Top Western Pa. TE chooses Irish; One of country's top javelin throws in WPIAL; Early college enrollments continue to rise
By Mike White | Thursday, April 29, 2010, 4 p.m.
I'm just sayin'
Notre Dame has landed a highly-touted tight end from just outside the WPIAL.
Ben Koyack of Oil City High School made a verbal commitment to Notre Dame Tuesday. His other finalist was Ohio State, although Koyack had scholarship offers from teams across the country, including Oklahoma and USC.
Koyack was leaning to Notre Dame, and then a visit to South Bend, Ind., last weekend sealed the deal.
Sunday among the best
North Allegheny senior Jake Sunday has turned into one of the top javelin throwers in the country. Sunday's best throw this spring is 212 feet, 6 inches. According to the Track & Field News' top marks, Sunday's throw is fifth-best in the country. Actually, Track & Field News lists Sunday as the No. 3 thrower in the country at 216-6, but that mark is a mistake. Mike Hambrick, the throwing coach at North Allegheny, confirmed today that Sunday's best was 212-6.
Sunday was good enough to finish second at the Penn Relays last weekend in the high school division.
Central Valley hires 32-102 coach
Here's one that might make you say "huh?"
Central Valley, which will open for the 2010-11 school year after Monaca and Center high schools merge, hired a boys' basketball coach last night. The school district hired Beaver coach Brandon Ambrose by a 13-2 vote. That means Ambrose had three more votes than he had wins the past three years.
Ambrose was Beaver's coach for six years and his record was 32-102, including a 10-54 mark the past three seasons, and an 0-22 mark only two years ago.
Ambrose's hiring means Mark Jula is out of coaching. He was Center's coach the past seven seasons, made the playoffs six times and had a 92-69 record. But Jula was not one of the finalists after one interview. Monaca coach Tom Karczewski, who guided his team to four playoff appearances in seven years, was one of the other finalists.
Early enrollments
A very interesting story in USA Today on how the number of football recruits who start college early continues to rise. The newspaper reports that 141 players who graduated high school early participated in spring practices at BCS schools. That's 31 more than last year and the most since USA Today began following early enrollments in 2002. Click here to read this story.