Breaking News

Michael Boytim

Plenty of top coaching performances

Nine area coaches received a vote from either their peers or local media in this season’s voting for Altoona Mirror Coach of the Year. Remarkably, any of those coaches legitimately could have been selected as the winner and it would have been tough to argue that it was unfounded. Penn Cambria’s Nick Felus won by 21 votes over Hollidaysburg’s Homer DeLattre and 25 over Bishop Guilfoyle Academy’s Justin Wheeler. Before getting to what Felus accomplished, what did the two closest coaches do? Oh, just won the most games in a single season in Hollidaysburg Area High School ...

Guilfoyle shows it’s truly a band of brothers

By Michael Boytim mboytim@altoonamirror.com MECHANICSBURG — When teams talk about being a family, it’s usually used in a figurative way. For many of the players on the Bishop Guilfoyle Academy football team, it’s literal. There are five sets of brothers on the Marauders’ roster — ...

Davis scare brings about awareness

By Michael Boytim mboytim@altoonamirror.com Any headline about a local kid suffering sudden cardiac arrest playing high school football should justifiably worry any parent who is considering whether or not their son should participate in the sport. A similar concern over concussions and the impact of that injury on developing brains has also caused some hesitation from parents before signing their kids up for sports over the last decade. But one parent who would encourage kids to keep participating in extracurricular activities is Dave Davis — the father of Hollidaysburg ...

Mixing two adult sports

With scholastic sports on a break until August, many kids — and their parents — are spending the summer playing recreational sports. Many sports, like football, wrestling and baseball (unless you play for Lilly’s City League team), get harder or impossible to participate in the older you get. If you can find a league, you also run the risk of injury which could keep you away from a full-time job. Two sports that remain popular for adults into their 80s though are running and golf. Other than being exercise that people can easily find places to participate in, the sports ...

With future looking on, solid foundation built

UNIVERSITY PARK — Carson Kensinger couldn’t stand to watch the final moments of PIAA officials presenting Governor Mifflin with the state championship trophy Friday night after the Mustangs’ 2-1 win over Hollidaysburg in the Class 5A baseball final at the Penn State University’s Medlar ...

Youthful Lady Marauders’ maturity astonishing

HERSHEY — None of the Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic players who stepped on the court during a dominant first quarter in the PIAA Class 1A championship game Friday at the Giant Center had ever played in a state final. You certainly couldn’t tell that from watching the game. In fact, the Lady Marauders have played beyond their years throughout the 2023-2024 season. The majority of the year, BG started three freshmen, Morgan Ruggery, Maurie Querry and Anberlyn Petrecca, and a pair of sophomores, Stella Yeskey and Alana Lightner. Once the postseason started, sophomore Gia Adams joined ...