Norwin notebook: Former Knights QB Jack Salopek calls it a career

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Saturday, January 4, 2025 | 11:01 AM

After 14 years of football — youth, high school and college — Jack Salopek is hanging up his cleats.

The former Norwin standout who has more career passing yards than anyone in Westmoreland County history (6,150) played this season at Elon after transferring from Western Michigan.

A redshirt junior, Salopek played in seven games, completing 47 of 83 passes for 463 yards and one touchdown.

He spent four seasons at Western Michigan before entering the NCAA transfer portal one year ago. He was 149 of 280 with eight passing touchdowns with the Broncos and had four 200-plus-yard passing games.

Salopek announced his plans on X, saying “I have been fortunate enough to learn many lessons, play in a lot of meaningful games, and meet lifelong friends. Thank you to everyone who was a part of my journey.”

New swim coach

Kathy Bernardi is primed to lead the Norwin swimming teams this winter.

She took over for longtime coach Doug Watson, who resigned after six seasons.

An English teacher at Norwin for 15 years, Bernardi also has coached youth swimming in Indianapolis and Portsmouth (Va.) and serves as head coach of the Monroeville Marlins club team.

Two of her children, Morgan and Andrew Holmes, are swimmers at Bloomsburg. Both graduated from Gateway.

Another son, Michael Holmes, also swam at Gateway before a college career at Mount Union.

Bernardi is familiar with WPIAL swimming because she competed for Gateway, her alma mater.

“I swam in high school, but not with anything close to the success my own kids have had,” she said.

She attended Indiana University (Bloomington) and taught in Indiana and Virginia before moving back to Pennsylvania.

“I’m not nearly as interesting as this team,” Bernardi said. “They are small, but I think they might do some big, unexpected things. They have already gotten all relay WPIAL cuts. Last year, the girls were unable to get the 400 free cut. This year they got all of them in the first two meets.”

Knights roll on mats

Norwin wrestling continued its early season dominance, cruising to a pair of wins over McGuffey (44-23) and Gateway (72-0).

In the latter match, Sebastian Summerville, the Knights’ 285-pounder, was awarded the team’s “Match of the Knight,” while Riley Shaffer (172) and Nate Klingensmith (145) shared “Takedown of the Knight” honors.

Both recorded pins, joining teammates Evan Suedhoff, Tanner Shaffer, Luca Butera and Brooks Blasko.

Boys stack wins

Four players scored in double figures as the Norwin boys basketball team improved to 3-2 with a 64-47 victory over Connellsville in Section 2-6A.

Stefano Giannikas led the Knights with 18 points, while Nathan Kuch had 12, Mario Csukas 11 and Alex Graney 11.

Csukas erupted for a career-high 31 points when Norwin defeated South Fayette, 61-49 in the South Allegheny holiday tournament. He made seven 3-pointers.

When Norwin toppled Valley, 64-42 in the WCCA Showcase, Giannikas made seven 3s and finished with 23 points.

All-region pick

Penn State Behrend junior goalkeeper Riley Morningstar, a Norwin grad, was named to the United Soccer Coaches (USC) NCAA Division III All-Region VII Fourth team.

Morningstar, who was an All-AMCC First Team pick, had a 17-3 record, 12 shutouts and 38 saves in 20 games for the Lions.

PIHL all-stars

Westmoreland County will have a number of representatives in this year’s PIHL All-Star Games.

The five-game schedule and player selections are set for the games on Jan. 26 at the Robert Morris Island Sports Center on Neville Island.

The games are as follows:

• Division 2 Gold vs. Division 2 Blue, noon

• Class A Gold vs. Class A Blue, 1:50 p.m.

• Class A2 Gold vs. Class A2 Blue, 3:40 p.m.

• Class 2A Gold vs. Class 2A Blue, 5:30 p.m.

• Class 3A Gold vs. Class 3A Blue, 7:20 p.m.

Local all-star selections are:

• Class 3A — Liam Copeland, Nick Matus and Brandon Yohe of Franklin Regional

• Class 2A – Dane Busch, Nick Crupie, Austin Herron and JJ Williams of Hempfield; Don Cerilli, Parker Toth and Cade Zeravica of Norwin; Joey Crimboli, Bryant Dummich, Dylan Morris and Brock Pflugh of Latrobe; and Kyleer Doran, Aiden Drotos, Tyler Funk and Camden Kiste of Penn-Trafford

• Class A – Luke Dieter, Jake Fink and Cooper Outly of Greensburg Salem; and Jacob Kraus and Dylan Matenkosky of Kiski Area

• Division 2 – Julian Kemp, Luke Mink, Michael Morascyzk and Kooper Price of Burrell.

Recruiting

• Senior Tyler Turgeon of Norwin committed to swim at Gannon. Turgeon this season has achieved WPIAL cut times in the 100-yard backstroke and 200 individual medley.

• Norwin senior Luke Simpson will continue his track and cross country career at High Point.

• Norwin senior football lineman Colin Bruno has a scholarship offer from Division II Seton Hill.

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

Tags: Norwin