Rich, Bilko stay in fast lane, end All-American careers
Two of the most honored swimmers Washington County has produced, Andrew Rich and Megan Bilko, recently wrapped up their careers at the NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships in Greensboro, N.C., combining for six All-America citations and one being a member of a national title-winning team.
Rich, a senior at Denison and a Peters Township graduate, had a top-3 finish in an individual event, two top-5 finishes in relays and helped Denison win the men’s national team championship.
Rich finished third in the 100-yard butterfly with a personal best time of 47.85. He also placed 16th in the 200 individual medley, was a member of the Big Red’s fifth-place 200 medley relay team and the fourth-place 400 medley relay squad.
He leaves Denison as a 14-time All-American, a four-time national team qualifier and a five-time North Coast Athletic Conference champion.
Bilko, a senior at Grove City, concluded her career as one of the most honored swimmers in Wolverines history.
A Canonsburg native and Canon-McMillan graduate, Bilko garnered two more All-America honors. She broke her school record twice in the same day en route to a 10th-place finish in the 400 individual medley, and one day later placed 13th in the 200 butterfly.
Bilko finished her career as a seven-time All-American. Only five other Grove City swimmers have more All-America finishes and her five All-America citations in individual events ranks third in program history. She is only the second Grove City swimmer with All-America honors in four different individual events. Bilko earned All-America status in the 800 freestyle relay in 2013, and the 500 freestyle, 1,650 freestyle and 400 IM in 2014.
In the 400 IM at nationals this year, Bilko was ninth in the preliminaries after swimming 4:26.51, which broke her school record of 4:27.78 set in February at the Kenyon College Fast Chance Meet. In the consolation final, Bilko closed with a freestyle split of 57.06 – the fastest freestyle split in either heat of the night session – to finish with another school record of 4:25.12.
Swimming in the 200 butterfly for only the second time this season, Bilko cut more than three seconds off her career best during the preliminaries, when she was 10th in 2:04.46.
Bilko is the Grove City record holder in the 500, 1,000 and 1,650 freestyle races and the 400 IM. She also was on the 800 freestyle relay team that holds the school record.
Mercyhurst redshirt junior Francis Mizia placed fifth at 165 pounds in the NCAA Division II Championships held in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Mizia, a Bentleyville native and Bentworth graduate, earned All-America status by winning three of five bouts in the tournament. He won his first two bouts, a 19-5 major decision over Kade Kitchens of Shorter and an 11-5 decision over Tyler McLean of Simon Fraser, before dropping an 8-1 decision to Nick Fishback of Wisconsin-Parkside
After a loss to Clint Poster of St. Cloud State in the consolation semifinals, Mizia won the fifth-place bout, a 5-0 decision over Matthew Vandermeer of Lake Erie.
Mizia finished the season with a 26-5 record. He is a two-time All-American, finishing sixth at 157 pounds last year.
Gus Mizia, Francis’ brother and teammate at Mercyhurst, also qualified for the national tournament at 174 pounds. He won his opening bout 16-0 over J.J. Flipek of McKendree before losing two decisions by scores of 11-6 and 5-2. He finished the season with a 29-4 record.
Derick Nelson had a strong senior season at Coker, located in Hartsville, S.C.
Nelson narrowly missed a spot in the NCAA Division II Championships when he placed fifth at 133 pounds in the regional tournament held in Indianapolis. A Spraggs native and Waynesburg graduate, Nelson won his first two bouts at the regional via fall, including a pin in only 31 seconds in the second round. Nelson went 1-2 on the final day of the tournament, the win again coming via fall.
Nelson, who finished the season with a 26-3 record, was recently named to the first team on the NCAA Division II Wrestling Coaches Association All-Academic Team. He is a sports management major with a 3.18 grade-point average.
Pitt won an Atlantic Coast Conference series last weekend against North Carolina and two Washington County natives had much to do with the Panthers’ success.
Sophomore left fielder Giorgiana Zeremenko and freshman right fielder Olivia Gray led Pitt to a pair of wins in the three-game series.
Zeremenko, a Canon-McMillan graduate, homered in all three games, giving her nine home runs in 27 games. Gray, a Trinity graduate, hit her first collegiate home run and drove in a pair of runs.
Zeremenko and Gray each homered in Pitt’s 7-3 win Saturday in the series opener. North Carolina won the second game 13-3 but Zeremenko homered and Gary went 2-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI.
In the series finale Sunday, an 11-3 Pitt win, Zeremenko hit her ninth home run of the season, one of three homers by the Panthers in the second inning.
On Monday, Zeremenko was named the ACC Player of the Week.
Gray is batting .269 for the season with five doubles. Through six ACC games, she has a .429 batting average.
Carlee Wickstrom, a junior shortstop, is off to a strong start with the bat for Seton Hill.
A Venetia native and Peters Township graduate, Wickstrom leads the Griffins in doubles (4), is second in home runs (3) and third in batting average (.303).
Kaitlyn Slagus of Belle Vernon ended her freshman season as the fourth-leading scorer for Bucknell.
A 6-2 forward, Slagus played in all 33 games for the Bison and made 20 starts. She averaged 7.2 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Slagus, who scored 1,360 career points at Belle Vernon, shot 42 percent from the field for Bucknell and made 78 percent from the free-throw line. In Patriot League games, Slagus’ scoring average jumped to 10.9 ppg.
Slagus scored a season-high 21 points in a win over Navy and had 11 rebounds in a March 2 game against Lafayette.
Bucknell had a 25-8 record and advanced to the second round of the Women’s NIT.
Westminster sophomore Cassidy Kovacicek was second team All-Presidents’ Athletic Conference after placing in three individual events and swimming on three relay teams that finished in the top five at the PAC Championships in Grove City.
A Washington native and Trinity graduate, Kovacicek had a third-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke and was seventh in both the 100 backstroke and 200 individual medley. She also helped Westminster to a third-place finish in the 400 medley relay and fifth-place finishes in both the 200 and 400 freestyle relays.
Westminster finished in second place in the team standings.
Desiree Kline, a freshman at Nazareth, placed eighth in 1-meter diving at the Upper New York State Collegiate Swimming Association Championships held in Ithaca, N.Y. Kline is a Canonsburg native and was a four-time qualifier for the WPIAL Championships while at Canon-McMillan.
Jessie Merckle, a senior at Wake Forest and one of the top javelin throwers in the country, opened the outdoor season on a winning note. A McDonald native and former PIAA champion at Fort Cherry, Merckle won the javelin competition at the Wake Forest Open, which featured six local athletes as placewinners.
Merckle, a two-time All-American and the Demon Deacons’ record holder, had a throw of 170-8 to defeat her closest competitor by more than 20 feet.
Five other Washington County athletes, including four in individual events, were placewinners at the Wake Forest Open.
Dustin Fuller and Alyssa Wise, both of Pitt and Washington graduates, placed on the track while their Panthers teammate Kailyn Clancy placed in the shot put.
A senior, Fuller was a member of the Panthers’ winning 1,600-meter relay team. Fuller ran the anchor leg and helped Pitt to a winning time of 3:21.10.
Wise, a sophomore, placed fifth in the 100-meter dash and set a personal best with a time of 11.82. She also was a member of Pitt’s 1,600-meter relay team that placed fourth in 4:05.88 and the fifth-place 400-meter relay (48.68).
Clancy, a redshirt freshman and transfer from Iowa State, placed fifth in the shot put. A former PIAA champion at California, Clancy had a top throw of 46-1½. She finished in 18th place out of 44 competitors in the hammer throw.
Two former Canon-McMillan athletes now at St. Francis (Pa.) placed in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
, a freshman from Eighty Four, was sixth in the men’s race at 10:10.69.
Baldwin-Wallace sophomore thrower Zak Dysert had a strong start to the outdoor season by placing in two events at the Rose-Hulman Early Bird Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind.
A McDonald native and Fort Cherry graduate, Dysert finished second in the hammer throw and third in the javelin and setting personal bests in each event. Dysert had a throw of 160-11 in the hammer and 156-5 in the javelin.
Former Trinity standout player Don McWreath, a junior at Seton Hill, was named the PSAC West Division Pitcher of the Week for Feb. 29-March 6.
McWreath had a win and a save in two appearances for the Griffins. He pitched four shutout innings of relief, allowing only two hits and striking out eight, for a save in an 11-2 victory over West Virginia Wesleyan in Auburndale, Fla. McWreath added a win in Seton Hill’s final game of the week, a 10-3 victory over Winona State in Winter Havem, Fla. He pitched the final four innings, allowing only one hit.
Hunter Bigler, a senior outfielder from Washington and a Trinity graduate, is the leading hitter for Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Bigler has started all 20 games for the Crimson Hawks and has a .405 batting average. He also leads IUP with 23 runs, three triples, 40 total bases and 12 walks. He opened the season by hitting safely in nine consecutive games and currently has an eight-game hitting streak.
Sophomore Kirby Manown was the medalist as California University opened its men’s spring season with a third-place finish at IUP’s Browngolf Intercollegiate held March 11-12 in Pinehurst, N.C.
A Belle Vernon graduate, Manowan shot 2-over par 146 (74-72) and posted the lowest score of the second round. Manown finished the fall season in third place at the PSAC Championships.