Westmoreland high school notes: Basketball tournament to honor late Jeannette standout

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Saturday, July 10, 2021 | 2:51 PM

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Almost a year to the day that he was killed in a motorcycle accident, former Jeannette three-sport star athlete Tre Cunningham will be honored through a charity basketball event.

The “Tre Cunningham Memorial Basketball Tournament,” sponsored by the Jeannette Educational Foundation, will be July 23-24 at Jeannette High School.

Open to high school teams in the area for a $150 entry fee, the tournament will raise money for a scholarship in Cunningham’s name.

Foundation member Tim Carney is helping to organize the event. He said the foundation’s main objective is to “enhance educational opportunities for Jeannette students,” and this event is another example of that.

The scholarship will be presented to a Jeannette student.

For more information or to register, contact Carney at 724-989-6793.

County 7-on-7

After a year away, the Westmoreland County Coaches Association 7-on-7 Football Passing Tournament returns Thursday at Latrobe.

The 10th tournament will feature 14 teams — Latrobe will have two teams in the event — and will be played on turf at Rossi Field and Graham-Sobota Field, the latter where Latrobe plays baseball and softball.

Bracket A teams are Mt. Pleasant, Norwin, Penn-Trafford, Kiski Area, Latrobe (B), Greensburg Salem, Burrell and Southmoreland.

Bracket B has Latrobe (A), Franklin Regional, Hempfield, Yough, Greensburg Central Catholic and Valley.

Jeannette, which is battling low roster numbers, is noticeably missing from the field. The Jayhawks are a regular at the event. So is Derry, which also is not competing.

Jeannette had just 25 players heading into the weekend. Roy Hall said this will be his last season guiding the team. He plans to step down after the season, his 13th as head coach and 37th overall.

The first games are at 9 a.m. The winners of two brackets will meet for the championship around 2 p.m. on Rossi Field.

One special touch this year is naming the championship plaque after former WCCA president Larry Sellitto, who died i December. The passing tournament was one of Sellitto’s favorite events on the county sports calendar.

Mankins to Seton Hill

Abby Mankins, a rising senior basketball player at Greensburg Salem, will continue her playing career close to home at Seton Hill.

Mankins, a 5-foot-10 guard, averaged 16 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists last year. She has 940 career points with one prep season to play.

Soccer nationals

Westmoreland County will have strong representation on the Hotspurs Soccer Club 2005 girls team that is headed to the national championships after winning the USYS Eastern Region title.

Team members include McKenzie Pritts (Yough), Sofia DeCert (Latrobe), Ashley Ornowski (Norwin), Alyssa Aquilio (Norwin), Regan Reilly (Latrobe) and Ava Lorenzi (Latrobe).

Nationals run from July 20-25 in Sarasota, Fla.

Phipps coaching

Former Norwin and Bucknell mat standout Drew Phipps will join the wrestling staff at Seton Hill as a graduate assistant.

Phipps served as an assistant at Bucknell, where he graduated in 2020, last season. He piled up 99 wins at the collegiate level and was a two-time NCAA qualifier and a three-time conference place-winner.

He will work toward obtaining a two-year MBA while he is coaching.

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

Tags: Franklin Regional, Greensburg C.C., Greensburg Salem, Jeannette, Latrobe, Mt. Pleasant, Norwin, Penn-Trafford, Southmoreland, Yough