Sewickley Herald notebook: Sewickley Academy honors top senior athletes

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Sunday, June 8, 2025 | 11:01 AM


Several senior student-athletes at Sewickley Academy were honored May 21 at its spring awards banquet.

Severin Harmon (golf, tennis) and Katherine Varghese (soccer, track and field) were named as the Most Outstanding Male and Female Athletes.

Cooper D’Antonio (cross country, track and field) landed the Stan Partenheimer Sportsmanship Award while the Kate Dresher Sportsmanship Award went to Marie Bigi (softball, soccer, tennis, basketball).

Nolan Donnelly (basketball, baseball, golf) and Quincy Sirko (softball, soccer, track and field, basketball) were lauded as the Most Outstanding Male and Female Contributors.

Eden senior medals

Eden Christian Academy senior Lara DeFazio capped her high school track and field career as a PIAA medalist.

DeFazio finished fifth in the girls high jump at the PIAA Class 2A championships May 23-24 at Shippensburg University.

The versatile Eden Christian athlete also placed 10th in the triple jump and 12th in the long jump at the state meet.

One other PIAA qualifier for the Warriors was senior E.J. DiVito in the boys triple jump event.

DeFazio earned her second WPIAL gold medal in the long jump after previously winning in 2023.

DeFazio landed in first place in the long jump at this year’s WPIAL finals with a leap of 18-06.50.

Group promotes lacrosse

Sewickley Valley Lacrosse (SVLAX) is a nonprofit lacrosse association conducted for the Quaker Valley School District and surrounding communities.

It was started in 2004 and is run under the umbrella of the Quaker Valley Recreation Association.

SVLAX was formed to encourage early participation in and enthusiasm for lacrosse through age-appropriate instruction for boys and girls in first through sixth grade.

Both spring and fall programs are held. All programs are funded by registration fees, donations and the support of volunteers.

The Sewickley Valley Lacrosse operating committee consists of Judy Windle (president), Matt Chapman (vice president), Emily Bauersmith (program director), Tessa Chapman (secretary) and Devin Fisher (treasurer).

Quaker Valley’s boys middle school program for seventh and eighth graders also is run through SVLAX.

QV record breakers

Did you know that the Quaker Valley boys 1,600-meter relay and 3,200-meter relay teams and senior Davin “Macky” Gartley (300 hurdles) rewrote the record book at the WPIAL Class 2A track and field championships this year?

The 1,600 relay team, consisting Gartley, sophomore James Irwin and seniors Jackson Pethel and Clark LaLomia, posted a time of 3:22.36 while the 3,200 relay team — Pethel, Lalomia, junior River Capek and sophomore Jonah Montagnese — snapped the 2A record in 7:51.89. Riverside held the 1,600 record (3:24.26) since 2018. QV set the 3,200 mark (7:57.16) in 2012.

Gartley won with a 38.15 performance in the 300-meter hurdles, shattering the 2A district record established in 2012 by Washington’s Dustin Fuller (38.50). Gartley also reset the school record.

Both relay teams retained their WPIAL titles while Gartley, who won the 110 hurdles event in 14.36, was a four-time medalist. He was joined on QV’s third-place 400 relay team by senior Winston Clifford, Irwin and sophomore Kieran Cain.

Gartley holds three school records and has won seven gold medals in WPIAL track and one gold in cross country in his accomplished career.

Eden takes 3rd

The Eden Christian Academy (15-5) and Greensburg Central Catholic (17-3) baseball teams combined for 32 wins before meeting in the WPIAL Class A consolation game May 28 at Ross Memorial Field at Washington & Jefferson.

The Warriors defeated GCC, 10-2, to land the No. 3 seed for the PIAA playoffs; GCC received the fourth seed.

No. 2 Eden blanked No. 10 Avella (6-0) and lost to No. 6 Carmichaels (4-3) in the district postseason.

Both Eden and GCC won their section this spring, with the Warriors sharing the Section 3-A crown with Serra Catholic and Bishop Canevin and GCC finishing first in Section 1-A.

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