Westmoreland County high school notebook: Offers piling up for Belle Vernon’s Quinton Martin

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Saturday, April 23, 2022 | 9:01 AM

Add two more Power 5 scholarship offers for Belle Vernon sophomore Quinton Martin.

The top-end programs continue to buzz around the five-star sophomore football player, who reeled in offers from Louisville and Texas A&M on consecutive days last week.

Martin (6-foot-3, 185 pounds) is ranked as the No. 1 recruit in Pennsylvania — No. 14 in the nation — by 247Sports.com.

He is No. 12 overall by Rivals.com. Martin played running back and defensive back last season for Belle Vernon.

People around the Leopards program are beginning to wonder if it is only a matter of time before the premier programs — Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma among them — come calling. Especially because he has two years of high school football to play.

His other offers include Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Michigan, Texas, Pitt, Penn State and West Virginia.

Mankins on the mend

Greensburg Salem basketball player Kaitlyn Mankins is back to playing AAU basketball for the Western PA Bruins.

Mankins, a sophomore center, suffered a gruesome leg injury in January during a game at Franklin Regional.

She dislocated her left patellar tendon, which connects the kneecap to the shin bone.

“Kait is doing great,” Greensburg Salem coach Rick Klimchock said. “She had multiple double-figure games at the Bruins’ tip-off tourney.”

Mankins was averaging 10 points and eight rebounds when she was injured.

Gordon player of week

Hempfield senior Sean Gordon was named a Western PA Volleyball Coaches Association Class 3A Player of the Week.

Gordon’s team is holding down the No. 5 spot in the association rankings through four weeks of the season.

Norwin is No. 3, Penn-Trafford 6 and Latrobe 10.

Derry is No. 9 in Class 2A.

Recruiting

• Jake Smith, a four-sport athlete at Greensburg Salem, will continue to run cross country at Fairmont State. Smith, a 13-time letterwinner, also plays baseball, bowls and plays hockey for the Golden Lions. He won the Westmoreland County Coaches Association cross country title and was a Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League all-star.

• A pair of athletes from Ligonier Valley made college commitments. Senior Bjorn Sigurdsson will play soccer at Penn State Greater Allegheny. Sigurdsson’s mother is from Germany, and his father came from Iceland. He had six goals last season for the Rams. Senior Abigail Painter, meanwhile, will run track at Westminster. Painter has competed in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, the 400, the 1,600 relay and the javelin.

• Senior Madison Cyphert of Southmoreland will continue her softball and tennis careers at Mt. Aloysius.

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

Tags: Belle Vernon, Greensburg Salem, Hempfield, Ligonier Valley, Southmoreland