Kam Gissendanner was the AMCC women’s basketball coach of the year five times in 12 years when she led LaRoche.
She’s 1 for 1 at Saint Vincent.
The first-year leader of the Bearcat women was named PAC coach of the year after guiding Saint Vincent to a conference runner-up season.
The Bearcats are 21-7 as they await a postseason bid. They went 14-2 in the PAC and won the regular-season title.
The 21 wins are the most for the program since 2022-23.
Gissendanner, hired last August, guided LaRoche to eight AMCC titles and just as many NCAA Division III appearances in 10 years.
Sophomore guard Brooke Evans, one of Gissendanner’s most fiesty defenders, also earned conference hardware for the Bearcats. She was named PAC defensive player of the year.
Evans helped SVC allow a PAC-low 54.1 points per conference game. Opponents shot 35% against the Bearcats.
Also for the Bearcats, senior forward Makenna Maier was named to the All-PAC second team. She averaged 12.2 points and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 47% from the field.
Women’s basketball
Bethany: Senior forward Alyssa Laukus (Norwin) was named to the All-PAC honorable mention list.
Pitt-Greensburg: Sophomore guard Jocelyn Bielak was named to the All-AMCC third team. She led the Bobcats in scoring at 14.4 points per game and also had a team-high 85 assists.
Seton Hill: The Griffins will make their second consecutive NCAA Division II Tourmament appearance. Seton Hill (21-8), seeded fourth, received an at-large bid and will take on No. 5 Fayetteville State (21-5) in the Atlantic Regional at 7:30 p.m. Friday at IUP. The winner will play the winner of Charleson (21-10) and IUP (26-3) in the regional semifinals on Saturday.
Other quarterfinal matchups include Gannon (28-4) vs. Edinboro (19-13), and Winston Salem State (26-3) vs. Glenville State (24-6). The regional final will be Monday. Eight regional winners will advance to the elite eight March 24-28 at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in Pittsburgh.
The Griffins rallied from 22 points down to get within three late against Gannon, but fell in the PSAC semifinals, 79-73.
Their first run to the final four was followed by some hardware. Junior Mia Kalich repeated as PSAC West Defensive Player of the Year and was named to the All-PSAC West first team alongside senior teammates and twins Hallie and Helene Cowan.
Kalich was was averaging 14 points, 11.9 rebounds and 4.1 steals. Heading into the semis, she had 20 double-doubles and three triple-doubles for the season. Hallie Cowan (18.4 ppg) and Helene Cowan (17 ppg) are career 1,500-point scorers.
USC Upstate: Redshirt sophomore forward Emma Blair (Latrobe) was named the Big South Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Blair appeared in 30 games this season, averaging 4.1 points and 3.7 rebounds in 14.5 minutes per game. She scored 12 points twice, and grabbed 10 rebounds against Charleston.
Men’s basketball
Pitt-Greensburg: Versatile senior forward Trent Rozich was named the AMCC Player of the Year. Rozich was averaging 16.6 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.4 assists. He also made the all-conference first team.
Senior guards Jackson Byer and Matthew Marinchak (Ligonier Valley) also earned all-conference honors, Byer on the second team and Marinchak the third team.
Byer averages 15 points and was third in the AMCC in steals. Marinchak earned his third all-conference selection. He averages 13 points and has a team-high 62 3-pointers.
UPG (22-5) earned the No. 1 seed in the ECAC Tournament.
Saint Vincent: Senior forward Jaden Gales was named to the All-PAC first team. Gales led the Bearcats in scoring (17.4 ppg) and rebounds (7.5), while shooting 54% from the field. He had six double-doubles.
SVC finished 16-10 after a loss to top-seeded Westminster in the PAC quarterfinals.
Senior Dev Ostrowski was an honorable mention selection.
Seton Hill: Junior Kedrick Curtis was named to the All-PSAC West first team. Curtis was leading the Griffins in scoring (16.6 ppg) and rebounding (8.3) and was shooting 54.6% from the field.
Westmoreland County Community College: Sophomore Julian Thompson (Greensburg Salem) finished the season with the best rebounding average in all of junior college basketball at 13.4 per game.
Men’s volleyball
Saint Vincent: Senior Zebediah Wyant was named the PAC Offensive Player of the Week after he piled up 38 kills and hit .259 over two wins for the Bearcats. He had 20 kills and 10 digs in a 3-1 win at Hiram.
His teammate, freshman Jack Ryan, was named the PAC Newcomer of the Week. Ryan had a career-high 51 assists and added 10 digs in a win at Hiram. He also had 37 assists and five blocks at Geneva.
Baseball
Liberty: Junior Dylan Grabowski (Penn-Trafford) was slashing .286/.861/.429 through 11 games for the Flames. He had three doubles, a triple and three RBI. He went 3 for 4 with a double in an 8-0 win against High Point. Grabowski transferred from Patrick & Henry Community College, where was was a standout for two years.
Seton Hill: The Griffins (9-3) moved up three spots to No. 11 in the NCBWA Division II Top 25 rankings.
They ended their Florida trip with a 10-0 victory over Minnesota State. Freshman Brady Stone (Penn-Trafford) went 3 for 4 with a triple, three RBI and scored two runs, while redshirt junior Luke Deschenes and sophomore Sean Williams combined on a two-hit shutout. Deschenes struck out five. Senior Jack Whalen (Norwin) homered for the Griffins.
Washington & Jefferson: Sophomore infielder Keegan Carr (Norwin) had a hit and an RBI in a season-opening 8-1 win over Utica.
Westminster: Sophomore Ian Temple (Penn-Trafford) had a career-high five hits and five RBIs in a 14-8 victory over Lancaster Bible. Temple went 5 for 6 with two doubles, a home run and three runs scored. He hit his third homer of the season in the third inning.
Sophomore Brandon Roher (Penn-Trafford) pitched three innings of relief to earn the save. He allowed four hits and walked two.
Softball
Bloomsburg: Junior Sarah Yamrick (Penn-Trafford) was hitting .455 with four RBIs and five runs through eight games for the Huskies. Yamrick played at Penn-Trafford early in her prep career before transferring to and graduating from Bishop Verot (Fla.).
Junior Josie Straigis (Latrobe) had a .280 average with nine runs and six RBIs.
The pair also are the top two pitchers on the team. Yamrick was 4-0 with a 2.33 ERA and 1.15 WHIP with 32 strikeouts, while Straigis was 2-2 in four appearances.
Bowling Green: Senior Katie Hutter (Mt. Pleasant) went 2 for 3 for her third multi-hit game of the season, but the Falcons fell to Coastal Carolina, 11-6.
Lock Haven: Sophomore pitcher Talia Ross (Belle Vernon) was named the PSAC East Pitcher of the Week. Ross struck out nine with zero earned runs in 7 2/3 innings in a 1-0 loss to Tusculum, tossed an eight-inning complete game with eight Ks in a 2-0 win over UVA-Wise and gave up one run in six innings and struck out nine in an 11-6 win over Emory & Henry.
Robert Morris: Redshirt senior Courtney Poulich (Mt. Pleasant) smacked her sixth home run of the season, a two-run shot, and sophomore Madison Brown (Southmoreland) picked up the win in relief as RMU edged past Penn, 9-7. Poulich had three RBI in the win.
Seton Hill: Senior Abby Smearman, sophomore Taylor Schmitt and sophomore Abby Dejidas had two hits apiece and redshirt junior Kassidy Wittig drove in three runs as the Griffins snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 4-1 win over Wheeling. Sophomore Shelby Telegdy pitched a complete game for Seton Hill (4-10).
Washington & Jefferson: Senior Hannah Allen (Penn-Trafford) had a hit, a run and two RBIs in a 4-3 win over Dean. She had a double and two RBI in a 6-4 loss to Thomas.
Westminster: Sophomore pitcher Cheyenne Piper (Ligonier Valley) registered a career-high 12 strikeouts, but the Titans lost to Otterbein, 6-2.
Wrestling
Army: Senior Ethan Berginc (Hempfield/Jeannette) became the fifth four-time NCAA qualifier in program history when the 133-pounder reached the finals of the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championships.
Lock Haven: Redshirt sophomore Lucas Kapusta (Hempfield) upset No. 2 nationally ranked Caleb Tyus of SIUE, 2-1, handing Tyus his first loss of the season, to win a Mid-American Conference title at 149 pounds. Kapusta, ranked No. 21, advances to the NCAA Division I Championships on March 19-21 in Cleveland.
Ohio: Senior Garrett Thompson (Franklin Regional) secured a spot at the NCAA Division I Championships by finishing third at 174 pounds at the Mid-American Conference Championships. Thompson reached the semifinals and lost but won his consolation to take the No. 3 spot.
Seton Hill: For the first time since 2019, four Griffins have qualified for the NCAA Division II National Championships on March 13-14 in Sioux Falls, S.D. They are senior Jacob Houpt at 125 pounds, senior Ty Linsenbigler (Hempfield) at 149, grad student Mike Zacur at 157 and senior Kane Kettering at 174. Zacur and Kettering are two-time national qualifiers.
Men’s volleyball
Chatham: Junior right-side hitter Tim McCabe (Norwin) was named the PAC Offensive Player of the Week. He combined for 28 kills and three aces in a pair of games.
Saint Vincent: For the third straight week, the PAC Newcomer of the Week award went to Bearcats’ freshman Jack Ryan. He finished with 33 assists, seven digs and four aces in a 3-0 upset of Thiel.
Men’s swimming
Grove City: As a member of the winning 800-yard free relay team, freshman Patrick Cratty (Latrobe) was named to the All-PAC first team. Junior Charlie Cratty made the second team.
Saint Vincent: Freshman William Schauss was named the PAC Newcomer of the Year and to the All-PAC first team. Schauss won conference titles in the 500-yard freestyle and 1,650-yard freestyle and was second in the 400 IM, 800 freestyle, 400 medley and 400 free relays.
Bearcats senior Jacob Dzurica (Hempfield) also made the first team after winning the PAC 50 free, posting a conference-record time of 19.72 seconds in prelims.
Junior Liam Randolph (Hempfield) also made the first team after runner-up finishes with the 200 and 400 medley relays.
Bearcats on the second team included sophomore Giovanni Guido, freshmen Owen Echegaray, Evan Zeni, Maxwell Huck and Landon Kirkpatrick and senior Alex Leskovansky.
SVC’s Josh Gurekovich was named the PAC coach of the year.
Washington & Jefferson: Junior Daniel Jeffries (Hempfield) and sophomore Micah Lohr were named to the All-PAC second team.
Westminster: Grad student Gino Piraino (Franklin Regional), the conference runner-up in the 1-meter dive, was named to the All-PAC first team.
Women’s swimming
Chatham: Sophomore Hannah Uhrinek (Hempfield) was named to the All-PAC First Team. She won the 100-yard butterfly at the PAC Championships.
Grove City: Freshman Chaeli Keenan (Derry) was named the PAC Diver of the Year. She won both diving events at the conference meet, taking the one-meter with 409.65 points and the 3-meter with 437.64. Both scores are NCAA regional qualifying marks.
Saint Vincent: Senior Rachel Hutchinson was named to the All-PAC First Team after winning the 500-yard freestyle at the conference championships.
Junior Adrianna Grimm, junior Teresa Grimm, senior Emma Martz (Hempfield), junior Cecilia Hickin, freshman Ava Sutter and sophomore Fallyn Zembiec made the All-PAC second team.
Men’s track & field
Penn State Behrend: Sophomore Carter Tobin (Norwin) won the 200-meter dash in 21.90 seconds and finished second in the 60-meter dash (6.83 seconds) at the SUNY Indoor Championships in New York.
Women’s track & field
Saint Vincent: Sophomore Grace Neubert set a program record in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9 minutes, 55 seconds – the sixth-best time in the nation – at the Tufts National Qualifier in Medford, Mass.
Westminster: Sophomore Grace Iwig (Hempfield) finished tied for seventh in the pole vault at the All-Atlantic Region Track & Field Conference Championships at the Nike Track & Field Center at the Armory in New York. Iwig finished in a three-way tie among 23 other competitors with a vault of 3.57 meters.
Men’s lacrosse
Saint Vincent: Sophomore midfielder Calvin Rose scored five goals and senior Max Radcliffe had three to lead SVC to a 14-12 win over Mount Union.
Sophomore midfielder Mason Krabbe was named the PAC Specialist of the Week. He had two goals, 16 ground balls and three caused turnovers during a 1-1 week.
Washington & Jefferson: Senior Braden Petrarco (Norwin) had two goals and one assist in a 14-4 victory over Earlham.
Women’s lacrosse
Grove City: Junior Gwen Shilling (Franklin Regional) had two goals in a 13-6 victory over Clark (Mass.).
Saint Vincent: Senior Melanie Seefeldt sent in the game-winning goal with 17 seconds remaining to lift the Bearcats to a 6-5 win over Wilson College. Seefeldt and sophomore Cara Dupilka (Greensburg Central Catholic) both had two goals in the win.
Junior goaltender Cassidy Rega was named the PAC Defensive Player of the Week. Rega made 11 saves in the win against Wilson.
Men’s tennis
Saint Vincent: Junior Brady Johnson (Norwin) was named the PAC Player of the Week. Johnson went 3-1 and earned his 50th career win for the Bearcats.