Recruiting frenzy

Anyone reading the Wednesday sports section of the Observer-Reporter may have noticed two stories on local athletes headed to Division I programs to play sports.

Peters Township's Greg Weimer will play soccer at Virginia Tech.

Chartiers-Houston's Karlyn Timko will play tennis at Marshall.

Weimer and Timko are part of a flurry of local recruiting activity of late. A few posters enjoy knocking the state of area high school football, but there's no denying Washington and Greene counties are supplying Division I teams with student-athletes.

Other recent recruits include:

Canon-McMillan Mike Hull, a junior who committed to Penn State for football;

Ringgold pitcher Corey Young, who will play at Lafayette;

Carmichaels infielder Chuck Gasti (Cleveland State);

Canon-McMillan infielder Matt Pierpont (Winthrop);

Canon-McMillan girls soccer player Taylor Schram (Penn State);

McMurray resident and former Peters Township tennis players Alison Riske (Vanderbilt);

Waynesburg golfer Rachel Rohanna (Ohio State);

Peters Township basketball player Emily Correal (William & Mary);

Wash High girls basketball player Jocelyn Floyd (Duquesne);

and Ringgold girls basketball player Emily Schartner (New Jersey Institute of Technology).

It's an impressive list, one that does not include a pair of Division II recruits in Carmichaels' Joby Lapkowicz (Slippery Rock, baseball) and Beth-Center's Ryne Niemiec (Cal U, basketball).