College notebook: Headlee’s NCAA run over before it started
A.C. Headlee never expected his season to end like this.
Headlee, a Waynesburg native and redshirt senior on the North Carolina wrestling team, qualified last week for the NCAA Championships by placing third at 157 pounds in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships that were held at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center.
For Headlee (18-9), it was the third consecutive year in which he qualified for the NCAA meet, which was to be held March 19-21 at U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis. He was given the No. 18 seed and was scheduled to face No. 15 seed Larry Early (21-6) of Old Dominion in the opening round. Headlee did some of his best wrestling against the toughest competition as he had four wins during the regular season over opponents ranked in the top 20.
All of that was before the NCAA announced Wednesday the cancellation of all championship events through the spring because of the coronavirus pandemic, thus likely ending Headlee’s collegiate wrestling career.
Headlee helped North Carolina to a third-place finish in the team standings at the ACC meet.
The Tar Heels are coached by former Olympic medalist, and PIAA and NCAA champion, Coleman Scott, also a Waynesburg native.
In basketball
Pitt-Johnstown senior guard Josh Wise was voted first team All-PSAC West by the conference’s coaches.
Wise, a native of Washington and a Washington High School graduate, is a two-time first-team selection. He earned first team honors for the second straight year after averaging 12.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game. Wise, who was the PSAC’s Player of the Week on Feb. 10, finished second on the team in scoring, three-point field goals (41), assists (76), and steals (42).
Wise closed out his career ranked sixth on Pitt-Johnstown’s all-time scoring list with 1,541 points, 14th on the all-time rebounding list (522) and 15th in assists (266).
Seton Hill’s Cheyenne Trest was named second team All-PSAC.
A senior guard from Canonsburg and a Canon-McMillan graduate, Trest finished third on the team in scoring with 382 points (13.2 per game). Since the Griffins joined the NCAA, Trest ranks second in most free throws made in a season, is tied for fourth in assists in a season, tied for fourth in most points scored in a game (33 against Edinboro), ninth in assists in a season and sixth in career points with 1,162.
Trest was an All-PSAC West selection in 2018-19 and was named PSAC West Freshman of the Year in 2017-18.
Trest shot 83% from the free-throw line and 30 percent from three-point range. She was named the PSAC’s Player of the Week for Feb. 24-March 1 when she helped the Griffins to the sixth and final conference tournament spot with a win over Edinboro. She scored a season high 33 points and had five assists. She averaged 22.5 points and 4.5 assists in the week.
Fairmont State junior guard Sierra Kotchman received first team All-Mountain East Conference honors.
A Washington native and Trinity graduate, Kotchman was named first team for the second year in a row. She averaged 20.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists. Kotchman also chipped in with 37 steals, shot 38 percent from three-point range and was nearly an 87 percent free-throw shooter. Kotchman led the Falcons in scoring 16 times and had 14 scoring performances of 20 or more points.
Kotchman is also climbing in the school’s record book in a number of categories, including ranking eighth all-time in points (1,633). She is Fairmont State’s all-time leader in three-point field goals with 261.
In softball
Penn State softball sophomore Bailey Parshall was named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week for a stellar performance in the circle at the Clearwater Spring Break Invitational, it was announced by the conference office Monday.
A left-handed pitcher from Belle Vernon, Parshall threw three complete-game shutouts last weekend, leading Penn State to wins over Yale, Robert Morris and Western Michigan.
Parshall struck out double-digit batters in all three games, including a season-high 14 against Yale. Parshall did not give a run up in 19 innings pitched, allowed only eight hits and three walks in the three games. Her three wins improved Parshall’s record to 7-5.
Parshall already has 117 strikeouts this season and has surpassed the 300 career strikeouts. She ranks in eighth place all-time at Penn State in strikeouts.
In track and field
William & Mary’s Daniel Layton, a freshman from Waynesburg, placed fifth in the heptathlon at the IC4A Indoor Track & Field Championships in Boston last weekend.
Layton also earned All-East honors as he improved from ninth place at the start of the second day of events and finishing with a freshman-record score of 4,733 points. His points total is the fourth-best score in William & Mary history.
Junior Liz Fleming of Washington won both the shot put and weight throw to propel the Wheeling University women’s track & field team to a third-place finish at the inaugural Mountain East Conference Indoor Championships in Huntington, W.Va.
Fleming, a Trinity graduate, won the weight throw with a toss of 57-9 1/2. She followed that with a throw of 46-11 1/2 in the shot put to collect another 10 points for the women’s team.
Fleming’s efforts earned her the MEC Field Athlete of the Year honor at the conclusion of the event.
West Liberty junior Isaiah Robinson, a Washington graduate, is the Mountain East Conference’s reigning outdoor triple jump champion, and he added the indoor triple jump title on Feb. 22 with a school-record and NCAA Division II provisional qualifying mark of 48-10.
Robinson also was named to the Division II All-Atlantic Region team by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Robinson was selected in the triple jump and as part of West Liberty’s distance medley relay team.
One week before the MEC Championships, Robinson was selected as the conference’s Male Indoor Track Athlete of the Week for the second time this season. That was after Robinson triple jumped 48-7¼ in the Doug Raymond National Qualifier at Kent State University. The jump broke the West Liberty school record by more than one foot.
Compiled by Chris Dugan