Wolman Hall of Fame to honor high school scholar-athletes

ASHLAND — The Jerry Wolman/Northern Anthracite Hall of Fame has named six high school seniors as 2023-24 Scholar-Athlete Honorees for its Hall of Fame induction dinner on Saturday at Groody’s.

The 2024 Stan Rakowsky Memorial Awards will be presented to Mahanoy Area’s Kaylee Senglar and Colm McGroarty, Shenandoah Valley’s Ava Menjivar and Alex Kozlosky and North Schuylkill’s Haley Koutch and Collin Stanakis.

The group will be honored along with 10 people in the latest class of Hall of Fame inductees.

Senglar is a two-time PIAA Cross Country Championships qualifier who ranks second in her class at Mahanoy Area. McGroarty is Mahanoy Area’s all-time leading rusher in football with 4,219 yards.

Menjivar, who ranks fourth in her class and is its vice president, is a four-sport athlete, including both softball and track and field in the spring, for Shenandoah Valley. Kozlosky ranks first in his class and is a four-year Blue Devil football player with 268 career tackles.

Koutch has served as captain for North Schuylkill’s basketball and softball teams after playing for both squads for three years. Stanakis is the captain of the Spartans’ baseball team and has excelled as a wide receiver and cornerback for the football team.

The biographies of eight Hall of Fame inductees were published in an earlier edition of the Republican Herald, but two other people have been named to the 2024 class. They are Jessica Crea Wolak, who competed for the former Cardinal Brennan High School, and former North Schuylkill standout Adrienne Wydra-Curry. Their biographies follow:

Jessica Crea Wolak Cardinal Brennan

Jessica Crea Wolak starred as a high school softball player at her alma mater of Cardinal Brennan High School from 1991-94. Her final pitching statistics for her scholastic career proved to all become school records. From the mound, she recorded 40 wins while accumulating 409 strikeouts. She tallied eight no-hitters, including two perfect games. At the plate, Crea-Wolak posted a .421 batting average while slugging six home runs as well as 13 triples.

During her senior year, Crea-Wolak led the school to its first ever Division III title with an undefeated season before defeat in the Schuylkill League championship game. In that 1994 season, she posted an amazing 18-1 record and hit for an unbelievable .469 batting average. Cardinal Brennan retired her No. 31 jersey at the end of her career.

From the halls of Cardinal Brennan, Crea-Wolak moved on to a most impressive career at Misericordia University in Dallas. From 1995-98 she starred for the Cougars on the softball diamond. Again, pitching proved to be her forté with 95 starting assignments leading to 92 complete games. She tallied 73 victories while amassing 490 strikeouts. Eighteen victories were by shutout.

From the batter’s box, she recorded 226 hits, many for extra bases. Her 60 doubles, 15 triples and the singles accounted for 355 total bases.

By the time of her graduation, Crea-Wolak held 11 individual Misericordia University records for her career. Single season records include 19 doubles and 22 pitching victories. Beyond the region in various seasons over her career as a Cougar, she was nationally-ranked for her pitching prowess as fourth in earned run average, 13th in pitching victories and eighth in strikeouts. She also excelled at the plate, ranking 24th in batting average.

Crea-Wolak amassed numerous collegiate awards At Misericordia, she was named Rookie of the Year, garnered Player of the Month honors, was two-time Most Valuable Player, Scholar Athlete and team captain. In the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference, she was named to the first team four times, Outstanding Pitcher three times and she was recognized on the All-Academic Team.

At an even higher level of achievement, Jessica Crea-Wolak was honored by the ECAC as a second- and third-team regional All-Star before finally making it to the first team in her senior hear. She was a two-time tournament MVP and was named to the National Coaches All-Regional Team. Finally, as an culminating honor for a most remarkable career, she was inducted into the College of Misericordia Hall of Fame.

Jessica Crea-Wolak earned a master’s degree in occupational therapy from Misericordia and worked as an occupational therapist for 25 years before changing careers. She currently is the human resource manager and administrative coordinator for a commercial real estate developer. She, her husband Dave, and their son Jake reside in Wake Forest, North Carolina. She is the daughter of Joe and Corinne Crea.

Adrienne Wydra-Curry North Schuylkill

Adrienne Wydra-Curry has had a most distinguished athletic career in both high school at North Schuylkill and later in the MAC with both Susquehanna University and Lycoming College.

She was the first North Schuylkill athlete to advance to state finals in three sports — cross country, basketball and track. During her scholastic career, she accumulated 11 varsity letters. As a cross country runner, she qualified for states three times. Her team worked to become league champions her senior season and she participated in the U.S. World Sports Exchange Program team, where she trained and raced in Australia.

Wydra-Curry was a true standout in basketball, playing four years on the varsity team. During her junior year, the team had an undefeated season until suffering a heart-breaking Eastern final loss in triple overtime. She played in the Schuylkill League All-Star game and participated in the Pennsylvania vs. Maryland All-Star Game.

On the track, Wydra-Curry also enjoyed a four-year varsity career. Among her top achievements were becoming a two-time state qualifier in the 300 intermediate hurdles and a two-time league champion and two-time district champion in the same event. She was undefeated in the 300 hurdles in dual meets in 1996-97 and did not lose until states. Her 1,600 relay team won the district and league championships. She was an integral member of that relay team that was a four-time state qualifier. The team’s best finish was a fifth-place ribbon in the state meet. At one time, Wydra-Curry held the NS school records in the 300 hurdles at 48.1, the 100 high hurdles at 16.8, the hurdle relay and of course the state medal-winning 1,600 relay.

In college, in both her season at Susquehanna and her final three years at Lycoming, the excellence continued. On the hardwood, Wydra-Curry was the starting point guard all four years of her collegiate career. Her Lycoming team made the MAC playoffs her sophomore season. Since her sophomore season, she routinely led her team in categories such as minutes played, assists, steals and free throw percentage. Over her career, she finished fifth in career assists and fifth in career steals.

College scheduling allowed her to play softball and, in her three years at Lycoming, she starred. She roamed the outfield and excelled as a leadoff hitter. By her senior year, she hit the peak of her performance on the diamond with a .304 batting average and 10 stolen bases. Her play that year earned her first-team All-Conference outfielder honors while leading a developing Lycoming squad to the first of five straight MAC Championship appearances.

Wydra-Curry again excelled on the cinder path. Her track career involved one season at Susquehanna and two at Lycoming. She was a three-time MAC Championships qualifier. In two of those meets, she captured gold medals in the 400 hurdles and was a provisional qualifier in that event for the NCAA Championships. Topping her career accolades, Wydra-Curry held the MAC record in the 400 hurdles and holds the 400 hurdles school record. She was named to the MAC Century Track and Field Team.

For her excellence in athletics at Lycoming, Wydra-Curry, was recognized as the HOF Multiple Sport Athlete in 2019 and the Female Athlete of the Year in 2001. She has continued to share her love of sports through coaching a multitude of sports at the collegiate level.

Wydra-Curry is married to Dr. Amy Curry, a surgeon at Univ. of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Williamsport. The couple has one son, Declan, along with several beloved dogs and cats.