Times' high school sports notebook: Blackhawk's Finkbeiner wins WPIAL diving title
On Friday as Brecken Finkbeiner tried to repeat as a WPIAL diving champ, he wasn’t spectacular in any of his 11 dives.
However, he was consistently good in all of them, and that was more than enough for him to secure his second straight Class 2A boys gold medal.
“I didn't have any really fantastic dives compared to what I've done in the past,” said Finkbeiner, a senior at Blackhawk. “But none of them were particularly bad, either. They were all solid.”
At the pool at North Allegheny High School where the WPIAL Diving Championships were held, Finkbeiner racked up an 11-dive score of 425.75 to beat 15 other boys who qualified for the meet. Jacob Hauser, a junior from Derry won the runner-up silver medal with a score of 395.05.
Finkbeiner is the first diver in boys Class 2A to repeat since South Fayette’s Trevor Mahoney in 2016 and 2017.
“It felt really good (to repeat),” Finkbeiner said. “It was a big deal for me.”
On Friday when he arrived at North Allegheny, Finkbeiner was actually second on the “pysch sheet” compiled by the WPIAL. Caleb Gnoth, a senior at West Allegheny, ranked first with a score of 356.30 while Finkbeiner was second at 317.85.
Still, Finkbeiner liked his chances of repeating as WPIAL champ.
“I was feeling good,” he said. “Not overly confident but I definitely felt like I could win if I had a good meet.”
Not only did Finkbeiner post consistently solid scores in all 11 of his dives, it helped that two of them had high degrees of difficulty.
Those two dives were his front, two-and-a-half pike, and his reverse, one-and-half somersault with one-and-a-half twist.
“How it works in diving is that each dive gets a degree of difficulty,” said Blackhawk diving coach Bill Nixon. “Then we multiply the judge's score by the degree of difficulty. Brecken’s two hardest dives are a 2.6 degree of difficulty, which is pretty high for a high school kid. He’s probably doing harder dives than everybody else there, and I think that's what made the difference.
“He did not nail a single dive all day, but he was super consistent,” Nixon added. “None of them were great, but every dive was good. It's really hard to put 11 dives together that are all just solid, but that’s what he did. He won the event not because he dove out of his socks but because he didn't miss a single dive.”
Next up for Finkbeiner will be the PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 13-16 at Bucknell University.
As a sophomore, he placed sixth at states. Last year, he finished fourth.
“I'm excited (about going to states),” Finkbeiner said. “I'm hoping that maybe I can beat what I did last year and maybe get a top three. That would be really cool.”
When Finkbeiner competes at states, he will likely be wrapping up his career as a diver.
He plans to continue his education at Kent State University where he’ll major in Aviation. Kent State does not have a swimming and diving program.
Beside Finkbeiner, five other divers from the Beaver County Times coverage area qualified for the PIAA Championships in Class 2A based on their performances at the WPIAL meet.
Boys: Gnoth, fourth place, 351.90.
Girls: Quaker Valley’s Ruby Olliffe, second place, 405.55; QV’s Kate Blackmer, third place, 405.25; QV’s Ruby Krotine, fifth place, 358.75; and Beaver’s Lilia Mackenzie, seventh place, 340.10.
FOUR LOCAL WRESTLERS WIN WPIAL 2A TITLES
Four wrestlers from the BCT coverage turned in spectacular performances Saturday at the WPIAL Class 2A Individual Wrestling Championships.
Those four won first-place gold medals, including three who won their second straight WPIAL title: Central Valley’s Antonio Boni in the 121-pound weight class; Quaker Valley’s Jack Kazalas at 133; Hopewell’s Isiah Pisano at 160; and Central Valley’s Brenan Morgan at 285.
Boni (32-0) and Morgan (35-0) are the only two wrestlers in 2A with undefeated records.
Boni, a sophomore, won his first WPIAL title last year in the 107-pound weight class. He won his second with an 8-1 decision in the final over Beth-Center’s Mason Wright (31-9), and now has a career record of 66-7.
Morgan, a senior, won his first WPIAL title last year at 215. He won his second with an 8-4 decision over Mount Pleasant’s Dylan Pitzer (37-1). Morgan now has a career record of 105-12
After winning the WPIAL title last year at 121, Kazalas (40-3) won this year at 133 with an 8-5 win over Burgettstown’s Parker Sentipal (39-5). Kazalas, a senior, now has a career record of 146-24.
Pisano (35-2) won his first WPIAL with a 5-3 decision over Frazier’s Ryan Celaschi (27-6). Celaschi was the WPIAL champ last year at 152. Pisano now has a 102-23 career record.
Boni, Morgan, Kazalas and Pisano now advance to the PIAA Southwest Regional that will be held Friday and Saturday (March 1-2) at Altoona High School.
The top eight finishers in each weight class at the WPIAL 2A Championships advanced to regionals.
Other local wrestlers going to regionals are:
107: Quaker Valley’s Bruce Anderchak, 2nd; Central Valley’s Angelo Boni, 7th.
127: Don Lindsey, Central Valley, 4th.
139: Matthew Danna, QV, 4th; Ryder Goe, South Side, 8th.
145: Gabe Lilly, Ellwood City, 5th; Jack Diemert, QV, 7th.
152: Marcus Richey, QV, 8th.
160: Gavyn McCray, Freedom, 6th.
189: Slayton Williams, South Side, 7th.
TWO QUIPS MAKE BIG 33 ROSTER
The prestigious Big 33 Football Classic, now in its 67th year, has named its rosters for the annual all-star game that will be played May 26 at Cumberland Valley High School’s Chapman Field.
Among the all-stars on the Pennsylvania squad, which will play all-stars from Maryland, are two players from Aliquippa: linebacker Cameron Lindsey, a Pitt recruit; and cornerback Brandon Banks, a Yale recruit.
The 38-player PA squad includes eight players from the WPIAL. Besides Lindsey and Banks, other WPIAL players named to the Big 33 game are: North Allegheny defensive back Khiryn Boyd; Penn Trafford offensive lineman Zach Tomosovich; Canon-McMillan defensive end Kaeden Singleton; Canon-McMillan linebacker Geno Calgaro; Pine-Richand linebacker Evan Johnson; and Bishop Canevin safety Jason Cross.
Also, rosters have been selected for the East-West all-star games organized by the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association.
The two games — one for small-school athletes and one for large schools — will be played May 19 at Cumberland Valley. Kickoff for the small-school game is noon with the large schools starting at 5 p.m.
Among the players from BCT coverage area chosen to play for the large schools West squad are Aliquippa cornerback Demarkus Walker and defensive end Jayace Williams; and Moon lineman Brian Crawford.
Local players on the small schools West roster are Beaver kicker Evan Baker and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart lineman Damara Brough.
WEST ALLEGHENY HIRES NEW ATHLETIC DIRECTOR
Vladimir St. Surin has been hired as the new athletic director at West Allegheny effective March 18.
He’ll replace Dave McBain, who’s retiring after serving 23 years as the Indians’ A.D.
St. Surin, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., played college football at Robert Morris. He was a defensive back who lettered from 2001-2003.
He’s currently the dean of students at the Community College of Allegheny County.
It’s interesting to note that former West Allegheny football coach Bob Palko applied for the job. However, Palko didn’t even get an interview.
Palko, who led West A. to eight WPIAL titles during his 24 years as coach, was hired by Penn State football coach James Franklin last year as the Nittany Lions’ Director of High School Relations.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Times' high school sports notebook: Blackhawk's Finkbeiner wins WPIAL diving title
