The 15th annual WPIAL Summit on Sportsmanship took place Nov. 13 at the Senator John Heinz History Center and Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum.
Student-athletes from the schools in attendance listened to keystone speakers discuss topics related to the importance of sportsmanship in athletics, and the league recognized Cornell and Moon, recipients of the 2023-24 WPIAL Sportsmanship Award.
Quaker Valley was represented by seniors Molly MacDonald (volleyball), Clark LaLomia (track, cross country), Andrew Vescio (soccer) and Mia Modrovich (soccer).
“I felt very honored and grateful to be chosen to represent Quaker Valley as one of the top sports leaders,” MacDonald said. “We had such an historic volleyball season, winning our section for the second year in a row and winning WPIALs for the first time in QV history and making it to states three years in a row.
“I thought it was good and definitely very informative. They talked about a lot of different aspects of being a good teammate and just a good person overall. I learned a lot about sportsmanship and that a lot of us are very similar. At one point during the summit, we were all asked questions and were asked to stand up if we related to it, and a lot of people stood up. We found that, although we didn’t know each other, we have a lot of things in common.”
MacDonald, a 5-foot-10 outside hitter on the QV girls volleyball team this season, has verbally committed to the admissions process at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vt. She will receive her official acceptance in December.
“Quaker Valley and the QV athletic department are so supportive of the athletes,” she said. “We are grateful that they took us to the event.
“It’s cool that the WPIAL brings athletes from all sports together for the summit. Sports are so much more than competing on a court or field. They teach us life skills like working hard, having discipline, juggling and managing our time, being a good sport, learning how to win and to lose. I can’t imagine my high school or college experience without my teams.”
LaLomia entertains a full schedule in high school and aims to do the same in college. He plans to compete in indoor and outdoor track as well as cross country and major in psychology.
“I was very excited about being chosen to represent Quaker Valley at the summit,” LaLomia said. “Quaker Valley is home to many amazing athletes that double as great leaders, so to be picked to represent my school was truly an honor.
“I thought the summit was an extremely well put-together event. The speakers were all very knowledgeable, which was demonstrated in their presentations. I feel they covered important topics that really resonated with many of the athletes.”
LaLomia was thankful that he was able to attend this event.
“I would like to thank the WPIAL for hosting this event,” he said. “It demonstrates the true dedication they have for us not only as athletes but also young adults to grow into good people.
“I learned about many of the differences there are between competing at the Division I, II and III levels. We also learned about how to handle situations that are unideal or unintentional. Finally, we learned the impact that a thank you can have on people and how to stay professional when dealing with the media.”
Modrovich was a starting midfielder on QV’s girls soccer team which, like the girls volleyball squad, won a WPIAL championship in 2024.
“Quaker Valley has a lot of great athletes,” Modrovich said, “so I was honored and grateful for being chosen to represent QV at the summit. Mr. (Mike) Mastroianni and Mrs. (Christina) Johns do a lot for the school, so to find out that they thought of me as a leader was a great feeling.
“I thought the content was engaging and very informative. A lot of the speeches resonated with me. I was inspired by Neil Walker’s speech. He grew up locally and achieved his goals through a lot of hard work and dedication. He said that his best team was not necessarily the team with the best athletes, but rather a team comprised of people with integral qualities which created a good environment for the players. This really made me reflect of all the teams I’ve been on and which I think was my ‘best’ team.”
Modrovich is in the process of selecting a college.
“We got the opportunity to hear from three college athletes across all three divisions,” she said. “They told us what a typical day looks like for them and the differences between the three divisions, as well as how they balance being a college student-athlete.
“This resonated with me the most because thinking about college and being an athlete can be quite challenging at times, but hearing how they are able to handle it made me feel a lot better.”
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Sewickley Academy also had four student-athletes in attendance at the summit.
The foursome consisted of junior Blake Wilmot and sophomores Olivia Stefanik, Emilia Carrabba and Jake Donesec. All four are soccer and lacrosse players. Donesec also competes in golf.
Wilmot anchored the defensive corps on the boys soccer team while Donesec held down a forward position. Stefanik and Carrabba were midfielders in girls soccer.
“I was honored to be able to represent my school at such a prestigious event,” Wilmot said. “I learned how to be a much better leader, competitor and sportsman — for not only myself but my peers. I hope to use these to my advantage not just on the field but in life.
“I’d like to take soccer and/or lacrosse to the next level at a prestigious, academically minded school.”
The first word that came to Stefanik when she was asked about being selected to attend was “pride.”
“I was so proud that our administration felt that I was a good candidate to represent our amazing school,” Stefanik said. “Being a student-athlete at such an academically driven school takes a lot of work from the students, the administrators, our teachers and our coaches. Knowing that our hard work and dedication to our sport and our school doesn’t go unnoticed really excited me and I was so happy to be a part of this day.
“I really enjoyed how the summit covered more than just the topic of leadership. Talking to college athletes from all divisions and listening about a day in their life was important for us athletes, which was my favorite part. I was able to not only understand the process of becoming a college athlete, but I was able to better understand how much work and time you have to dedicate to your sport. I learned about the importance of all the lifelong skills that being a leader and athlete will give you in life.”
Stefanik is interested in studying civil engineering and playing soccer at a smaller college “where I can focus on academics and still enjoy the sport I love,” she said. “I really enjoyed how they talked (at the summit) about the long-lasting friendships and skills you gain and will carry with you throughout your life because of your high school sport.”
Featured speakers at the summit included Brian Gulish from the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank; Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum director Anne Madarasz; Carnegie Mellon women’s basketball coach Kathy McConnell-Miller; WPIAL executive director Scott Seltzer; and Walker, retired infielder of the Pittsburgh Pirates and a Pine-Richland graduate.