North Journal notebook: 8 North Allegheny wrestlers advance to WPIALs

By: Bill Hartlep
Saturday, February 27, 2021 | 9:01 AM

The North Allegheny wrestling team was well represented at Saturday’s WPIAL Class AAA championships after an impressive finish at the Section 3 tournament Feb. 20.

The Tigers had three section champions and five runners-up who advanced to the WPIAL tournament.

Dylan Coy (120 pounds), Nick Gorman (126) and Brady Leczo (215) won section titles.

Coy earned a 10-0 major decision in the first round and defeated West Allegheny’s Nick Jones, 11-5, in the finals.

Gorman had a pair of pins, including a win in 2:35 over Butler’s Nick Schaukowitsch in the finals.

Leczo earned a 6-3 decision in the first round and a 4-2 win in the ultimate tiebreaker round against Moon’s Andrew Sampson in the finals.

The runners-up included Nathan Monteparte (132), Brad Stipetich (138), Max Stedeford (145), Collin McCorkle (160) and Travis Stipetich (172).

In addition, Aidan Buggey (189) and Sam Horton (113) finished third, and AJ Rohan (152) and Casey Walker (106) took fourth at the section tournament but fell short of qualifying for WPIALs.

• North Hills had one wrestler advance to the WPIAL Class AAA tournament. Giavonie Schipani finished second at 106 pounds at the Section 3 tournament.

All-star football

Four senior members of the North Allegheny football team were selected to play in prestigious all-star games last week.

Senior Khalil Dinkins was selected to the Pennsylvania team that will play Maryland in the annual Big 33 Football Classic, set for 1 p.m. May 31 at Central Dauphin’s Landis Field.

Seniors Josh Humphries, Mason Kress and Nathan Hoke were picked to play in the annual PSFCA East-West game, which will be May 30, also at Landis Field. They will play against a team of eastern Pennsylvania all-stars in the big-school game for players in Class 4A-6A.

Hoops playoff pairings

The North Allegheny girls basketball team, which won its ninth straight section title last week, was awarded the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye for the WPIAL Class 6A playoffs.

The Tigers (19-1) will host the winner of No. 8 Penn-Trafford (10-6) and No. 9 Baldwin (8-7) in the quarterfinals at noon Saturday.

• The North Hills girls finished the regular season 3-14 and received a No. 14 seed. They were scheduled to play at No. 3 Norwin (11-4) on Wednesday.

• On the boys side, North Allegheny (13-6) got the No. 7 seed and was to play No. 10 Central Catholic (12-8) last Tuesday in the opening round.

• North Hills (4-9) was awarded the No. 13 seed in the Class 6A boys playoffs and was to play at No. 4 Penn-Trafford (12-5) on Tuesday.

NA swim qualifiers

The North Allegheny boys and girls swim teams will look to keep their WPIAL Class AAA championships streaks intact Saturday and Sunday.

The girls, who finished the regular season 8-0 overall and 6-0 in section and are seeking their 13th straight district title, will be represented at WPIALs by Lexi Sundgren (100 free, 200 free), Kara Mihm (200 free, 500 free), Delaney Kennedy (200 free, 500 free), Molly Smyers (200 IM, 500 free), Olivia Kisow (200 IM, 500 free), Isabella Dietz (200 IM, 100 breast), Natalie Sens (50 free, 100 breast), Quinn Frost (50 free, 100 free), Haley Miller (50 free, 100 free), Rebecca Melanson (50 free), Ella Ogden (100 fly, 100 free), Greta Mott (100 back) and Vivien Li (100 back).

The boys, who finished 6-2 overall and 5-1 in section meets, will be represented by Zachary Jubeck (200 free, 500 free), Stewart Messer (200 free), Tyler Tieppo (200 free, 100 fly), David Shi (200 IM), Jacob Yarosz (200 IM, 500 free), Jacob McCarran (50 free, 100 breast), Matthew Turzai (50 free), Wyatt Courville (50 free, 100 breast), Timothy Compton (100 fly, 500 free), William Gao (100 fly, 100 back), Ben Gavran (100 free) and Eliot Maravich (500 free).

All six NA relays also will compete.

The diving championships were scheduled for last Saturday at NA.

Bill Hartlep is the TribLive sports editor. A Pittsburgh native and Point Park graduate, he joined the Trib in 2004, covering high school sports. He held various editing roles before assuming his current position in 2019. He can be reached at bhartlep@triblive.com.

Tags: North Allegheny