JOHNSTOWN — Two area athletes will be inducted into the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Athletics Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 26.

Former Claysburg-Kimmel High School wrestler Thad Benton and Juniata Valley basketball player Melissa Patterson-Yarkowski, along with four others, will be the 16th UPJ Hall of Fame class. The other inductees are Eric Bowser (wrestling), Quinton Davis (men’s basketball), Janet Hess (women’s basketball) and Alicia Zack-Brentzel (women’s soccer).

Benton, a three-time All-American, became Pitt-Johnstown’s eighth individual wrestler to win a NCAA Division II national championship in 2005, before becoming the third to win multiple titles when he duplicated the feat again the following season.

Benton, a former PIAA runner-up at Claysburg, joined LTC Energy in Johnstown in 2024 and is currently employed as a surveyor with the company.

From 2001-2005, Patterson-Yarkowski earned Honorable Mention All-American honors on Head Coach Jodi Gault’s Lady Cat basketball team and became the program’s initial First-Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American with her work in the classroom.

After scoring nearly 1,500 points at Juniata Valley, Patterson-Yarkowski, as a UPJ senior in 2004-05, ranked 10th in the country in Division II in scoring at 22.3 points per game. Her 22.3 points per game are still tied with fellow Hall of Famer Denise Gallo for the Lady Cat single-season scoring record.

She finished her career ranked 16th and currently ranks 22nd on the Lady Cat all-time scoring list with 1,196 points.

In 2024, Patterson-Yarkowski joined the staff at New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to conduct clinical trials to study new treatments and therapies for cancer patients. She and her family reside in Monroeville.

Lynn honored

Lacey Lynn, a pitcher for the Seton Hill University softball team, was named Pitcher of the Week by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.

Lynn, a Central graduate, went 2-0 with a pair of shutouts for the Griffins. She threw a complete-game, five-inning no-hitter in a win over California, Pa. The sophomore followed that up with a complete-game, three-hit shutout in a victory over Clarion. She struck out six batters combined in the two wins.

Andrews fourth

Dylan Andrews, a sophomore on the Saint Francis track and field team, recently finished fourth in the pole vault at the Bison Outdoor Classic held at Bucknell University.

A Bellwood-Antis graduate, Andrews scored a personal-best 4.56 meters in the pole vault. It is also currently the second-best mark in the Northeast Conference as well.

Ingold solid

Penn State Altoona baseball junior outfielder Zach Ingold was named the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference’s Player of the Week for the first time in his collegiate career.

In a pair of losses at home to Alfred State, Ingold combined to go 4-for-6 with a home run, an RBI, a walk, and a run scored. In a split with Pitt-Bradford, the junior went 3-for-5 with a home run, three RBI, two walks, a double, and two runs scored.