Fox Chapel athletes wrote success stories during 2022-23 school year

By: Josh Rizzo
Saturday, June 17, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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Fox Chapel had plenty of team and individual successes during the 2022-23 school year. When it comes to the Foxes sports programs, there were plenty of memorable moments to reflect on and a few somber moments for the school’s supporters.

Here’s a look at a few notable events that happened during the past year in Foxes’ history.

Shao finishes strong

Sophie Shao was able to add several more swimming medals to her collection during her senior campaign. Shao, who will be attending Brown University next year, finished in second place at the 100 butterfly in the PIAA Class 3A championships.

Shao clocked a time of 54.37 seconds to finish .41 seconds behind Hatboro-Horsham’s Anna Jia. During Shao’s career, she was a four-time WPIAL champion, two-time state champion and the Class 3A record holder in the 100 fly.

Fox Chapel makes Penguins Cup

The Foxes bullied their way through the PIHL’s Class A this season. Fox Chapel finished the season 20-3 and made it to the Penguins Cup for the first time in 20 years. While the Foxes were tripped up by Kiski, Fox Chapel impressed on the way to a finals appearance.

The Foxes’ scored a league-high 146 goals on their way to a Varsity A Blue Division championship. Mason Heiiininger led Fox Chapel with 29 goals, while Liam Wiseman had 26.

Conti, Troutman at states

Fox Chapel’s Claire Conti capped off a successful freshman season by qualifying for the PIAA Class 3A championships in the discus. Conti placed 13th with a throw of 110 feet, 2 inches. Junior Anna Troutman also qualified in the 100 hurdles and finished 14th with a time of 14.52 seconds.

Fox Chapel loses a legend

Former Foxes basketball coach Harry Jenkins passed away in late May.

Jenkins, who was still an assistant coach at La Roche University, led Fox Chapel to 14 playoff appearances, two section titles and two WPIAL finals appearances during a coaching career that spanned from 1980 to 2005.

Jenkins finished with 316 wins.

Boys soccer reaches semis

The Foxes nearly upended the eventual state champion Seneca Valley in the WPIAL semifinals. Fox Chapel lost 3-2 to the Raiders, who went on to win the PIAA Class 4A title. The Foxes beat Canon-McMillan, 4-0, in the quarterfinals to advance. Fox Chapel finished the season 13-4-2 overall and went 10-2-2 in section.

Three of Fox Chapel’s four losses this season came to Seneca Valley.

Cross country wins section

The Foxes boys cross country team won its fourth consecutive section title this season. Fox Chapel won with a team score of 37, which was well ahead of Kiski’s second-place finish with 46. On the girls’ side, the Foxes finished second behind Kiski, losing out on the title by one point.

All five male and female performers for Fox Chapel medaled at the event. Rowan Gwin led the Fox Chapel boys by finishing atop the boys leaderboard with a time of 16:53.9.

New football coach

Fox Chapel appointed David Leasure as the new leader of its football program. Leisure was the Fox Chapel defensive coordinator and assistant coach from 2005-2010. He also was previously head coach at Springdale and also served as an offensive coordinator at Saltsburg.

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