Tennis standout Ronit Yurovsky among 2024 inductees to Plum Sports Hall of Fame

By: Michael Love
Saturday, October 26, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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The Plum High School Sports Hall of Fame will induct its Class of 2024 on Nov. 14, at Edgewood Country Club.

This year’s inductees are Scott Benzel (Class of 1993), Nolan Cressler (2012), Andrew DeFazio (1995), Richard Foutz (1970), Scott McGough (2008), William Rometo (1970), William Wilmore (1990), Ronit Yurovsky (2012) and the 1968 and 1969 WPIAL championship golf teams.

A reception will be at 5:30 p.m. with dinner to follow at 7. Tickets are $50 per person. A table for eight is $400.

Checks can be written out to Plum High School Sports Hall of Fame and mailed to P.O. Box 114006, Pittsburgh, PA 15239.

To reserve tickets or for more information, email phsshof@gmail.com. The deadline for tickets is Nov. 7.

This week, the Advance Leader will profile the remaining four individuals and the team inductee. Check out last week’s profiles here.

Ronit Yurovsky

From the start in tennis at age 3, Yurovsky displayed a natural talent for the sport.

Her parents, Victoria and Doug, spent time traveling with her so she could compete in various tournaments.

Yurovsky captured major USTA regional and national titles before entering high school and was ranked No. 1 in the Middle States for the years she played junior tennis.

She also was a runner-up at the major International Tennis Federation Junior International Hard Court Championships.

Yurovsky, a 2012 Plum graduate, made it to the WPIAL Class 3A singles championship match all four years, winning the title three times.

She finished as state champion to cap both her junior and senior seasons.

Yurovsky earned a Scholar-Athlete Extra Effort Award from KDKA during her senior year, and also was named the 2012 National High School Coaches Association’s Senior Athlete of the Year for girls tennis.

She earned a full athletic scholarship to Michigan.

Her freshman year, she won the Arizona State Thunderbird Invitational, kicking off a 15-match wining streak.

Yurovsky played in the No. 1 and No. 2 singles positions all four years.

She was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and the ITA Midwest Regional Rookie of the Year and Senior of the Year.

Yurovsky was voted a team captain as a senior and finished No. 12 in a national singles poll. It was the second-best ranking in Michigan program history.

She led the Wolverines to the Big Ten Tournament Championship for the first time since 1997 and earned All-American honors, finishing third in program history with 117 wins.

Yurovsky had a brief stint on the Women’s Tennis Association and ITF tours before retiring.

She and her husband, Bryan Parker, and daughter, Emersyn, reside in Plum.

Nolan Cressler

The 2012 Plum graduate helped the 2010 Mustangs boys basketball team win the Section 2-4A championship.

Cressler averaged more than 25 points and eight rebounds per game in both his junior and senior seasons.

As a senior, he was selected the WPIAL Class 4A Player of the Year and also was a second-team all-state honoree.

Cressler finished as Plum’s all-time leading scorer with 1,565 points and was named to the Tribune-Review’s Terrific 10 team.

He played in the Roundball Classic and the Alle-Kiski Valley’s Cager Classic all-star games. He set the Cager Classic single-game scoring record with 38 points.

Cressler began his collegiate career at Cornell, where he earned an All-Ivy League selection in 2014.

He led the team in scoring with more than 16 points per game before transferring to Vanderbilt.

As a team captain in 2016 and ‘17, Cressler helped lead the Commodores to two NCAA Tournament appearances.

He surpassed the 1,000-point mark in his collegiate career.

Cressler graduated from Vanderbilt in 2017 with a degree in human and organizational development. While in school, he earned a spot on the Southeastern Conference All-Academic Team.

Cressler finished his basketball career as a professional in Estonia and also Serbia and was twice selected a league all-star before returning to America to pursue a career in medical sales.

He and his wife, Danielle, have two sons, Roman and Micah.

Scott Benzel

The 1993 Plum graduate was a two-sport standout in football and volleyball.

Benzel earned Quad East all-conference honors in football and was a weak-side hitter for the 1993 Mustangs boys volleyball team which qualified for the WPIAL playoffs.

He helped Plum football beat Woodland Hills at the Wolvarena for the first time in program history.

After high school, Benzel attended Mercyhurst, where he was a two-year football starter at free safety and was voted the Lakers’ defensive MVP in 1996.

He led the program in interceptions and pass breakups in 1995 and ‘96 and earned All-Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) honors as a junior and senior.

The 2024 season is Benzel’s 21st coaching at the collegiate level.

After successful stints as the defensive coordinator at Robert Morris and associate head coach and defensive coordinator at St. Francis (Pa.), Benzel was hired as the head coach at Westminster in January 2014.

He ranks third on the Westminster all-time coaching victories list with 72 through a homecoming victory over Saint Vincent on Oct. 19. He is behind only legendary field bosses Harold Burry (127) and Joe Fusco (154).

Benzel earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Mercyhurst in 1997 and a master’s degree in business administration from Robert Morris in 2003.

He resides in Mt. Lebanon with his wife, Cyndi, and children, Baylee and Everett.

Bill Wilmore

After a successful wrestling career at Plum, Wilmore ascended to great heights in the world of bodybuilding.

His journey took him to the top of the amateur bodybuilding ranks and to a professional career.

Wilmore qualified five times for the prestigious Mr. Olympia competition, regarded as the zenith in the sport.

Wilmore completed a three-year Mustangs wrestling career with a record of 81-24-1 and won three section titles while also placing first, second and third at Gateway’s Eastern Area tournament and earning a second-place finish at Powerade.

He finished sixth in the state as a junior with a final record of 30-6-1.

Wilmore, along with classmate Steve Cassidy, made school history by becoming the first Plum wrestlers to qualify for the state tournament as sophomores.

He and Cassidy also were the first Plum wrestlers to be three-time WPIAL place finishers and state qualifiers.

Wilmore placed third at WPIALs twice and also took fourth.

He helped the 1989-90 Plum team finish seventh in the state, the best-ever finish in program history.

Transitioning into bodybuilding, his work paid off with back-to-back second-place finishes at the amateur national championships (2003, 2004).

Wilmore earned pro status in 2005 with a win in the elite super heavyweight division as well as overall honors at the national championships.

He finished near the top at many of the elite competitions, highlighted by the five Mr. Olympia appearances.

Wilmore attracted numerous sponsors during his career, and he founded and ran the annual Bill Wilmore Classic.

He developed a professional training business and worked with an array of clients such as doctors, lawyers, politicians and professional athletes to achieve their fitness goals.

Wilmore is the co-founder and president of BodyRejuvenation, a functional wellness center in Hallandale, Fla.

Plum 1968-69 golf teams

The 1968 Mustangs golf team made history, and the Plum golfers returning for the 1969 season wanted to do it all over again.

And win they did.

Plum captured the 1969 title in dominant fashion with a 12-4 win over Baldwin at Sewickley Heights Golf Club.

At that time, match play was used to determine the WPIAL team champions.

Dave Borkovich and Wade Nonnenberg led the team against Baldwin as they both collected three team points.

Mark Richardson and Lane Nonnenberg scored two and two and a half points for the Mustangs, while Rich Foutz contributed a half-point to the cause.

During that time, Plum golf achieved a four-year run to a 60-3 overall record.

The 1969 team also produced a WPIAL individual champion in Foutz, one of this year’s individual hall-of-fame inductees.

Borkovich went on to place seventh at the PIAA individual championships.

Lou Klauss, the head coach for both championship seasons, coached Plum golf from 1967-82 and compiled an overall record of 125-61.

He also served on the WPIAL golf committee for 28 years and was the chairman for 10 of those years.

Also a coach for Plum in both wrestling and swimming, Klauss was inducted into the Plum High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.

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.

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