Trib HSSN June Madness finals: Maura Huwalt, South Park vs. Rachel Martindale, North Allegheny

By: Don Rebel
Tuesday, June 23, 2020 | 9:00 AM

We have finally reached Championship Week in June Madness as we determine who fans believe is the WPIAL Athlete of the Century.

HSSN put together two 32-player brackets, one for the boys and one for the girls, of WPIAL alumni. Outside of a few exceptions, the field was made up of former district players who excelled in more than one sport.

The following is a little background info on each of the final two girls athletes in a tale of the tape.

Starting at 9 a.m. Tuesday and running through 9 a.m. Wednesday, vote on the HSSN twitter page on these two outstanding athletes featured in this championship contest.

Check the HSSN website Wednesday at noon for the final results.

Here are the finals in the girls bracket:

Maura Huwalt vs. Rachel Martindale is a battle of small school against big school and a contest between two of the youngest athletes in the entire tournament. There were 32 female athletes at the start and Huwalt and Martindale are two of the three athletes that graduated in 2019. Both finalists excelled in basketball and different spring sports.

Huwalt is the track and field star who won championships in the three field throwing events of discus, javelin and shot put.

Martindale is a basketball star who overcame a devastating knee injury at the WPIAL finals in her junior year to come back and dominate in her senior year on the hardwood and on the diamond in softnball.

Maura Huwalt – South Park Class of 2019

(Track and field, basketball)

• Defeated Lauryn Williams of Rochester in the semifinals, 69-31%

• Defeated Jess Strom of Steel Valley in the quarterfinals, 77-23%

• Defeated Kaitlyn Orstein of Mt. Lebanon in the second round, 67-33%

• Defeated Annessa Schnur of Butler in the first round, 58-42%

• 2019 Gatorade Track and Field athlete of the year finalist nationally

• The top American finisher at the Penn Relays in high school discus and a New Balance All-American in the javelin

• Seven-time WPIAL champion in field events who medaled as a top three finisher 15 times in her marvelous

• A top three finisher eight times in the PIAA track and field championships, highlighting by winning state gold in the 2018 discus as a junior

• The only female thrower in WPIAL history to sweep gold in the shot put, discus and javelin in back-to-back years as a junior in 2018 and a senior in 2019

• The only female thrower in WPIAL history to be ranked in the Top 25 throws all-time in the shot put, discus and javelin

• Holds the South Park school record in both the shot put and the discus and helped the Eagles win the 2019 WPIAL Class AA track and field team championship

• Scored over 1,000 points in her South Park basketball career as she helped the Eagles reach the playoffs all four years and play in two WPIAL semifinals games and one PIAA semifinals contest

• Huwalt is a member of the track and field team in college at Auburn

Rachel Martindale – North Allegheny Class of 2019

(Basketball, softball)

• Defeated Amani Johnson of East Allegheny in the semifinals, 55-45%

• Defeated Nikki Doria of South Park in the quarterfinals, 54-46%

• Defeated Hunter Robinson of Avonworth in the second round, 54-46%

• Defeated Alison Riske of Peters Township in the first round, 70-30%

• 2019 Trib HSSN female athlete of the year

• 2019 Trib HSSN girls basketball Class 6A player of the year

• Scored 1,373 points including 267 3-pointers, 270 assists and 205 steals in her scholastic basketball career

• First team all-state basketball honors in her junior and senior seasons

• In her four years on the hardwood, North Allegheny was 105-11 with two WPIAL championships and one PIAA runner-up

• Averaged over 14 points per game in basketball and hit .480 in softball after suffering a torn ACL and meniscus in the district basketball finals her junior year

• Martindale is playing college basketball at Akron