Alle-Kiski Valley athletes join in national signing day

By: Michael Love
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 | 9:10 PM

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Levi Hansen hopes to swim like a king in the Queen City.

The Kiski Area senior turned a verbal commitment to the Cincinnati men’s swim team into a signed, sealed and delivered promise Wednesday morning during the first day of the National Letter of Intent signing period for every Division I and II sport but football.

The Cavaliers standout is getting ready for his final varsity swimming season, and he joined fellow Division I swim commit Parker Sterlitz (West Virginia), boys soccer star Andres Bordoy (Memphis) and four others in a celebration ceremony with family, friends and coaches at Kiski Area High School.

“It was a great experience from my standpoint seeing all of our goals reached and how we all worked to reach this level,” said Hansen, who also was joined by Nathaniel Coleman (Penn State Behrend soccer), Hannah Simpson (Seton Hill softball), Maxine Crosby (Edinboro soccer) and Kayla Mull (La Roche soccer).

“It’s not just in sports but also opportunities in academics at their college of choice. This day made me think of how much I’ve put into swimming and how much my life has been shaped by swimming. It already has given me so much, and I hope it will give me more in the future.”

Hansen said he is happy to have his college decision finalized and now can relax and concentrate with Sterlitz on leading the Kiski Area swim teams while hoping for top finishes at WPIALs and a return to states in March.

Preseason practices for the WPIAL winter sports teams begin Monday with the first competition date the weekend of Dec. 1.

This NLI signing period for soccer, swimming and diving, cross country, track and field, tennis, volleyball, field hockey, wrestling, rifle, baseball, softball, lacrosse, and Division II basketball continues through Aug. 1 of next year and is expected to feature several other signees from Alle-Kiski Valley schools.

Highlands senior Jimmy Kunst, on the cusp of his final varsity basketball season with the Golden Rams, also put pen to paper Wednesday and finalized a decision he initially made in mid-August to play baseball at Eastern Michigan.

A pair of Fox Chapel soccer seniors signed Wednesday: Makayla Mulholland with Appalachian State and Molly McNaughton with Cal (Pa.).

Oakland Catholic senior Gabi Folino, a Fox Chapel area resident, will join the women’s soccer team at Northern Kentucky.

Division I basketball is in its early signing period that ends Nov. 16. The regular period begins April 12 and runs through May 17.

Football’s early period for Division I and II is Dec. 21-23, and many Alle-Kiski Valley players are expected to finalize their decisions then. The traditional regular period begins Feb. 1 and ends April 1 for Division I and Aug. 1 for Division II.

Just seven hours after returning to Plum after a long bus ride from Warren and an 8-0 victory in a PIAA Class 3A girls first-round soccer match, Mustangs seniors Kaitlyn Killinger (Pitt), Kaley Simqu (Pitt) and Cam Collins (St. Francis, Pa.) gathered to make their decisions final.

“It was a great moment to be able to share it with Kaley and Cam, who I have been playing soccer with my whole life,” said Killinger, who scored four goals in Tuesday’s win to give her 88 for her career. “We were all happy for each other, and to have our family and friends there, too, was extra special.”

Their senior soccer teammate, Annabel Arhin, is expected to sign soon with her college choice, Mercyhurst.

Plum returns to action Saturday with a PIAA quarterfinal matchup against Moon at noon at Peters Township High School.

Burrell celebrated three of its own Wednesday: Ali Hughes (soccer, Duquesne), Kadi Bauer (track and field/cross country, Edinboro) and Avery Bain (women’s volleyball, Fairleigh Dickinson).

Hughes was a brick wall in goal against many opposing offenses this fall, and she also played in the field and scored six goals.

Burrell girls soccer coach Frank Nesko feels Hughes has a bright future with the Dukes.

“Her high school career is just a small piece of what she has done in the sport year-round at a high level for the better part of 10 years,” Nesko said. “I don’t think you can accurately describe how much work she’s put into that craft.”

Hughes is the first Burrell girls soccer Division I commit since 2016 graduate Anika Ignozzi at Wagner College in the Northeast Conference.

Bauer capped her Burrell cross country career with a 36th-place finish in the Class 2A race at the WPIAL cross country championships Oct. 27.

Bain helped lead the Bucs volleyball team to the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs this fall and was selected to the Section 5 all-star first team.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

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