Baseball, girls soccer players among Norwin standouts making college commitments

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Sunday, November 21, 2021 | 11:01 AM

Purchase Photo Options

Previous Next

Signing day once again was good to Norwin.

Or was it the other way around?

Prospective student-athletes for all college sports except football could make their commitments official Nov. 10, and Norwin had 19 signees.

Baseball had the most with seven, while girls soccer was next with five.

The baseball players to sign included Jake Kendro (Tennessee), Sebastian Rosado Guindin (IUP), Jake Whalen (Seton Hill), Noah Czajkowski (St. Bonaventure), Ty Stecko (Mount St. Mary’s), Elijah Dunn (IUP) and Jake Awenowicz (Gannon).

Norwin had 12 college-committed players on last season’s team.

“I have been waiting for this day since my sophomore year, so to finally make it official feels amazing,” Kendro said. “To have seven signees for the baseball program at Norwin is awesome, but we need to keep our heads down and compete at the level we know we can. I am looking forward to the spring season and seeing how far we can go. It is going to be an exciting season and I am looking forward to it.”

Norwin girls soccer coach Diane Metzger had never experienced signing day before but has a greater appreciation for it after seeing a handful of her players put pen to paper.

The girls to sign were Emma Rigone (Youngstown State), Paloma Swankler (Robert Morris), Jenna McGuinness (Seton Hill), Reese Aquilio (Clarion) and Alyssa Shields (Pitt-Johnstown).

“I loved coaching this group,” Metzger said. “It will be sad to see them leave. Very talented young ladies.”

Two Norwin senior wrestlers signed in Chase Kranitz (Buffalo) and Conner Henning (York).

Another girls soccer player, Sydney Gray, who did not play for the high school team, signed with Virginia Military Institute.

Other signees included Kayla Clark (lacrosse/Juniata), Victoria Heffelfinger (swimming/Edinboro), Brianna Zajicek (basketball/Alderson Broaddus), Layla Robertson (track/Seton Hill) and Angelina Pepe (softball/Clarion).

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Norwin