The track and field season just started, but Peyton Murray seems very experienced.
The senior from Hempfield set a new meet record and won the discus competition at the 20th annual South Hills Classic on Saturday at Baldwin.
Murray, who has committed to Notre Dame, threw 170 feet and 2 inches to win first place despite the cold temperatures.
He also won the shot put with a throw of 55 feet and 6.5 inches.
Senior Grace Iwig from Hempfield also won the high jump by clearing 5 feet, and finished second in the pole vault, clearing 11-0.
Junior Kate Dolinski won the shot put by throwing 36-10.25 and came second in the discus, throwing 101-6.
Another winner was freshman Madison Altman, who won the 300-meter hurdles in 48.26 seconds, and came third in the 100 hurdles with a time of 17.29 seconds.
Hutchison to Seton Hill
Franklin Regional basketball player Fin Hutchison will continue his playing career as a preferred walk-on at Seton Hill.
Hutchison, a shooting guard, was a starter for the Panthers, who finished 27-4 this season and were the WPIAL and PIAA 5A runners-up.
He averaged 7.6 points and 2.1 rebounds and made 39 3-pointers while shooting 82.1% from the foul line.
Hutchison likes the rims at Seton Hill’s McKenna Center. When he was a junior, he made 7 of 12 3-pointers and scored a career-high 25 points in a game against Belle Vernon.
Bruins tip off
The Western PA Bruins AAU program will host its annual spring tip-off tournament and it will be a packed house at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center on Friday through Sunday.
Executive director John Tate said there will be more than 400 teams from 16 states participating (grades 4-12), with a number of All-America candidates set to play. The convention center will be transformed into a basketball fun park with over 30 courts. With the spike this year in women’s basketball due to the college star power in the Caitlin Clark era, the Bruins expect the game to continue to rise.
This will be the ninth year for the event. Five years ago, Angel Reese of LSU played in it.
Sophomores Dee Alexander of the West Virginia Thunder and Trinity Jones of Team M-XIV are both expected to play. They are ranked in the top 10 for the Class of 2026 by ESPN HoopGurlz.
Junior Layke Fields, who led Kennedy Catholic to back-to-back PIAA 2A titles, will also be playing for the Bruins U17 team.
Greensburg Central Catholic golf standout Izzy Aigner will play collegiately at Bethel University (Ind.), which plays in the NAIA.
The Pilots won national championships in 2021, ‘22, and ‘23.
Recruiting
Aigner helped lead GCC to its ninth straight WPIAL championships last fall. She also got to play in the PURE Insurance Championship Impacting First Tee at Pebble Beach, with Greensburg pro Rocco Mediate as her pro-am partner.
The track and field season just started, but Peyton Murray seems very experienced.
Aigner helped lead GCC to its ninth straight WPIAL championships last fall. She also got to play in the PURE Insurance Championship Impacting First Tee at Pebble Beach, with Greensburg pro Rocco Mediate as her pro-am partner.
