WPIAL announces James Collins Scholar-Athlete scholarship award winners

By: Bill Hartlep
Wednesday, April 15, 2020 | 11:56 AM

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The WPIAL announced the 20 winners of its annual James Collins Scholar-Athlete scholarship awards during its annual meeting Wednesday.

WPIAL associate executive director Amy Scheuneman and board president Scott Seltzer met with area athletic directors and principals via a Zoom conference call.

The WPIAL annually awards 20 scholarships of $1,000 to student-athletes. The scholar-athletes are nominated by school administrators.

Scholarship committee members then sort through the nominations and pick 10 male and 10 female winners.

“It’s certainly difficult (to select the athletes) with everybody being the best of the best,” Scheuneman said.

This year’s male scholar-athlete scholarship award winners are Blackhawk’s Jack Aulbach; Greensburg Central Catholic’s Patrick Brewer; Thomas Jefferson’s Mac Duda; Penn-Trafford’s Gabe Dunlap; North Catholic’s Ryan Feczko; West Greene’s Ben Jackson; Mt. Lebanon’s Ed Kubit; Norwin’s Kurtis Phipps; Fox Chapel’s Shane Susnak; and Seneca Valley’s Drew Vlasnik.

The female award winners are Thomas Jefferson’s Abigail Chalovich; Riverview’s Gillian Gaynor; OLSH’s Haley Hamilton; Latrobe’s Rachel Harter; Gateway’s Olivia Livingston; Sewickley Academy’s Zoe Luther; South Fayette’s Hailey Poe; Freeport’s Sidney Shemanski; Carmichaels’ Kylie Sinn; and Quaker Valley’s Annie Wicker.

The WPIAL received nominations for 68 boys and 69 girls.

All the athletes who were nominated will receive certificates. The winners will receive a certificate, award and scholarship check.

The annual scholar-athlete luncheon has been canceled because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Bill Hartlep is the TribLive sports editor. A Pittsburgh native and Point Park graduate, he joined the Trib in 2004, covering high school sports. He held various editing roles before assuming his current position in 2019. He can be reached at bhartlep@triblive.com.

Tags: Blackhawk, Carmichaels, Fox Chapel, Freeport, Gateway, Greensburg C.C., Latrobe, Mt. lebanon, North Catholic, Norwin, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Penn-Trafford, Quaker Valley, Riverview, Seneca Valley, Sewickley Academy, South Fayette, Thomas Jefferson, West Greene