College notebook: Trest continues to rack up big numbers, PSAC honors
Cheyenne Trest
Nick Wolk
Marlena Schmidt
Ty Buckiso
Doug Gudenburr
Cheynne Trest keeps on making shots and receiving honors at Seton Hill.
For the fifth time this season, Trest, a guard from Canonsburg, was named the PSAC West Division Women’s Basketball Freshman of the Week. Trest’s latest honor came for the week of Dec. 17-23.
Trest led the Griffins to three wins by averaging 17.3 points per game. She scored a career high 25 points in a 77-66 win over Tiffin in the opening round of the Salem International Christmas Classic. She also scored 18 points in a win over Salem. Trest was 15 of 32 from the field, 10 of 15 from three-point range and made all 12 of her free throws during the tournament. She also had nine rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Trest is the second-leading scorer for Seton Hill (3-2, 8-3) at 14.3 points per game. She is shooting 44 percent from the field, 43 percent from three-point range and 83 percent from the free-throw line.
In track & field
Nick Wolk, a sophomore from McMurray and a Peters Township graduate, was named Pitt’s Male Student-Athlete of the Week for Dec. 4-10.
Wolk began the indoor track and field season at the Boston University Season Opener with the best 5,000 meters time – indoor or outdoor – by a Panthers runner in 15 years. His personal best time of 14:14.79 was good for fifth place overall and third by a collegiate athlete in the meet. Wolk holds Pitt’s three-fastest times in the 5,000 over the past 15 years.
Westminster’s Tim Maxwell, a sophomore from Washington and a McGuffey graduate, set personal records in the pole vault in consecutive weeks. Maxwell set a personal best at the Marty Pushkin Classic, hosted by West Virginia University, when he cleared 13-11 ¼ to finish in a tie for third place. The following weekend, Maxwell set another PR by clearing 14-0 at the Kent State Golden Flash Gala on Dec. 9. That height had Maxwell finishing in a tie for second place.
In swimming
John Martin of Canonsburg, a freshman at Saint Vincent, was named both the Presidents’ Athletic Conference and Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Men’s Newcomer of the Week for Dec. 4-10.
Martin earned a victory in the 50 breaststroke during the Bearcats’ victory over Mount Union with a time of 28.54. In the 200 breaststroke, Martin finished third in 2:18.61. He also was a member of the Bearcats’ winning 200 freestyle relay team.
Martin was home schooled and competed for two years for Peters Township’s swimming team.
In basketball
Fairmont State’s Sierra Kotchman scored a career-high 32 points in the Falcons’ 87-79 loss at West Liberty Dec. 9.
Kotchman, a freshman guard and Trinity graduate, made nine of 18 shots from the field, five of nine three-pointers and converted nine of 10 free throws.
Four days later, Kotchman scored 26 points in only 26 minutes of playing time as Fairmont State routed Salem International, 87-42. Kotchman was eight of 10 from three-point range and made nine of 14 shots overall.
A former Observer-Reporter Girls Basketball Player of the Year, Kotchman is Fairmont State’s leading scorer at 18.6 points per game.
Marlena Schmidt, a sophomore from Eighty Four and a Ringgold graduate, is the starting center for Southeastern (Fla.), which is 14-0 and ranked No. 3 in NAIA Division II.
Schmidt, who has started at 14 games, is averaging 7.1 points per game and is the Fire’s second-leading rebounder at 5.8 per game. She has 27 blocked shots to lead the team. Schmidt, a transfer from West Virginia, is shooting 49 percent from the field.
Waynesburg freshman guard Matt Popeck was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III South Rookie of the Week Dec. 12.
Popeck, a Washington graduate, averaged a team-high 19 points per game during a 1-1 week for the Yellow Jackets. He scored a game-high 25 points during Waynesburg’s 73-65 loss to Bethany and followed that with team highs in points (13) and rebounds (7) during a 56-53 victory over Thiel.
In wrestling
Seton Hill’s Billy Bowlen, a sophomore from Crucible, placed fifth at 184 pounds in the PSAC Championships Dec. 9 at Edinboro.
Bowlen, who qualified for the NCAA Division II Championships as a freshman, lost his opening round bout at the PSAC tournament before posting consecutive 16-0 technical fall victories over Logan Sharp of Shippensburg and Paul Rallis of East Stroudsburg. A 3-1 loss to Dylan Reynolds of Edinboro put Bowlen in the fifth-place bout, which he won by medical forfeit.
Bowlen also advanced to the quarterfinals in the Midwest Classic held the next weekend in Indianapolis.
Two local wrestlers at The Citadel combined for five wins in the 149-pound weight class at the Reno Tournament of Champions.
Senior Ty Buckiso of Venetia and a Peters Township graduate, won three bouts to reach the quarterfinals at 149 pounds, and Doug Gudenburr, a sophomore from Finleyville and a Ringgold graduate, won two bouts.
Buckiso lost his quarterfinal match to Campbell’s Josh Heil by fall. Before facing Heil, Buckiso earned his first pin of the season, over Providence’s Justin Gibson in 4:14.
Gudenburr had his first technical fall of the season, 15-0 over Daniel Coles (unattached) and a 6-1 decision over Zechariah Bresser (unattached).
Waynebsurg freshman Josh Kuslock was named the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Wrestler of the Week for the second time Dec. 11.
Kuslock, a Hickory resident and Chartiers-Houston graduate, had a 4-0 record at 133 pounds during the week. He started with a first-period pin in a dual meet against Muskingum, then during the Waynesburg Quad he scored two decision victories including an 8-5 victory over Baldwin-Wallace’s Charlie Nash.
Kuslock has a 15-5 record on the season.