Eight win WPIAL Scholar-Athlete Awards
Banco
Church
Menear
Suchko
Urcho
Williamson
Whipkey
Zalar
The WPIAL announced Wednesday the winners of the 32nd annual WPIAL/James Collins Scholar-Athlete Award, with 20 candidates (10 male, 10 female) selected from a group of 162 nominees. Of the 20, eight are from Washington and Greene counties.
The WPIAL Scholarship Fund was created to award scholarships annually to student-athletes from schools and school districts comprising PIAA District VII. Since 1992, the league has given $698,000 in scholarships to the James Collins Scholar-Athlete Award recipients.
The eight local winners, along with a brief overview of each recipient’s varsity career:
Ty Banco (Trinity) – 3.18 GPA … Four-year letterwinner in football, wrestling and baseball … Three-year captain for the wrestling team and two-year captain of football and baseball teams … Won the 2023 WPIAL wrestling title at 285 pounds and placed sixth at the PIAA Championships … Three-time section champion in wrestling … All-State as a senior in football … Three-time All-Conference and Bill Fralic Memorial Award nominee in football … Finished with more than 121 career wins in wrestling and the school’s single-season pins record … Led the baseball team in batting average in 2021 … Plans to pursue a degree in sports management at Texas A&M.
Mac Church (Waynesburg Central) – 4.00 GPA … Four-year letterwinner in wrestling … Served as team captain for the wrestling team as a junior and senior … Won three WPIAL and two PIAA championships individually and helped lead Waynesburg to three WPIAL team championships and the 2021 PIAA title. … Won a silver medal as a senior and bronze as a freshman at the PIAA Championships … Earned the No. 4 national ranking at 145 pounds as a senior … Won the Ironman title as a senior and Powerade gold as a freshman … Plans to pursue a degree in food science & technology and wrestle at Virginia Tech,
Ella Menear (Mapletown) – 4.59 GPA … Four-year letterwinner in volleyball and swimming. … Captain of the volleyball team as a senior … Won six WPIAL and three PIAA gold medals in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke … Received All-State honors in swimming & diving three times … Named All-WPIAL in volleyball three times and All-Section all four seasons … First state champion in 34 years at Mapletown … Finished in top 20 at USA Swimming Junior Nationals … Plans to pursue a degree in sports medicine and compete in swimming at the University of Alabama
Steven Suchko (Peters Township) – 5.27 GPA … Four-year letterwinner in soccer and track & field, serving as captain for both teams as a senior … Helped lead Peters Township to three section titles in soccer … Named All-WPIAL and to the Finest Fifteen in soccer as a senior … Collected AP Scholar Award accolades as a sophomore and junior … Plans to pursue a degree in chemical engineering at Penn State.
Landon Urcho (Bentworth) – 4.22 GPA … Lettered in five different sports over varsity career, winning four in baseball, basketball, and soccer, two in golf and one in football … Captained the baseball and basketball teams for three years and the soccer and football teams as a senior … Helped Bentworth to a soccer section title as a junior … Three-time All-WPIAL in soccer … Collected eight All-Section honors between baseball, basketball, and soccer … Ranks first in Bentworth history in single-season goalkeeper wins and shutouts in soccer, and top five in career points in basketball … Plans to pursue a degree in computer science.
London Whipkey (West Greene) – 4.20 GPA … Four-year letterwinner in softball and volleyball and won a letter as a freshman in rifle … Served as captain for the softball team as a junior and senior and the volleyball team as a junior … Helped West Greene to the WPIAL softball championship as a sophomore … Named All-State in softball as a sophomore and junior … Garnered All-WPIAL honors in volleyball as a senior … Served as Class President for four years … Plans to pursue a degree in biomedical engineering at the University of Mount Union
Eden Williamson (Trinity) – 4.75 GPA … Four-year letterwinner in basketball and track & field, captaining both teams as a junior and senior … Helped lead Trinity to two section titles and WPIAL runner-up finishes as a sophomore and junior … Finished second in high jump at the WPIAL Championships as a sophomore and fourth as a junior … Led the basketball team in scoring, field-goal percentage, free-throw percentage, rebounding, and steals as a senior … Plans to pursue a degree in pre-health and play basketball at New York University.
Sophia Zalar (Carmichaels) – 4.20 GPA … Four-year letterwinner in basketball and softball, and a two-year letterwinner in volleyball … Captained the basketball team for three years and the softball team as a senior … Two-time All-State selection in softball and two-time All-Section pick in basketball … Scored more than 1,000 career points in basketball and led volleyball team in blocks twice … Plans to pursue a degree in veterinarian medicine at Penn State.