Quaker Valley homecoming king, queen are good sports

By: Ray Fisher
Sunday, October 5, 2025 | 11:01 AM

Quaker Valley’s homecoming royalty is steadfastly entrenched in the athletic realm.

Seniors Alexa Westwood and Nicholas Winnowski were named homecoming queen and king for 2025-26 at halftime of the QV-Hopewell football game Sept. 26 at Chuck Knox Stadium.

“I was surprised and happy,” Westwood said. “A lot of the little kids I coach at the Woodland pool were there and when my name was announced, they started cheering and that was really cool.

“It was a great honor being nominated by the teachers and staff and being selected by my peers made me feel a lot of pride in who I am.”

Westwood, 17, is a four-year member of the girls lacrosse and swim teams as well as Best Buddies.

The 5-foot-6 Westwood, an Edgeworth resident, also coaches lacrosse and swimming while working as a student teacher and a lifeguard at Edgeworth Elementary School.

She has a 3.96 GPA and has committed to continuing her lacrosse career at Grove City College and majoring in elementary and special education.

Last spring, Westwood served as a captain on the QV girls lacrosse team, which qualified for the PIAA Class 2A playoffs by defeating Indiana, 12-3, Seton LaSalle, 16-3, and Blackhawk, 13-9, in the district tournament before losing to Chartiers Valley, 10-8, in the semifinal round.

Westwood plays at the midfield and attack positions. She was named second team all-section last year when she clicked for 36 goals and a team-high 27 assists and ranked among the team leaders in two other categories, ground balls and caused turnovers.

“Alexa has made a huge impact on our success,” said Laura Peery, the QV girls lacrosse coach. “She’s developed a strong, accurate shot and works hard to continually refine her skills and develop new strategies to break through opposing defenses.

“She’s a true team player who excels at setting up her teammates for scoring opportunities. She has already amassed over 100 career points.”

Westwood connected for a career-high five goals against Indiana last season.

The QV girls lost 18-7 to District 3 undefeated champion Wyomissing in the first round of the PIAA playoffs to finish 11-6 overall.

“I expect this to be a great year for QV girls lacrosse,” Westwood said. “We have several experienced returning players as well as a strong incoming freshman class. I hope we have an exceptional season.

“And I expect the swim team to have a good season and send relays to states. The relays are my favorite events because it reminds me that swimming is a team sport and they are the most exciting part of the meet to me.”

Westwood said she always will remember going to states for lacrosse in her junior year and the fun times in honors pre-calc with her math teacher, Jeff Sebastian.

When she has free time, Westwood enjoys playing golf or spike ball and attending country concerts with friends and her mom.

After college, Westwood eventually hopes to be working as a teacher at Quaker Valley and coaching the girls lacrosse team.

Her cousin, L.J. Westwood, is a member of the Class of 2025 that will be inducted into the Quaker Valley Sports Hall of Fame later this month.

Winnowski, meanwhile, as been involved in boys track and field and cross country at Quaker Valley. He specializes in the throwing events — javelin, shot put and discus — in track and field.

He plans to study engineering in college and work as an environmental engineer.

Winnowski is a member of Key Club. In his spare time, Winnowski enjoys going to the gym and hanging out with his friends.

He said his favorite teacher at QV is Mary Kucheck (social studies), and he laughs every time his physics teacher, Mark Williams, does his celebration dance before a test.

According to his homecoming bio, Winnowski hopes in 10 years to “have a nice car, a cat and a dog.”

Tags: Quaker Valley