Bilko named PAC Swimmer of the Year
Megan Bilko, a Canonsburg native and former standout at Canon-McMillan, won three individual events and powered Grove City to its eighth consecutive league title at the Presidents Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championships last month.
The PAC meet was held in conjunction with Grove City’s 26th annual James E. Longnecker Invitational.
Bilko, a senior, was named the PAC Swimmer of the Year for the second consecutive season and won the High Point Award at the conference meet, where she won her third league championship in the 1,650-yard freestyle (17:30.91).
On the opening night of the PAC meet, Bilko swam to her third conference title in the 500 freestyle (5:01.33). The next night, she swam on Grove City’s winning 800 freestyle relay team (7:49.77) and won her second conference title in the 400 individual medley (4:28.53). In addition to winning the 1,650 freestyle on the final night, she was a member of the Wolverines’ winning 400 freestyle relay team (3:34.61).
Bilko, who is a five-time All-American, will compete in NCAA Division III Championships March 16-19 in Greensboro, N.C.
Mike Lamberti, a senior forward at West Liberty, scored 13 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had three steals Saturday as the Hilltoppers, ranked No. 2 in NCAA Division II, knocked off top-ranked Wheeling Jesuit, 82-74, and won the Mountain East regular-season title.
West Liberty snapped Wheeling Jesuit’s 22-game winning streak.
Lamberti, who led South Fayette to the PIAA Class AA championship in 2010, is averaging 8.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.
• Chelsea Szakal, a freshman from Monessen, and Kara Foster, a freshman from Ringgold, were two of the top four scorers for Westmoreland County Community College.
Szakal led the Wolfpack in scoring at 22 points per game. She started all 26 games and shot 46 percent from the field. She also was the team’s leading rebounder, averaging 15.2 per game.
Foster, a Donora native, was fourth on the team in scoring at 9.0 points per game. She also started all 26 games for WCCC (12-14), which finished in second place in the Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference.
• Doug Wilson, a senior from Canonsburg, is a member of the Pitt-Greensburg men’s team that won the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference championship and a berth to the NCAA Division III tournament.
Wilson, a 6-1 wing player, has started 14 of the Bobcats’ 28 games. UPG defeated top-seeded and host Hilbert 76-74 Sunday in the AMCC tournament championship game. Wilson scored two points, making his only shot attempt.
Phil Avolio, an Eighty Four native, was recently inducted into the La Roche College Athletic Hall of Fame.
A former standout baseball player at Canon-McMillan before attending La Roche, Avolio was one of six inductees in the Red Hawks’ 2016 hall of fame class. Induction ceremonies were held in late January.
A 2009 graduate of La Roche, Avolio had a distinguished baseball career with the Red Hawks. He ranked second on the school’s all-time pitching wins list when he graduated and is currently ranked fourth. In addition to his 15 career victories, Avolio threw 11 complete games and struck out 108 batters.
He was on the La Roche team that won the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference regular-season championship in 2007 and helped lead the Red Hawks to the AMCC championship game in 2006 and 2007. Avolio threw one no-hitter during the 2007 season, which sparked a winning streak as La Roche won 11 of its next 12 games en route to the AMCC regular-season championship.
Avolio received the 2009 AMCC Faculty Representative Award given to the top academic student-athlete in the conference.
“La Roche and the baseball field always feels welcoming. It never feels like you were gone for very long,” Avolio said of his induction.
A Facilities Management major at La Roche, Avolio currently works as the Facilities and Parks Coordinator for Mt. Lebanon Municipality. He and wife, Meredith, have two children, Sieena and Rowan. They reside in Allison Park.
• Nick Riotto, a junior outfielder for Penn State, is off to a good start with the Nittany Lions.
In Penn State’s season-opening four-game series in Cary, N.C., Riotti reached base safely 12 times in 17 plate appearances. The Trinity graduate went 4-for-9 with an RBI, six walks, two hit by pitches and one stolen bases in games against Monmouth, Army and Bryant.
Riotto started all four games in right field and batted in the cleanup spot.
After seven games, Riotto has a .316 batting average, which ranks second on the team.
The Duquesne women’s team completed the regular season Jan. 30 with three wins at the Western Pennsylvania Invitational held at Pitt.
Morgan Fink, a former standout at South Fayette, won the 200 backstroke in a time of 2:05.57 to help the Dukes to wins over Carnegie Mellon, California and Clarion.
A junior, Fink then placed in three events at the Atlantic 10 Championships. She was fourth in the 100 backstroke (55.97), sixth in the 200 backstroke (2:02.02), eighth in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.63).
• Saint Vincent’s Maddie Bartung, a freshman from Bridgeville and a South Fayette graduate, was the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Women’s Swimmer of the Week for Jan. 24-31.
Bartung led the Bearcats with four first-place finishes during a tri-meet sweep of Penn State Behrend and Allegheny. She touched first in the 50 freetsyle (24.91), 200 freestyle (1:55.99), 500 freestyle (5:14.83) and swam on the Bearcats’ winning 200 freestyle relay team.
Giorgiana Zeremenko, a standout catcher on Canon-McMillan’s state championship team in 2013, has become an impact hitter at Pitt.
Zeremenko has been among Pitt’s best players in the early stages of the season. In 13 games, including nine starts, Zeremenko is batting .407, which ranks second on the team. Zeremenko leads the Panthers in both home runs (5) and RBI (18).
In a 4-3 loss to Central Michigan in Macon, Ga., Feb 12., Zeremenko had a two-run pinch-hit homer. The next weekend, she hit three home runs as the Panthers went 2-3 during five games in Jacksonville, Fla.
Last weekend, when Pitt went 5-0 in games played in DeLand, Fla., Zeremenko hit a three-run homer in a 7-4 win over Colgate and hit another three-run blast in a 13-0 thumping of Providence. She also went 3-for-4 with two doubles in an 11-4 victory over Providence. For the weekend, Zeremenko was 6-for-12.
Former Canon-McMillan standout Shawn Johnson led Auburn at the Don Kirby Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., Feb. 13.
Johnson’s leap of 53-10 1/2 in the triple jump was good for first place as he dominated the competition, winning by seven inches. Johnson improved steadily over his progression of six jumps, making his largest gain – 17 inches – on his final attempt.
A senior at Auburn, Johnson placed second in both the triple jump and high jump last weekend at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. In the high jump Friday, Johnson set a personal best for indoors when he cleared 7-1 before missing on three attempts at 7-2¼. In the triple jump Saturday, Johnson covered 53-10¼ on his final attempt.