(Photos by Richard Sayer)
Franklin's Boal named
second team 4A all-state
Katie Boal, who led Venango County in scoring this season, was named to the Pennsylvania Sports Writers all-state basketball team, announced April 17.
The 6-4 Boal, a Gannon recruit, was voted to the second team in Class 4A.
Boal's 507 points this season is fifth all-time at Franklin. She averaged 19.5 points, including a high of 41 against Maplewood. Boal also grabbed 368 rebounds and blocked 171 shots.
She finished her four-year career with 892 points.
Boal is one of eight players from District 10 voted all-state.
Cathedral Prep's Addie Biel (5A), Kennedy Catholic's Layke Fields (2A) and Northwestern 's Makalya Presser-Palmer (3A) were all first team selections. Presser-Palmer, a junior, led D-10 in scoring, averaging 28.3 points and is poised to become its second 2,000 points scorer next season.
Others named to all-state teams were Grove City's Izzie Gamble (third team 4A), Kennedy's Bella Maestro (second team 2A), and Eisenhower's Clara Steinberg and Wilmington's Lia Krarup (second team 2A).
Fields is now a three-time 2A Player of the Year. Also on the 2A first team was Mylee Harmon whose Redbank Valley team has played several D-10 squads over the years, including Franklin.
NOTE: Voting for boys all-state team due April. 27, so teams will be announced next week. Apparently.
(File photo by Richard Sayer)
Streaking Berries
Cranberry girls are the hottest of Venango County ball teams with six straight softballl victories, the latest a 6-1 conquest of Redbank Valley on April 17. Avery Coe belted two homers and pitcher Danica Wenner fanned 12 . Jadyn Shumaker also homered and Gracee Hess added three hits. (Photos by Kelly Malek)​
Record setters
Four school records have been set as of April. 22. The latest was by Oil City freshman Olive Collins in the 100 hurdles. She ran a 16.23, shaving two/100ths of a second off the old mark set in 1997 by Lisa Goodman.
Another Lady Oiler, sophomore Corabel Shiley (left) , ran an 11:12.90 at the Butler Invitational on Apr. 18 to smash Jennifer Petulla's 45-year-old mark in the 3200. Petulla's time was 11:30.61
Another sophomore, Cranberry's Beatrice Kolesar, also erased her school's record in the 3200. She ran 11:40 on Apr. 7 to break the late Melanie Ishman's 11:49 from the Berry record book. Ishman's record came in 1991.
And, finally, Cranberry's super frosh, Darein Wenner, cleared 10-6 in the pole vault on Apr. 2. Another record for Wenner who has excelled in cross country, golf and basketball this year.
Photo by Kelly Malek
Griffin, Knight, Lynch place in always-loaded Butler invite
Oil City and Franklin track athletes participated in the 60th annual and 50-plus team Butler Invitational April 17, and, for the most part, found the going tough.
Only three placed:
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Oil City senior De'Vaughn Griffin (pictured) who was fifth in the 200 and eighth in the 100,
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Franklin sophomore Logan Knight (pictured), sixth in the discus and eighth in the shot
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Franklin senior Landon Lynch (pictured), sixth in the javelin.
Griffin did run a 22.62 in the 200 and an 11.26 in the 100. Knight thew the disk 146 feet, but was a little off in the shot with a 48-10.5 put. Lynch tossed the javelin 159-5.
Oil City's Corabel Shiley and Franklin's Isabel Griffin almost made the medals stand. Shiley finished 11th in the 3200 in 11:12.9 while Griffin took 13th in the 1600 at 5:19.66.
Franklin's Jay Prettyman and Oil City's Elijah Brosius were 19th and 21st in the 3200. Prettyman was clocked in 9:36.07 and Brosius went 9:42.46. Meanwhile, Franklin's Caden Mincer ran 42.69 in the 300 hurdles for 24th. Oil City's Dylan VanWormer was right behind in 25th at 42.94. Both are sophomores.
Gavin Stephens of Oil City leaped 41-5 for 19th in the triple jump.
Other showings of note: Oil City's Madi Garland a 101-2 in the javelin (22nd) and Keegan Kirkwood 4:42.91 and Rilee Matalino 4:47.11 in the 1600, but both finished way down among the place finishers.
(Action file photos Richard Sayer)
This year's big winners so far...
The Cranberry girls won the PIAA Class 2A state cross country championship last fall. The Berries qualified both teams for the state meet.
The Cranberry boys won the District 9 3A title, their first district crown since 2008. They sort of received some bad breaks in interdistricts and were eventually eliminated by the eventual state runnerup, South Allegheny.
Oil City boys won their second straight region cross country championship, and the girls won their first title since 2018.
The Cranberry girls won the PIAA Class 2A state cross country championship last fall. The Berries qualified both teams for the state meet.