McConnell-Miller leads list of Tri-CADA winners
Kathy McConnell-Miller managed to accomplish a lot in her first year as Trinity High School’s girls basketball coach.
The Hillers were WPIAL runners-up and were in the PIAA Class 5A quarterfinals when the postseason was stopped and eventually canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. They were scheduled to play District 3 champion Gettysburg when everything ended.
That didn’t stop McConnell-Miller from being voted Girls Basketball Coach of the Year by the Tri-County Athletic Directoors’ Association. McConnell-Miller would have been honored at the annual Tri-CADA Coach of the Year Banquet but it was canceled because of the pandemic.
Instead, she and the rest of the winners and honorees will be recognized at next year’s banquet, which is held at the end of April.
“I appreciate the honor,” she said. “I feel humbled and thankful for the honor.”
McConnell-Miller is the first coach in memory to win the award despite not finishing the season.
“These players from the start were very vocal about their goals,” she said. “I found it interesting they were able to articulate that. They were committed and did a good job preparing. The way it ended was really tough and it was tough to watch them go through that.”
McConnell-Miller said she was proud of her three seniors: Riley DeRubbo, Marlaina Bozek and Maddie Crumrine.
“I knew it was tough on them, but they have represented Trinity well in every aspect,” she said.
Jordan Watson of West Greene and Megan Zitner of Burgetstown were finalists.
The winner in Baseball was Lou Pasquale of California. Richard Krause of Carmichaels and Joe Maize of Peters Township were the other finalists.
Don Hartman of Frazier won Softball over Billy Simms of West Greene and Tricia Alderson of Chartiers-Houston.
In Football, TJ Plack of Peters Township was the choice. Mike Bosnic of Washington and Brian Hanson of West Greene were the other finalists.
Boys Soccer went to Larry Fingers of Canon-McMillan. Ryan Julian of Trinity and Alex Nikolopoulos of Chartiers-Houston were the other finalists.
Tyler Hamstra of Bentworth took Girls Soccer over Pat Vereb of Peters Township and Cedar Brunache of Brownsville.
In Boys Basketball, Rick Hauger of Laurel Highlands was the pick over Bill Wiltz of Charleroi and Rob Kezmarsky of Uniontown.
Joe Throckmorton of Waynesburg won his first Wrestling Coach of the Year award over Joey Vigliott of Burgetstown and Jeff Havelka of Canon-McMillan.
The Bill Christy Memorial Award Excellence in Officiating went to Dick Krieger and Gary Swart, and the Roy Gillespie Memorial Special Award went to Barry Rossner of Laurel Highlands.
The Observer-Reporter Sports Headliner award was won by Canon-McMillan senior wrestler Gerrit Nijenhuis, who won his second straight PIAA championship in Hershey in March.
The winner of the Bill Christy 1,000 essay was Karlyn Bayer of Chartiers-Houston.
The top Male Tricada Scholarship winner was Avery McConville of Waynesburg. Other male winners were Todd Fisher of Beth-Center, Riley Kemper of Burgettstown and Benjamin Jackson of West Greene.
The top Female Tricada Scholarship winner was Mya Murray of Uniontown. Other female winners were Emi Curcio of Frazier, Jadyn Hartner of Fort Cherry and Kylie Sinn of Carmicheals.
Sheila Mitchell of Canon-McMillan was Girls Volleyball winner and Mackenzie Biggs-Greene of Fort Cherry and Mandy Hartman of Frazier were finalists.
The Olympic Sports Award went to Joe Winans, the South Fayette Cross Country coach and the Dick Kohl Memorial Athletic Directors’ Award went to Laura Grimm of Ringgold.