Trib HSSN May Madness: Pine-Richland’s Meghan Klingenberg vs. Quaker Valley’s Tabitha Bemis

By: Don Rebel
Tuesday, May 26, 2020 | 9:01 AM

Over the course of the next month and a half, May Madness will determine who you fans believe is the WPIAL Athlete of the Century.

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

Each weekday, May Madness will have one matchup each on the boys and girls bracket with a little background info on each athlete found in a daily tale of the tape.

Starting at 9 a.m. Tuesday and running through 9 a.m. Wednesday, you can vote on the HSSN twitter page on the two athletes featured in this second round matchup.

Check the HSSN website at noon Wednesday for the matchup’s final results.

Here is the contest for the girls; Round 2, Day 2:

Meghan Klingenberg vs. Tabitha Bemis is a matchup of a dominant athlete on the pitch against one that excelled on the track, the gym mat and in the swimming pool.

Meghan Klingenberg — Pine-Richland Class of 2007

(Soccer)

• Defeated Katie Miller of Hempfield in the first round, 73 percent to 27 percent.

• 2007 Parade All-American.

• 2007 NSCAA All-American.

• 2007 Pennsylvania All-State first-team soccer all-star.

• Four-year starter at Pine-Richland and was the team captain.

• Helped Pine-Richland win back-to-back WPIAL championships in 2005 and ‘06. Her junior year, Pine-Richland beat Moon, 2-0, in the district finals, then the Rams shut out Mt. Lebanon, 1-0, to win WPIAL gold in her senior season.

• In her junior year, Pine-Richland defeated Hampton, Peters Township, McDowell and Owen J. Roberts to win the school’s first PIAA soccer championship.

• She was one of five individuals to be inducted as the first class into the Pine-Richland High School Hall of Fame.

• Klingenberg played college soccer at North Carolina. She played on several U.S. national teams, was an alternate for the U.S. Olympic team in 2012 and played for Team USA at the summer Olympics in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. She also played pro soccer in Boston, Houston and Portland, among other cities.

Tabitha Bemis — Quaker Valley Class of 2010

(Track and field, gymnastics, diving)

• Defeated Stephanie Madia of North Allegheny in the first round, 74 percent to 26 percent.

• Won 43 medals in three different sports in her high school career.

• She won WPIAL gold in 2010 in the long jump and 100-meter hurdles and finished second in the triple jump.

• A few weeks later, Bemis concluded her scholastic career with state gold in the long jump and 100-meter hurdles and silver in the triple jump at the PIAA championships.

• She finished in eighth place in the 2007 WPIAL championship as a freshman in her one and only year doing the pole vault.

• Bemis started her high school career by winning gold in the WPIAL and state all-around in gymnastics, however an elbow injury forced her to give up the sport.

• As a senior, she competed for Quaker Valley in diving and finished second at the 2010 WPIAL championships and then came in sixth place at the PIAA diving finals.

• Bemis was on the track and field team in college at Edinboro.

Check out updated brackets here.

Meghan Klingenberg – @meghankling
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Tabitha Bemis – @TabithaBemis

— TribLive HSSN (@TribLiveHSSN) May 26, 2020

Tags: Pine-Richland, Quaker Valley