College notebook: Loutsion off to fast start for Presidents
Former Canon-McMillan standout Stellanie Loutsion is off to a strong start for the Washington & Jefferson women’s basketball team.
A junior guard, Loutsion was selected as the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Player of the Week on Nov. 11, after leading the Presidents to a pair of victories in the Hampton Inn by Hilton Tip-off. She was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
Loutsion finished the opening weekend averaging 14.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. Against 19th-ranked Baldwin Wallace, Loutsion dropped in a game-high 19 points, seven of which came in the final four minutes. She was six-for-11 from the field and added 10 points, three rebounds and two assists the next day in a 68-51 win over Otterbein.
In football
Senior kicker Ryan Coe, a former standout at South Fayette High School, has one of the strongest legs in college football and he proved it Nov. 8 for California in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Wake Forest.
Coe booted a pair of 54-yard field goals as Cal notched a 46-36 win. Coe was named the ACC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance.
The first 54-yard field goal marked a career-long and came as the first half drew to a close. In the fourth quarter, Coe’s second 54-yarder made it a two-score game with only 6:39 remaining.
Wheeling quarterback Landon Lutz put together a record-setting day Nov. 9 for the Cardinals in a 50-30 win over Concord and was named the Mountain East’s Offensive Player of the Week.
Lutz, a redshirt sophomore and South Fayette graduate, set several career highs and a program record on the day. He would finish 20-for-26 passing, throwing for 257 yards and a career-high six touchdowns. Lutz would throw scoring passes covering 15, 10, 13, 15, 7 and 5 yards as Wheeling won its fourth consecutive conference game.
Then, in Wheeling 40-16 season-ending win over West Liberty on Saturday, Lutz accounted for five touchdowns, running for a two-yard TD to start the scoring and adding four touchdowns passes, covering 43, 32, 38 and 12 yards. Lutz completed 14 of 25 passes for 265 yards and ran for 23 yards on eight attempts.
Lutz finished the season completing 55 percent of his passes and throwing for 1,332 yards and 19 touchdowns with only two interceptions in 175 attempts.
In wrestling
Waynesburg sophomore Jessie Orbin was named the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Wrestler of the Week, the league office announced Nov. 12.
Orbin, a Chartiers-Houston graduate, won the 184-pound championship at the W&J Invitational on Nov. 8. He went 4-0 with a win by technical fall (16-1) and a pin in 54 seconds to reach the semifinals. He earned an 8-4 win over Lycoming’s Eli Crum in the semifinals and pinned Thiel’s Joey King at 2:35 in the title bout.
Orbin has a 7-2 record. He finished fourth at 184 pounds at the Ned McGinley Invitational in Wilkes-Barre in Waynesburg’s opener.
In soccer
Rachel Rutkowski, a junior midfielder for Penn State Altoona, was named first team All-Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Last Tuesday.
Rutkowski, a Canonsburg native and Canon-McMillan graduate, played in 16 games with the Lions, including making 15 starts, while switching positions from defense to midfield this season. Her athleticism and persistence in defending was a big asset, and she contributed offensively by scoring two goals and was credited with one assist. She attempted 19 shots, putting 10 on goal.
Brock Kiefer of Eighty Four was named second team All-Allegheny Mountain Conference.
A junior defender at Penn State Behrend, Kiefer helped the Lions’ defense to six shutouts in seven conference matches. On the backline, he helped hold conference opponents to only two goals on 45 shots.
A Canon-McMillan graduate, Kiefer scored his lone goal of the season against Hilbert and dished out an assist on the game-winning goal at La Roche. For the season, Kiefer has made 19 starts and accumulated one goal and three assists for five points.
Chatham’s Ainsley Smith, a Washington native who played at Bishop Canevin, was named first team All-Presidents’ Athletic Conference as a midfielder.
Smith had seven goals and three assists for the Cougars, who had an 8-9-2 record. Smith played in all 19 games, starting 15, and logged more than 1,200 minutes on the pitch.
Freshman Derek Errett of Washington & Jefferson received honorable mention at defender on the All-Presidents’ Athletic Conference team.
A freshman and graduate of Fort Cherry, Errett was one of two freshmen to start 17 or more games as a valuable young player on the W&J defense. The freshman appeared in all 19 games and launched four shots.
Errett was the Observer-Reporter’s Boys Basketball Player of the Year last season.
In swimming
Wheeling senior Jade Miller was named the Mountain East Conference Swimmer of the Week for Nov. 4-10.
A Washington native and Trinity graduate, Miller led the Cardinals to a 146-108 win over Davis & Elkins.
After being a part of the winning 200-yard medley relay team, Miller rattled off three individual wins. She was able to compete in each of her three main events, beginning with the 100-yard backstroke. She would start things off strong, picking up a two-second win, swimming a time of 1:02.25. Miller was back in the pool for the 200-yard backstroke and used the longer distance to widen her lead. She won by six seconds with a time of 2:14.44. Her final individual swim would come in the 200-yard individual medley, and she took the top spot, finishing in 2:20.61 to win by seven seconds.
In volleyball
Canonsburg’s Lauren Valentic, a graduate student and middle hitter at Indiana, was named Monday as the PSAC West Defensive Player of the Week.
Valentic, a Canon-McMillan graduate and transfer from the University of Buffalo, had 10 kills and nine blocks in the Crimson Hawks’ match against Clarion. She followed that with 11 kills and three blocks against Pitt-Johnstown.
For the season, Valentic leads IUP in blocks with 94 and ranks fourth on the team in both kills (144) and aces (19).