Westmoreland County high school notebook: Hempfield’s Peyton Murray already breaking records

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Tuesday, April 9, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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The track and field season is young, but Peyton Murray has the look of a seasoned veteran.

The senior from Hempfield broke a meet record while winning the discus title at the 20th annual South Hills Classic Saturday at Baldwin.

Murray, a Notre Dame commit, delivered a throw of 170 feet, 2 inches in cold temperatures to take the win.

He also won the shot put with a throw of 55 feet, 6.5 inches.

Senior Grace Iwig also was a winner for the Hempfield girls, taking the high jump in 5 feet, and finishing second in the pole vault (11-0).

Junior Kate Dolinski won the shot put at 36-10.25 and was second in the discus (101-6).

Another winner was freshman Madison Altman, who took the 300-meter hurdles in 48.26, and was third in the 100 hurdles (17.29).

Hutchison to Seton Hill

Franklin Regional basketball player Fin Hutchison will continue his playing career as a preferred walk-on at Seton Hill.

A shooting guard, Hutchison was a starter for the Panthers, who finished 27-4 this season and were the WPIAL and PIAA 5A runners-up.

He averaged 7.6 points and 2.1 rebounds and made 39 3-pointers while shooting 82.1% from the foul line.

Hutchison likes the rims at Seton Hill’s McKenna Center. When he was a junior, he made 7 of 12 3-pointers and scored a career-high 25 points in a game against Belle Vernon.

Bruins tip off

The Western PA Bruins AAU program will host its annual spring tip-off tournament and it will be a packed house at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center on Friday through Sunday.

Executive director John Tate said there will be more than 400 teams from 16 states participating (grades 4-12), with a number of All-America candidates set to play.

The convention center will be transformed into a basketball fun park with over 30 courts.

With the spike this year in women’s basketball due to the college star power in the Caitlin Clark era, the Bruins expect the game to continue to rise.

This will be the ninth year for the event. Five years ago, Angel Reese of LSU played in it.

Sophomores Dee Alexander of the West Virginia Thunder and Trinity Jones of Team M-XIV are both expected to play. They are ranked in the top 10 for the Class of 2026 by ESPN HoopGurlz.

Junior Layke Fields, who led Kennedy Catholic to back-to-back PIAA 2A titles, will also be playing for the Bruins U17 team.

Recruiting

Greensburg Central Catholic golf standout Izzy Aigner will play collegiately at Bethel University (Ind.), which plays in the NAIA.

The Pilots won national championships in 2021, ‘22 and ‘23.

Aigner helped lead GCC to its ninth straight WPIAL championships last fall. She also got to play in the PURE Insurance Championship Impacting First Tee at Pebble Beach, with Greensburg pro Rocco Mediate as her pro-am partner.

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

Tags: Franklin Regional, Hempfield