Penn-Trafford notebook: Patton Graziano wins county swimming title

By: Paul Schofield
Sunday, February 5, 2023 | 11:01 AM

Junior Patton Graziano captured the 100-yard freestyle title at the annual Westmoreland County Coaches’ Association Swimming Championship Jan. 28 at Derry Area.

Graziano won the race with a time of 47.72 seconds.

He also was on two relay teams that earned medals — the 200 medley team that finished fourth, and the 200 freestyle relay team that finished second.

Graziano also placed second in the 100-yard backstroke while teammate Conner Alexander finished third.

Alexander and Graziano teamed up with Aidan Kelly and Evan DelSignore on the 200 medley relay team, and Dante Barchiesi and DelSignore were on the 200 freestyle team.

Alexander also placed fourth in the 50 freestyle.

The 400 free relay team, which placed sixth, featured Barchiesi, Gabriel Yant, Jacob Altieri and Kelly.

The boys finished fourth in the county with 241 points behind Franklin Regional (298).

Freshman Laela Whetstone was the only girl to bring home medals from the county championship.

She placed fourth in the 50 freestyle and tied for fifth in the 100 freestyle.

The team finished ninth with 107.5 points.

P-T hockey loses 3rd straight

Penn-Trafford’s hockey team has lost three consecutive games after dropping recent decisions to Thomas Jefferson, 5-2, on Jan. 26, and then to Bishop McCort, 6-4, on Jan. 30.

A three-goal second period helped Thomas Jefferson get a win.

Xavier Solomon tied the score 1-1 early in the second period. Josh Goldberg and Nate Loughner had assists.

Robert Thatcher added the second goal late in the third period on a pass from Jack Blank.

Penn-Trafford watched Bishop McCort race out to a 3-0 lead in the first period before scoring the next three goals to tie the score in the second period.

Loughner got the Warriors on the board late in the first period. Cam Kiste and Solomon added assists.

Solomon and Colin Paterson scored to tie the game. Kiste, Blank, Solomon and Loughner had assists.

Bishop McCort reclaimed the lead late in the second period, but Loughner tied the score 4-4 in the third period. Solomon added the assist.

McCort scored the final two goals to take home the win.

Solomon now had a team-high 17 goals and has 11 assists. Loughner has 10 goals and a team-high 14 assists.

Rifle team wins pair of matches

The Penn-Trafford rifle team picked up a pair of wins, defeating Woodland Hills, 799.64 to 796.57, and Hempfield, 797.64 to 796.71.

Leading the way against Woodland Hills were Dominic Nicotero (100-10x), Ivy Thomas (100-9x), Seth Baughman (100-9x), Brian Broadwater (100-8x), Michael Koreen (100-8x), Carlee Valenta (100-7x), Zach Burns (100-6x) and Emily Valenta (99-7x).

Leading the way against Hempfield were Carlee Valenta (100-9x), Emily Valenta (100-9x), Nicotero (100-9x), Baughman (100-8x) and Thomas (100-6x).

Penn-Trafford is now 12-2.

P-T boys basketball loses to Gateway

Tyler Freas scored 14, and Ian Temple had 10 for Penn-Trafford (4-15, 1-6) in a 67-50 loss to Gateway in a Section 3-5A boys basketball game Jan. 31.

The Warriors have lost four of their past five games. The lone win in that span was a 55-40 triumph over Franklin Regional on Jan. 27.

Freas (16), Temple (13) and Jason Sabol (10) led the scoring for the Warriors in that win.

P-T girls bounce Montour

Olivia Pepple scored 17 points, made both ends of a one-and-one with 8.1 seconds left and stole the ensuing inbounds pass for Penn-Trafford (13-4) in a 45-42 nonsection win over Montour. Lauren Marton added 11 for the Warriors, who had won four of their past five games.

They entered a meeting with Oakland Catholic (Feb. 2) in third place in Section 3-5A with a 6-3 record.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Penn-Trafford