Scholastic Notebook – 03/28/2015

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, March 28, 2015 | 1:04 AM

The best distance runner in WPIAL history might not compete in track this season because of an illness and injuries. That leaves the door open for someone.

Madeleine Davison has her foot in the door.

Davison is a junior at North Allegheny. While Shaler’s Brianna Schwartz was running her way to records last year, Davison was often close behind, sometimes just a second or two away. Now, Davison could gain a reputation as one of the best distance runners in the WPIAL in recent history.

If Schwartz runs at all, it will not be until late in the season. She has been diagnosed with Celiac disease, which is an autoimmune and digestive disorder. She also is trying to recover from a stress fracture in her leg and she said in a Post-Gazette story that she doesn’t know if she will compete this spring.

That brings us to Davison. Schwartz got loads of publicity in the past year, and rightly so. With her times and accomplishments in track and cross country, she established herself as the best distance runner in WPIAL history. Davison ran in the shadow of Schwartz last year. But when you look at Davison’s times, when you think that she should be better because she is a  year older, you have to think that greatness could await Davison.

Schwartz has the best 1,600-meter time in WPIAL history at 4:45.19. The 1,600 is Schwartz’s specialty. But Davison is second on the all-time list and only two seconds behind at 4:47.06.

Schwartz won a PIAA title last year in the 1,600 with a time of 4:46.95. Davison ran the 4:47.06.

In the 3,200, Schwartz has the best time in WPIAL history at 10:10.03. Davison is sixth on the all-time list at 10:39.08.

At the WPIAL cross country championships this past fall, Schwartz won the Class AAA title with a record time. Davison was second.

Another distance runner to watch is Kelsey Potts, a senior at Mt. Lebanon. Often times, she was close to Davison last year. On the WPIAL’s all-time list for the 1,600, Potts is third at 4:50.13.

Ones to Watch

Spring sports are under way in the WPIAL. While baseball and softball might get most of the media attention, there are some track and field athletes to watch this season, despite the absence of two of the best.

Schwartz would be one of the WPIAL’s track stars, along with Hempfield’s Maddie Holmberg, who won two PIAA titles last year in the Class AAA long jump and 300 hurdles, as well as running a leg on a PIAA championship 400 relay team. But Holmberg might not compete this year, either, because she is still recovering from October knee surgery for a torn ACL in her right knee.

Besides Schwartz and Holmberg, two other PIAA champions from the WPIAL are back. One is Beaver Falls’ Dom Peretta, who won the Class AA 800 and 1,600 runs last year as a sophomore.

Big things are also expected of Connellsville javelin thrower Madison Wiltrout. She won the PIAA Class AAA title last year as a freshman.

Changing the State Basketball Brackets

At the PIAA basketball championships this year, three of the boys championships matched teams from the Philadelphia area. If the PIAA basketball steering committee has its way, that will never happen again.

The PIAA basketball steering committee voted Wednesday to pass a recommendation that the PIAA go back to true east-west brackets. The PIAA board of directors still must approve the recommendation at a May meeting. If the board votes to approve, the new brackets would go into effect in the 2016-17 season.

Since the 2005-05 season, the PIAA has had some eastern teams playing through the western side of the bracket. This was done because the east has more schools in some classifications, and the east did not think it was fair for the west to have equal representation in the PIAA playoffs when the west didn’t have as many schools.

But ditching the east-west brackets has hurt attendance and some don’t like the idea of two eastern teams playing for the state title. Before the 2004-05 season, there were always separate eastern and western brackets.

Foxes Emerge

For one of the first times in a while in WPIAL boys volleyball, the Tigers are the hunters.

The North Allegheny Tigers are a volleyball dynasty, winning eight WPIAL titles in a row. But so far this season, North Allegheny is 0-2 in section play.

North Allegheny lost to Seneca Valley, 3-0, earlier this week and then were defeated by Fox Chapel, 3-0, on Thursday. North Allegheny has lost two section games in a season for the first time since 2007.

Now, it looks like the Foxes are the hunted. Many are pegging the Foxes as the team to beat in Class AAA this season. Seniors Jaysen Zaleski and Max DePellegrini were second-team all-WPIAL selections a year ago.

Elsewhere in volleyball, Freeport’s Zoe Pawlak has made a verbal commitment to Loyola, Md., an NCAA Division I school.

All-Star Time

Tis’ the season for basketball all-star games.

The 19^th annual Cager Classic will be played Saturday at Highlands High School. The games feature top boys and girls players in the A-K Valley. The girls game is at 5:45 and the boys game at 7:45.

The 48^th annual Quigley Classic was Friday night at Quigley High School. The games featured the top players in the Beaver County area.

Teams Fold

Two WPIAL teams recently let the league know that it will not have teams this spring – the Wilkinsburg baseball team and the St. Joseph boys volleyball team.

Tags: Fox Chapel, Freeport, Hempfield, Wilkinsburg