Westmoreland high school notebook: Norwin girls track and field reaches 8th WPIAL finals in row

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Saturday, May 3, 2025 | 4:43 PM

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The Norwin girls track and field team made quick work of its opponents in the WPIAL Class 3A semifinals to continue an impressive run of success.

The Lady Knights advanced to the finals for the eighth straight time since 2017. There was no season in 2020.

This could be the year the team breaks through.

Norwin beat Pine-Richland, 101-49; Plum, 110-40; and Laurel Highlands, 134-10.

“Our performances have been extremely strong, and our team mentality is the strongest this year than past years,” junior distance runner Annie Czajkowski said. “No one really speaks about winning individually, but we all talk about how badly we want to win together as a team. I think that sets us apart. We always have been looked at as a stronger team but never looked at as the strongest. This year is different because we know how capable we are of winning the WPIAL, both girls and boys together.”

The boys team also is finals-bound after one-sided semifinal wins over Plum (110-40) and Ringgold (126-24).

The girls team has three WPIAL titles, all in a row with the last coming 17 years ago — 2006, ’07 and ’08.

The boys are chasing their first WPIAL title.

The finals will be Tuesday at West Mifflin.

It will be Norwin, North Allegheny, Butler and South Fayette in the girls 3A championship meet.

Other boys finalists are North Allegheny, Butler and Mt. Lebanon.

Butler reunion

Latrobe senior basketball standout Max Butler committed to play at NCAA Division II Coker University (S.C.) of the South Atlantic Conference.

The 6-foot-2 combo guard will join his brother, Landon, a sophomore guard for the Cobras.

Max Butler averaged 20 points last season for the Wildcats (21-7), who made the WPIAL 5A quarterfinals and PIAA second round.

He finished with 1,249 career points, the fourth Butler brother to achieve the 1,000-point milestone.

Cernuto resigns

Southmoreland is looking for a girls basketball coach after the resignation of Amber Cernuto.

A teacher in the district who became head coach in 2020, Cernuto led the Scotties for five seasons. She finished with a record of 43-67 with two section titles, two WPIAL semifinal appearances and one trip to the PIAA playoffs.

Nicolas recommits

Norwin senior track standout Eliezer Nicolas has found a new college destination after de-committing from Division I Saint Francis, which announced plans to drop to NCAA Division III.

The sprinter was one of the first Red Flash recruits to pull the plug, entering the transfer portal on the same day the news broke.

Nicolas announced he committed to the University of Tampa of the Division II Sunshine State Conference.

A unique thing about Tampa is that is has track and cross country but does not compete in field events.

Volleyball playoffs

A couple of local teams secured spots in the upcoming WPIAL boys volleyball playoffs.

The top four teams in each section qualify.

Latrobe clinched in Class 3A, and Derry is headed for the 2A tournament.

The WPIAL will announce seedings and opening-round pairings Friday.

Recruiting

• Penn-Trafford football player Kellan Taylor, a defensive lineman, will play at Grove City, continuing a pipeline to the PAC program.

• Hempfield senior Olivia Schrock will continue her swimming career at Westminster.

• Norwin football player Mike Strutt picked up a Division II offer from West Virginia Wesleyan.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Franklin Regional, Hempfield, Latrobe, Norwin