Francesca Pietragallo is off to a strong start for her sophomore year. The Shady Side Academy track standout snapped a 10-year-old school record in the 200-meter dash during a dual meet last week.

Pietragallo finished with a time of 26.59 seconds, which was just ahead of Alex Nacey of Eden Christian, who finished with a personal best time of 27.51.

Chance to climb

Fox Chapel baseball (6-6, 4-4) isn’t in the position it would like to be in the Section 3-5A standings, but the Foxes still have a series with West Allegheny to attempt to improve their spot in the standings.

With how the Foxes’ schedule shook out, Fox Chapel will have a six-game break from section play before it takes on the Indians. Fox Chapel picked up a 13-3 win over Valley during its last outing April 17.

Finding their footing

Sophomore pitcher Gabe Centor helped the Shady Side Academy baseball team get back on track. Centor threw five scoreless innings to help the Bulldogs beat Steel Valley 11-0 in five innings. The Bulldogs completed the season sweep by following that with a 9-3 win. Shady Side Academy (5-6, 3-5) has one more section series with East Allegheny before the postseason.

This was the first time the Bulldogs collected back-to-back victories since they opened the season with wins over Highlands and South Allegheny.

Dandashi wins 400

Competing against North Allegheny meant that the Fox Chapel boys and girls track team were going to need to be at its best in order to score points. The Foxes were swept as a team but saw some strong individual performances.

Tamer Dandashi won the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.75 seconds. Carter Fincher also won the long jump with a leap of 19 feet, 8.5 inches. Marin Airik picked up a win in the girls 3,200 meter run, finishing in 12:08.90.

Abdelalam honored

Youssef Abdelsalam was one of eight athletes from Seton Hill nominated as a scholar all-american by the National Wrestling Coaches Association.

To be nominated to the Division II Scholar All American Team, he needed to have a minimum 3.50 cumulative grade point average on a 4.0 scale, with a 3.25 GPA minimum for individuals who made the DII National Championships and a 3.0 minimum GPA for anyone who was a DII All American. The athletes also must have competed in a minimum of four dates of competition.