John Carroll’s Vilsack is goal-oriented player
Gina Vilsack, a junior attacker at John Carroll, had another big season for the Blue Streaks’ lacrosse team.
A Peters Township graduate, Vilsack was named to the All-Ohio Athletic Conference team for the third consecutive season. The junior led the OAC in goals with 59, averaging 3.68 per game. She scored in 12 of the 16 games for John Carroll (11-5), recording a career-high 85 points. She also was named to the All-Great Lakes Region team for the first time.
Vilsack was named OAC Offensive Player of the Week March 6 following a week in which she scored 10 goals for 12 points in a two-game span. She had five-goal games against both Ohio Wesleyan and Wittenberg.
Westminster’s Marissa Kalsey, a senior from Waynesburg, had the second-best pole vault of the NCAA Division III season when she cleared 13-0¼ at the Allegheny College Invitational last Friday to win the women’s competition. The mark was an outdoor career-best height for Kalsey,
Last month, Kalsey cleared 12-8 1/4 to place sixth at the University of Akron’s Campbell/Wright Invitational.
Zak Dysert, a junior at Baldwin Wallace and a Fort Cherry graduate, placed won the discus competition at the Ohio Athletic Conference Championships held last month at Muskingum University in new Concord, Ohio. Dysert won with a career-best throw of 154-11¾.
He also placed third in the hammer throw with a throw of 164-3¼.
Point Park’s Sean Hilverding, a sophomore from Spraggs and a Waynesburg graduate, won the 5,000 meters at the River States Conference Track & Field Championships held last month at the RMU Island Sports Center. Hilverding won with a time of 15:58. It was a shot at a second chance for Hilverding, who had to settle for fourth place earlier in the day when the 10,000 meters was shortened to 4,800 meters. Rain and lightning came while the 10K was in progress, so the event was cut short. Hilverding made his move late in the 5,000 and moved into the lead on the final lap.
Hilverding helped Point Park’s men’s team to a second-place finish in the team standings.
Alyssa Wise of Washington helped Pitt’s 400-meter relay team to a third-place finish in the College Women’s competition at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia.
Wise, a junior, and teammates Genaya Johnson, Danielle Leaks and Whitney Martin shaved two-tenths of a second off their qualifying time and crossed the finish line in 45.66.
Waynesburg junior Addy Knetzer of Houston was named the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Division III South Field Athlete of the Week for April 16-23.
Knetzer earned the honor by winning three events at the Presidents’ Athletic Conference South Quad meet held at Bethany, W.Va. She won the shot put with a meet and Bison Stadium record throw of 43-6, the javelin with a toss of 101-10 and the long jump with a leap of 14-8. She finished fourth in the discus at 112-5.
Knetzer went on to win the become a three-time winner of the PAC Field MVP Award at the conference meet held April 29 at Beaver Falls. She set meet and program records in the shot put with a top throw of 43-11¾ and won the discus at 121-10. She also placed fourth in the javelin to help the Yellow Jackets win the team title.
Earlier in April, Kentzer earned PAC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week honors in consecutive weeks. She was first named after winning the shot put (40-11½) at the Bethany Invitational. A week later, Kentzer received the second honor after winning the shot put (42-7½), was fifth in the discus (108-8) and sixth in the javelin (108-6) at the Westminster Invitational.
Ashley Iagnemma, a sophomore at Point Park and a South Fayette graduate, was named first team All-River States Conference.
Iagnemma ended the season with an 11-8 record and 1.64 ERA. She pitched 132.1 innings and 14 complete games for the Pioneers (11-7 RSC, 21-21), racking up 155 strikeouts and holding opposing hitters to a .167 batting average. Iagnemma threw a no-hitter April 8 against Cincinnati Christian.
Katie Tarr, a freshman relief pitcher for Point Park, was named a Champion of Character by the River States Conference. Each conference member had one player, who best exhibits the NAIA’s five core character values of the respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership and sportsmanship, selected.
The hard-throwing Tarr’s role with Point Park was as the Pioneers’ closer and she struck out 45 batters in 46 2/3 innings. She had a 4-3 record and 3.60 ERA.
Penn State senior outfielder Nick Riotto had a career night April 21 a 12-5 loss to Northwestern in a Big Ten Conference game at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
A Trinity graduate, Riotto reached base five times, going 4-for-4 with a home run, walk, three RBI and two runs to factor in four of Penn State’s five runs in a 12-5 loss to the Wildcats.
Riotto led off the fourth inning with a home run to right field and drove in his second run with a two-out single the bottom half of the fifth.
It was the first career four-hit game for Riotto, who had two hits, a double and RBI Tuesday in helping Penn State to a 6-5 victory over West Virginia. The Nittany Lions and Mountaineers split a two-game series with WVU winning a night later at PNC Park.
For the season, Riotto is batting .233 with seven doubles, two home runs and 19 RBI. He has a team-high eight stolen bases.
Tanner Piechnick of Canonsburg, is having an impressive freshman season for the University of Ohio.
Piechnick, a Canon-McMillan graduate, is batting .262 in 27 games for the Bobcats, who entered Sunday with a 24-25 overall record and 10-10 mark in the Mid-American Conference.
Piechnick has started 15 games at catcher and left field. He had a four-hit game with a pair of doubles, two walks, two RBI and five runs in a wild 17-13 victory over Western Michigan April 28. He had 15 hits, including four doubles and a triple, in seven starts during April.
Thiel freshman Mitchell Patterson of Canonsburg was named Continental Volleyball Conference Player of the Week for April 2-9.
Patterson and the Tomcats went 3-0 during the week with wins over Hilbert, Cairn and Rutgers-Newark.
Patterson averaged 4.8 kills per set with 54.5 total points on the week and capped the season with a career-high 26 kills in the win over Rutgers-Newark.