Mar 24, 2025 5 min read

Waynesburg Central graduates Colton Stoneking and Kyle Homet earned All-American status at the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships held in Indianapolis, Ind.

Stoneking, a junior who wrestles for Fairmont State, won his first two bouts to advance to the semifinals at 141 pounds before he dropped a 7-5 decision to fall into the consolation rounds.

Stoneking (35-7) suffered a loss in the consolation semifinals but rebounded and won a 12-3 major decision to finish in fifth place. He is the second Fairmont State wrestler ever to earn NCAA All-America status.

Fairmont State is coached by Gennaro Bonaventura, a former standout at Waynesburg University.

Homet, a graduate student who competes for Glenville State, won by fall in the first round, but lost by major decision in the quarterfinals at 184.

He rebounded to win in the consolations before falling in the consolation

quarterfinals to wrestle for seventh place. Homet was a 17-2 winner by technical fall to finish in seventh place and end his season with a 41-12 record.

In track and field

Another former Waynesburg standout, Slippery Rock pole vaulter Drew Layton, earned first team All-America honors and broke the SRU and Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference records at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships that were held in Indianapolis.

Layton earned his second career All-America honor after picking up second-team honors last May at the outdoor national meet when he placed 10th. He upped that recognition to first team honors and earned his first career podium finish with a sixth-place finish while making his indoor nationals debut.

A sophomore, Layton entered the meet seeded 17th out of 18 vaulters with his career-best vault of 16-7 1/4. He was clean over the first two bars of the competition at 15-10 ½ and 16-4 ½ before his first miss.

Layton cleared the bar at 16-10 1/4 on his second attempt, setting a new career-best and advancing to 17-2 1/4 with 14 other vaulters still in the competition. After missing his first attempt, Layton cleared the mark on his second try to give him his first career clearance at a bar higher than 17 feet.

That vault locked up a sixth-place finish after he missed three attempts at 17-6 1/4.

Layton broke the Slippery Rock indoor record of 17-0¾ that had stood since 2013. It also topped the PSAC record of 17-1 that was set in 2019.

Duquesne senior Mara Whalen, a Hickory native and Fort Cherry graduate, twice set a personal-best time in the 800 meters at the ECAC Indoor Championships in Boston.

After setting her PR in the preliminaries, Whalen placed fifth in the finals with a career-best time of 2:11.26 — more than two seconds faster than her previous best. Her time ranks fourth in Duquesne history.

In lacrosse

Theresa Lyle, a senior midfielder for Franciscan, was named the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Midfielder of the Week for Feb. 17-23.

A McMurray native and Seton LaSalle Graduate, Lyle had seven points, including six goals, in two matches, helping Franciscan to a 1-1 record in the contests. At Muskingum, she had one goal, two draw controls and gathered a pair of ground balls. In a win over Mount Aloysius, Lyle had a six-point day, scoring five goals and getting 10 draw controls, five ground balls and forcing four turnovers.

In basketball

Maddie Webber, a former standout at South Fayette where she was the Observer-Reporter Girls Basketball Player of the Year in 2023, is the second-leading scorer for Villanova.

Webber is averaging 13.1 points per game. She is shooting 46 percent from the field, 31 percent from three-point range and 78 percent from the free-throw line. She scored a season-high 30 points against DePaul on Feb. 12, which started a streak of nine consecutive double-digit scoring games for the sophomore guard.

Villanova has a 20-14 record and is playing in the WBIT.

In baseball

Jack Natili, a sophomore catcher, is off to a good start to the season at Cincinnati.

A Venetia native and Peters Township graduate, Natili is second on the team with a batting average of .346. He has five doubles, one home run and 17 RBI for the Bearcats in 22 games. Natili also has thrown out 45 percent of opposing basestealers.

Natili transferred this year from Rutgers, where he played in 47 games as a freshman.

In wrestling

Pitt’s Luca Augustine finished one victory shy of earning a spot on the podium and All-American status in the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships held over the weekend at the Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia.

A Waynesburg graduate, Augustine dropped a 7-6 decision to Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy in the 174-pound weight class.

Augustine (23-11) lost his first-round match before winning three straight victories to reach the “blood round.” He took an 11-2 major decision over Maryland’s Branson John before edging Stanford’s Lorenzo Norman, 4-3. Augustine defeated Army’s Dalton Harkins with a 4-1 decision in sudden victory.

Lock Haven’s Wyatt Henson lost by technical fall to Nebraska’s Brock Hardy, the No. 1 seed, in the round of 16 at 141. The Waynesburg graduate lost a 5-2 decision to Rutgers’ Joseph Olivieri and finished the season with a 28-8 record.

Virginia Tech’s Mac Church finished his season 16-16 after losing 10-1 to Illinois’

Braeden Scoles at 165. The Waynesburg graduate defeated Little Rock’s Joseph

Bianchi by major decision, 12-4, in his first consolation match.

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Compiled by Chris Dugan