Published: October 16, 2008 11:56 pm      

Local sports briefs 10/17

RUNNING

Stingers lead way at Heritage

MARION CENTER – The Marion Center boys and girls, running on their home course, secured the championships at the Heritage Conference cross country championships on Thursday afternoon.

Hannah Miller of Laurel Valley was the girls’ individual champion, crossing the line in 19:49, beating Alyssa Taddie of Homer-Center by 39 seconds. Kelsey Isenberg of United was fourth in 21:17.

Alex Woodrow was the boys’ champion, winning in 17:07. The Marion Center runner was followed by Laurel Valley’s Max Penrose (17:26).

The Laurel Valley boys finished third, with United fourth. Northern Cambria was sixth.

The Lady Rams finished fourth, one spot ahead of United on the girls’ side.



BASKETBALL

Hoffman named SFU captain

LORETTO – Former Greater Johnstown high hoops standout Kurt Hoffman, now a junior a St. Francis, was named one of the team’s tri-captains for the season.

Hoffman was named to the role along with senior Marquis Ford and junior Mislav Jukic.

The Red Flash held a vote among the team’s coaches and players on Wednesday night.

Hoffman started in 11 of 27 games last season, and has played in 54 games during his career. He shot 59 percent from the field last season, which was best among Red Flash players with 30 or more attempts.

Hoffman was second on last season’s team with 12 blocks.



FOOTBALL

Pitt MLB gets another nod

Pitt middle linebacker Scott McKillop was named a first-team midseason All-American by SI.com, which referred to the senior as a “big-game standout.”

McKillop has also been honored by CBSSports.com and CollegeFootballNews.com.

He ranks second nationally in solo stop with 7.4 per game, sixth in tackles for loss (1.8 per game) and 11th in total tackles (10.4 per game).



VOLLEYBALL

UPJ defeats Fairmont State

It took five games, but Pitt-Johnstown snapped a losing streak with a 3-2, non-conference victory over Fairmont State with a 15-13 win in Game 5 on Thursday night in the Sports Center.

Taylor Hrescak (Richland) had 19 kills to help Pitt-Johnstown improve to 17-10.

The Lady Cats won the first two games, 27-25 and 28-26, but the Falcons answered with 25-19 and 26-24 victories in the next two games.

Kristin Irwin had 11 kills and two block assists, and Kayla Lape (Chestnut Ridge) added seven kills and three block assists. Coach Linda Renzi also got seven kills from Kelly Miller (North Star) and six block assists from Nicole Houser. Taylor King and Merissa Larrew combined for 40 set assists, while Abby Gearhart and Katie Shadron (Ligonier Valley) paced the Lady Cats with 32 and 31 digs, respectively.