closing this one and opening a new one is always good. As a young kid, I always had a dream to play Division I football. This is very big for me, so I’m excited.”

Humphries, who was part of WPIAL champion teams in football and track, was set to leave for Drake on June 26 to start orientation, move into his dorm room and begin summer conditioning.

A lot has changed since Humphries, a 6-foot, 170-pound two-time all-conference defensive back, committed to Drake in October. Former Bulldogs coach Todd Stepsis departed in early December for Northern Iowa, and Joe Woodley, who had led crosstown Grand View to the 2024 NAIA national championship, was hired at Drake on
Dec. 23.

While all of the coaches who had recruited Humphries are gone, he didn’t waver in his commitment to the school.

“When I first heard the news, I was kind of shocked,” he said, “but at the same time, I was firm in my decision with Drake. In my household, academics always come first. Drake has excellent academics. … I knew they were getting good coaches, so it wasn’t really a problem for me.”

Humphries, who carried a 3.5 GPA at North Allegheny, earned an academic scholarship to Drake and plans to major in data analytics at the 4,800-student school. The Bulldogs play in the Pioneer Football League, the only nonscholarship, football-only conference in the FCS. The lone other WPIAL product on the roster is former Canon-McMillan defensive back Chris Davis Jr.

Humphries had attended a football camp at Drake last summer and been offered — his first Division I deal — shortly afterward. He had also looked at Robert Morris and Howard.

“The reason why I picked Drake was, first and foremost, academics,” said “They have very good academics. I liked the people around there. They were very welcoming, and I liked the community and the environment. It was very nice.”

Humphries had a nice career at North Allegheny, lettering four times in track and twice in football.

He led the WPIAL Class 6A runner-up Tigers with 11 pass breakups and returned two punts for touchdowns in his senior football season.

This past spring, he finished third in the long jump at the WPIAL Class 3A Track and Field Championships and anchored the fourth-place 400 relay team that broke a 46-year-old school record with a time of 42.37 seconds.

He also placed second in the long jump at the Baldwin Invitational with a personal-best leap of 23 feet, 3 inches, one of the best marks in school history by anyone not named Ayden Owens.

NA track coach John Neff said Humphries was much more than just a football player using track season to stay in shape.

“Football is definitely his No. 1 sport, but he attacks track and field as if it were his No. 1 sport, too,” Neff said. “He was a great teammate, and he was really interested in the team’s success. I couldn’t have asked for any more out of him.”

Humphries’ track days are over; he’s football-only at Drake. He said the new coaching staff has reached out, and he was encouraged by what he heard from cornerbacks coach Jacob Brown and safeties coach AJ Vasquez.

“They’ve been calling me, texting me and keeping me up to date,” Humphries said. “It’s going good, and I’m very excited to get there and start my new journey, my new chapter, and see how it goes.”

Tags: North Allegheny

JJ Stec

Crestwood, Junior

Outside Hitter

Stec helped Crestwood to a berth in the PIAA Class 2A playoffs. He was third in the WVC with 165 kills, and added 116 digs, 69 service points and 17 aces. He’ll be one of the featured hitters in the league next season.

Luke Joseph

Crestwood, Junior

Libero

For the second straight season, Joseph was named as the league’s Defensive Most Valuable Player. He had 154 digs, added 65 service points and 17 aces.

Jack Wasiakowski

Holy Redeemer, Junior

Setter

Wasiakowski lands on the All-Voice team for the second consecutive season. He was the league’s top setter, leading the conference with 337 assists as Holy Redeemer advanced to the PIAA Class 2A quarterfinals. He was also good behind the service line with 88 service points and 22 aces.

Jordany Rodriguez Disla

Wilkes-Barre Area, Senior

Outside Hitter

Rodriguez Disla was the Wolfpack’s leading attacker as it was third in the WVC with an eight-win season. The senior ended with 154 kills, which was good enough for fourth in the league. He had 56 points, 13 aces and added seven blocks. It’s his third selection to the All-Voice team.

Carlos Guzman

Berwick, Senior

Outside Hitter

Guzman was another one of the strong senior hitters in the league as the Bulldogs reached the District 2 Class 2A semifinals. He ended with 128 kills, 98 digs, 75 service points and 13 aces.

Zachary MacBain

Tunkhannock, Senior

Outside Hitter

MacBain was a bright spot for the Tigers. He was fourth in the league with 154 kills, and was also talented on the back line with 111 digs and 30 service points. MacBain added 41 assists.

Kendrick Ortiz

Hazleton Area, Junior

Outside Hitter

While it was a rebuilding year at Hazleton Area, a team filled with underclassman, Ortiz made his impact. He was sixth in the WVC with 149 kills, and added 92 digs, 33 service points and 12 aces. He’ll be one of the top hitters in 2026.

Davyn Piatt

Hanover Area, Senior

Outside Hitter

The senior did a little bit of everything. He led the team with 79 kills and also had team bests in digs (105) and service points (57). He added 10 blocks, 13 assists and six aces.

Zachary Zubritski

Nanticoke Area, Sophomore

Outside Hitter

Zubritski is an underclassman to keep an eye on in the next two years. He made quite an impact in 2025, helping Nanticoke to five wins in the league and a berth in the playoffs. He was two kills away from 100 on the year, and added 54 digs, 70 service points and 11 aces.

Originally Published: June 27, 2025 at 6:00 PM EDT

After an indoor season for the ages, former Tewks­bury High track and field star Makayla Paige continued to raise the bar in the spring.

Earlier this month, the University of North Caro­lina senior claimed silver at the NCAA Champion­ships with a blazing time of 1:58.97 in the 800. That mark was good for the fifth-best in NCAA history. Just this season alone, Paige has dropped her school record in the event a staggering four times.

Paige collected first-team All-America recognition this season. In the in­door campaign, Paige turn­­ed heads at the national championships with a first-place finish in the 800 to take gold.

At Merrimack College, junior Maci Chapman com­pleted a memorable season for the Warriors. High­lighted by a first-place fin­ish in the 3000-meter run (10:22.35) at the Crim­son Open, the former Tewks­bury High runner also placed 13th in the 5000-meter run at the MAAC Indoor Track and Field Championships in a personal-best time of 18:11.68.

Over in Lowell, Jayani San­tos completed a successful season with the River Hawks, capped off by a third-place finish in the 400 (55.94) at the MIT Final Qualifier last month.

The sophomore impres­sed at the America East Outdoor Track and Field Championship, placing se­cond in the 200-meter dash (24.23). Earlier in the season, Santos won the event (24.41) at the Ken O’Brien Pre-Conference Meet.

Baseball

Tewksbury’s Jack Men­ard (Tabor Academy) re­cently wrapped up a senior season at Saint Mi­chael’s. The left-handed pitcher made four appearances out of the bullpen this spring as the Purple Knights turned in an 8-29 season. Ahead of this season, Menard was a six-time recipient of the NE10 Academic Honor Roll.

Girls lacrosse

Erin McIntyre was a key cog in Bridgewater State’s best season since 2014 that yielded a trip to the MASCAC semifinals. In the 19-14 loss at Worcester State, McIntyre laced a goal and picked up two ground balls. This season, the sen­ior recorded 41 goals and 16 points in 17 games to pace the Bears’ offense. 

Elsewhere, Ashley Tal­bot wrapped up her junior season at Rivier, starting in all 14 games as a midfielder. She collected three points and caused 14 turn­overs as the Raiders finished the season with an 8-6 record.

Talbot attended Shaw­sheen Tech.

Softball

A handful of former Tewksbury High standouts enjoyed successful seasons on the diamond. 

At Bentley, freshman Bec­ca Harris batted .288 with 30 hits, 13 RBI and six doubles in her debut season in the collegiate ranks. The Falcons made an appearance in the NCAA tournament after a 26-21 season.

At Clark, Avery Della Pi­ana appeared in 25 games as a freshman while hitting .297 at the plate. The catcher recorded 22 hits and 22 RBI.

Sophomore Sam Ryan was tabbed to the NE10 Second Team after a solid season in the circle for Saint Anselm. She recorded 14th wins, the second-most in the conference, and led the team in inn­ings (127), WHIP (1.20) and ERA (2.54).

Samantha Perkins started 35 games for Gordon College this spring, hitting .260 with 27 hits, 20 RBI, four doubles and two home runs.

Men’s track and field

On the track, UMass Low­ell junior Derek Munroe, known for his gravitas in the decathlon, netted a se­cond-place finish in the event at the America East Outdoor Championship last month. 

Munroe totaled 6,801 points, ruling the discus for first place (37.82m) be­fore placing second in the pole vault (4.30m) and ja­velin (50.58m). Munroe then slashed his personal record in the javelin at the MIT Final Qualifier, mustering a mark of 4.70m to place second. Munroe holds the school record in the decathlon (6,655 points), which he set last season.

At URI, Alex Arbogast turn­ed in another solid sea­son at the Division 1 level. Most recently, the sophomore sprinter placed fifth (21.25) in the 200 at the Princeton Elite Invi­tational. He also netted a fifth-place bid in the 100 (10.47) at the New Eng­land Championship.

Arbogast took third at the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Track and Field Cham­pion­ship in the 200, netting a time of 21.30 seconds as the Rams finished in second place overall.

Lizzie Carr, left, believes every UK player is good enough to start. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Kentucky volleyball will open what it hopes can be a special season in just over two months and two transfers off NCAA Tournament teams – Molly Berezowitz of Marquette and Lizzie Carr of Purdue — love the overall talent that coach Craig Skinner has on his team.

Carr, the younger sister of former UK basketball player Andrew Carr, averaged 1.52 kills per match last season for 27-7 Purdue. The 6-foot-6 Carr had 87 kills in her two years at Purdue.

“It’s cool to see how hard we can compete and how good you can make the people around you,” said Carr, a middle blocker. “Everyone is constantly pushing you to be the best version of  yourself as a leader, a person, a teammate and player.

Carr has always believed a team can only be as good as its backup players are because “they are the ones competing against you every day.” She says Skinner mixes up players on Blue and White teams in practice and they consistently beat each other.

“Every single person is good enough to have a starting spot. It’s cool to see how each person is pushing others to be better and kind of make you uncomfortable in a good way because you have to figure out how to compete at the high test level every day in practice and that makes for a great team,” Carr said. “We’re just so deep and have so much stuff that we are really going to have a good team.”

Berezowitz, a libero, had a season-high 21 digs in Marquette’s NCAA Tournament win over Utah and hit double digit digs in 10 matches last season. Her older sister, Maddie, was on UK’s 2020 national championship team.

“I played for a high level team at Marquette, and when I got here, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this  is better than I ever imagined.’ I thought I was playing at the best level that I could be at and then getting here, these people just make you so much better,” Berezowitz, a junior, said.  I think that it starts off the court. This is just such a good group of girls.”

Kentucky had all 14 players, including three true freshmen, on this year’s team on campus the second semester to give the Cats a huge head start on this season.

“We all got to train and compete all spring and we didn’t want to take that opportunity for granted that we had with everyone here,” the Marquette transfer said. “Usually teams get six months to be together but we will have almost a whole year and teams don’t get that very often.

“I really see something different in this team. It really starts with how we act together off the court, and that just really transitions on the court. Obviously it helps just having so many talented players. It’s fun getting in the gym every single day and you’re battling every single day. I think that if we have that mindset in every single game, we’re going be hard to beat this season with the talent we have.”

The team’s leader will be junior All-American Brooklyn DeLeye, one of the nation’s top four players last season when UK reached the Elite Eight. Berezowitz played against her in club volleyball in high school but didn’t pay a lot of attention to her the last two years even though her Marquette teammates did.

“My teammates at Marquette would talk about BK (DeLeye) is. I don’t know how to really explain it, but you can just rely on her to get it done. She is super relatable,” Berezowitz said. “She just has that presence where we all trust her. It’s also cool because we also have (Purdue transfer) Eva Hudson on the pin, so it’s like having that combo out there that we can rely on to finish points. But I love playing with her (DeLeye) and she certainly has lived up to that All-American standard.”

Wilmington native Celia Kulis enjoyed a record-breaking season at Holy Cross this spring. She set two school records. 

Competing at the NEICAAA Outdoor Cham­pionship last month at UMass Amherst, the junior eclipsed the 100-meter hur­dles school record (13.66) to take second place at the event.

And after another school record performance — Ku­lis broke her own school record in the heptathlon at the Patriot League Out­door Championship by 353 points — she was named to the Second Team All-Pa­­triot League team.

Kulis placed second, posting 5,006 points. 

Baseball

Senior Tristan Ciampa made six appearances for UMass Boston (25-17) this spring, tossing 28.2 inn­ings and recording a 3.45 ERA. Posting a 2-1 rec­ord, perhaps his best outing came in an eight-strikeout gem against Ply­mouth State, where he scattered five hits in 7.1 innings en route to the win. Ciampa held the oppo­si­tion to a mere .214 batting average this season. 

At Franklin Pierce, fresh­­man Jacob Roque played in 19 games in his rookie campaign.

He hit .178, driving in five runs while stealing four bases. The Ravens fin­­ished the spring 35-22, advancing all the way to the NCAA Super Regional.

Men’s lacrosse

At Seton Hill, junior Ga­vin Erickson notched 31 points on 17 goals and 14 assists as the Griffins turn­­ed in an 18-2 season. Erick­son tallied a helper in Se­ton Hill’s 9-8 loss to Saint Anselm in the NCAA tournament after winning the G-MAC title.

In his freshman season at Franklin Pierce, Mi­chael Lawler posted four goals and eight assists for 12 points. In a 13-8 win over American Interna­tional on March 26, Law­ler erupted for two goals and two assists.

Bobby Cyr scored a goal for Embry-Riddle in his rookie season, starting in all 16 games.

Women’s lacrosse

Senior Shannon Murphy capped off a storied four-year career at Colorado Me­sa University between the pipes.

In four seasons, she ap­peared in 54 games and made 312 saves while boas­ting a 31-19 record. She made 15 saves in four games this season and entered this spring rank­ed second in program history in goalie wins.

Men’s track and field

Senior Patrick O’Mahony competed in one outdoor meet for Bryant this season, posting a 4:24.89 in the 1,500m at the Black and Gold Invitational. In the indoor season, he netted a personal best 4:30.32 in the mile at the America East Championships.

At Assumption, junior Col­by Medeiros finished fourth in the 800 (1:55.22) at the Northeast-10 Confer­­ence Outdoor Champion­ships last month. Assump­tion placed fourth as a team. At the Jack Maloney/Jim Barber Invitational, he netted a 1:55.08 in the event for first place.

Women’s track and field

At Springfield, junior Ma­dison Mulas placed fifth in the 100-meter dash (13.49) at the SC Outdoor Classic to have a hand in Spring­field’s team title at the event in April. At the NEWMAC Champion­ships, Mulas played a role in a third-place finish in the 4×100-meter relay (49.52).

A pair of Wilmington run­­ners made splashes at UVM. Junior Shea Cushing posted a fifth-place finish at the UMass Pre-Confer­ence Meet in the 5000, while junior Carmella Thomp­son came in third in discus at the George Da­vis Invitational. 

At Stonehill, freshman Mollie Osgood placed sixth in the high jump (1.57m) to claim points for the Sky­hawks at the North­east Conference Outdoor Cham­pionships. At the Ken O’Bri­en Pre-Conference Meet, Os­good came in fifth (1.53m). She set her personal best outdoor score (1.58m) earlier in the season at the Merrimack Col­lege Alumni Classic.