March was accentuated by a group of Alle-Kiski high school athletes displaying heart, mettle and plain ol' moxie. Guts compelled these local swimmers, wrestlers and bowlers to bring home silver and gold to build Alle-Kiski Milestones of March. You can see moxie and mettle in the milestones of these athletes:

Breaking Old Milestones

Logan Downes of Valley High School has been written about as far away as Texas. An article mentioned a wrestler there had wrestled the ""elite" Logan Downes of Pennsylvania." Downes, a senior, won a national championship a couple of years ago in South Dakota and a Third-Place Bronze Medal last year in Pennsylvania's PIAA State championships.

This March, Logan finished his high school career with a Second-Place Silver Medal at States. For the FOURTH time in four years, he captured the section championship and became the first Valley wrestler to break the 40-win mark—and his own season-win record. His 44 wins this season pushed him over the edge… of the Alle-Kiski AA regional career-win record. to 148 career wins. That's moxie. Meet this young man for yourself in the online video interview at http://www.alle-kiskitoday.com/webcasts/1322

The Yellow Jackets' Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay squad, made up of: (Front l-r) Gail Erickson, Kristen Bombalski. (Back row) Andrea McQueen, Lori Beth Palko

The Mettle of a Champion

It's the State quarterfinals in March. Plum High School's Sean Clair outwrestles his Eastern PA opponents by making fewer mistakes and wins to advance to the semifinals. That's part of the essence of great competitors… making fewer mistakes than your opponent.

Coached by Chuck Froelich, Clair catapulted into the State final four. Clair lost there before—twice. This time was different. He beat his opponent in the semifinals, making him one of the top two best in the state. There, in overtime, by two points, to a Western Pennsylvania wrestler he'd beaten twice before, Sean fell. But he walked away from the States with a Silver Medal and a high school career few ever accomplish.

Sean has been impressive at Plum. He has three WPIAL titles and four section titles. He took seventh place in the States his first year, sixth in his third year, fifth his second, and now in his last, second place. He was also the AAA regional champ these last two years. Sean broke the school record for pins last year, and the Plum High School career record this year with 151 wins. 151 wins, when most wrestlers never get 100—now that's mettle.

Freeport's Andrea McQueen, a freshman, swam to a sixth-place finish in the PIAA Championships

Wrestling Warriors

Kiski Area’s Tyler Oravec, mentioned in last month's Alle-Kiski Today Sports Report, not only broke the school season-win record, he set a new WPIAL season-win mark. At States, Oravec surpassed the old WPIAL record of 47. He later lost in the semifinals to the eventual state champ, but fought his way back through consolation rounds to an impressive Third Place victory and a Bronze Medal. That pumped his win volume up to a 50-6 season record—the most one-season wins in WPIAL history. His drive and determination earn him a high spot in our group of wrestling warriors.

Highlands wrestler Nathan Tomporoski won his first WPIAL title win and his first Southwest PA Regional Championship this March. At the States this year, he won the preliminary State bout but fell in the quarterfinals. Undeterred, Nathan pressed on in the consolation rounds, and landed a Seventh-Place medal. To see the video, go to http://www.alle-kiskitoday.com/webcasts/1331

Kiski Area’s WPIAL Champ, Quentin Taraszewski, took the Southwest Regional Championship title, surprising some of the Eastern PA press when he upset a wrestler they called “the dominant top-wrestler with the best cradle outside of Neiman-Marcus' baby shop” in the first round of States. Taraszewski later lost a close decision in double-overtime to a Western PA wrestler, but ya gotta hand it to him for taking down the Eastern PA guy with the best cradle! Find out who “Q-Dog” is when watch the online video interview with Quentin at http://www.alle-kiskitoday.com/webcasts/1324

St. Joseph's Kegan Borland

Burrell High School sent six wrestlers into the State tourneys during March. The Bucs, who wrapped up an undefeated season with a Third-Place finish in the State Team Tournament, were led by section 1-AA Coach of the Year Chris Como and included Jason Makara, who won a Southwest Regional Championship. Jason talks about it in the video interview at http://www.allekiskitoday.com/webcasts/1354

Congratulations to Kiski Area Coach Chuck Tursky who was inducted into the Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame at the PIAA championships, a very rare honor. A great distinction for a great coach.

Medals for Mettle

Still swimming in championships in the middle of March were St. Joseph's Kegan Borland and Andrew Zaydek, Kiski Area's Seth Hazlett, Freeport's Brendan McGregor, Andrea McQueen, Gail Erickson, Kristen Bombalski, and Lauren Palko and Fox Chapel's Mike Ley. Ley finished fifth in the 50 Yard Freestyle to give the Foxes a place-finisher, while the Cavs' Hazlett recorded his best time ever in the 100 Yard Butterfly at the States to take home a Fifth-Place finish.

The Plum Mustang Bowlers: From left to right: Jay Marston (coach), Dan Tomlinson, Brian Kacin, Jeff Tomanio, PJ Cheripka, Jim Werley, Andrew Calligaro, Drew McKown, Bryan Tratar, and Jeff Tomanio (asst. coach)

Freeport, in its first official year as a school swim team, took more swimmers to the States than any other team in the Alle-Kiski region. Freshman Andrea McQueen swam to a Sixth-Place finish in the 100 Yard Breaststroke. Brendan McGregor, a senior, finished ninth in the Pennsylvania in the 100 Yard Backstroke. The Yellow Jackets' Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay squad, made up of McQueen, Erickson, Palko and Bombalski went to the States seeded 12th, but finished 11th in the state. Coach Gregg McQueen and the Freeport squad are the mettle masters. To watch the video with Andrea McQueen go to http://www.alle-kiskitoday.com/webcasts/1329

That's Fortitude

Two swimmers who technically don't even have a team turned heads this season. Kegan Borland and Andrew Zaydak, students at St. Joseph High School, are considered independents, since the school doesn't field a swim team. Borland took Second-Place in the WPIAL last year and 14th place at States, a small ripple. He and Zaydak made waves this year, however. Zaydak grabbed gold in the 200 Yard Freestyle, and came in third in the 100 Yard Butterfly. Borland clenched First-Place in two events, the 500 Yard Freestyle and the 200 Yard Individual Medley. Kegan Borland also loves swimming distance events and swam more than six miles in an international contest last Fall. These all are some very impressive milestones.

Gusto In The Lane

I've seen horses on TV commercials play football, but who knew that Mustangs could bowl? Coach Jay Marston of the Plum High School Mustang bowling team knew. In only two seasons, they've proven to have serious zest in their quest to be the best. Last year, the Mustangs' crew went undefeated, then won their section, then knocked over opponents to take the WPBL (Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League) Championship, then took Third-Place in the States. In their first year.

Five Plum seniors—Andrew Calligaro, Drew McKown, Bryan Tratar, PJ Cheripka, and Jim Werley—bowled with the Mustangs from Day One. These young men, led by Coach Marston, led their team down a similar alley this year. They closed out an 8-2 season by striking a Section Runner-Up Title, framed it with a WPIBL Runner-Up Title, then spared nothing to take the program another step further than before, to like, oh, say, State Runner-Up. That's a Second-Place Silver Medal in the PSHS Bowling Championships. In their second year.

The program is young, but the Mustangs now have something else to add into their athletic heritage: The Plum Bowling Tradition. Now that's gusto. That's a milestone.

From the wrestlers to the swimmers to the bowlers, the common defining thread was simple: mettle. That's what made up the Milestones of March.