Five-time All-American Kalsey hits new heights at Westminster
Marissa Kalsey continues to reach new heights at Westminster College.
A Waynesburg native and junior on the indoor and outdoor track and field teams at Westminster, Kalsey recently became the first five-time All-American in Titans history by placing second in the pole vault at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships in Winston-Salem, N.C. It was her third consecutive All-America honor in the indoor season and the runner-up finish was her second straight.
Kalsey and Cimran Virdi of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) each cleared the winning height of 13-1½, but Virdi finished in first place based on fewer total misses. Kalsey’s 13-1½ broke her own school indoor record.
A former PIAA champion, Kalsey won the Presidents’ Athletic Conference indoor championship by clearing 12-3¼, which tied her PAC meet record.
Kalsey has continued to set her goals high in the outdoor season. She is the current PASC Field Athlete of the Week after winning the pole vault at the Westminster Invitational last weekend with a personal-record vault of 13-3½, which is the the top height in Division III this spring. She is the only D-III pole vaulter to clear 13 feet this season. The vault also ranks No. 8 in Division III history. On Tuesday, Kalsey was selected as the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division III National Women’s Athlete of the Week.
Joe Havrilak continues to have a big senior season for Akron.
Havrilak, a redshirt senior right fielder and former standout at Trinity, is the leading hitter for the Zips with a .354 batting average. He also leads the team with 31 runs and 45 hits, and is second with 20 RBI, 19 walks and nine stolen bases. Havrilak hits total includes seven doubles, three triples and three home runs.
Tyler Schmidt has made an immediate impact at the University of Rochester.
The Peters Township graduate is a freshman shortstop for the Yellowjackets and was named the Liberty league’s Rookie of the Week for two consecutive weeks, March 31 and April 6. Schmidt is Rochester’s second-leading hitter with a .378 batting average and leads the team with eight stolen bases in 10 attempts. During his torrid two-week stretch, the Venetia native was 19-for-41 over 12 games and had three doubles, a triple, his first career home run and 14 RBI.
Schmidt hit a game-tying single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning against St. Lawrence, a game Rochester won in 12 innings. He also had a career four RBI against Bard.
Ashley Parello of Venetia is having an outstanding final season at Case Western Reserve. The Peters Township graduate is a senior outfielder for the Spartans. Parello is Case Western’s second-leading hitter with a .402 batting average, 12 doubles, one triple, seven home runs and 31 RBI in 31 games for the Spartans, who are 21-10.
Parello’s home-run total has her ranked fifth in the University Athletic Association. Parello recently reached the 100-hit mark for her career.
Freshman Alyssa Wise, a former standout at Washington, ran the fastest 100-meter dash of the season for the Pitt women’s team when she crossed the finish line in 11.74 last weekend at the Tennessee Relays in Knoxville. The time was a personal record for Wise, who finished in fifth place in a field of 51 sprinters.
Wise had three first-place finishes during the indoor season, all in the 60-meter dash. Her wins were in the Golden Flash Gala at Kent State, the Nittany Lion Challenge at Penn State and the Kent State Tuneup. Her fastest winning time was 7.55.
Nick Gibson, a senior at Shippensburg and a former WPIAL champion in the 1,600 meters at Canon-McMillan, received NCAA Division II Second Team All-America status. He was a member of Shippensburg’s distance medley relay team that placed ninth at the national championships in Birmingham, Ala., last month.
Gibson helped Shippensburg to the PSAC team title at the conference’s indoor championships.
Tanya Timko recently became the winningest women’s tennis player in IUP history.
A former Chartiers-Houston standout, Timko broke the Crimson Hawks’ program records for career singles and combined victories during a match against Charleston.
Timko first broke the combined wins record as she teamed with Jarka Petercakova for an 8-4 No. 1 doubles victory over Toni Katipa and Kelsey Hensley. That gave Timko 176 combined singles and doubles wins in her career. She then moved to the top of the singles victory list with a 6-1, 6-3 win over, her 82nd career win.
The wins came the same day that Timko was named the PSAC West Division Athlete of the Week. Timko has an 18-8 overall record.
Fred Garcia ended his career at Lock Haven with a third consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships.
A Donora native and Ringgold graduate, Garcia had a 31-6 record this year for the Bald Eagles and qualified for the NCAA meet wrestling at 184 pounds. Garcia is one of the winningest wrestlers in Lock Haven history, having compiled 104 career victories.
Garcia was named the Eastern Wrestling League’s Wrestler of the Week after he won his 100th career match, a fall over Grand Canyon’s Austing Truillo in only 2:11. The win made Garcia the 16th wrestler in Lock Haven history with 100 career wins.