PIAA Keystone's Heath sets District 9 scoring record

The 6-foot-4 guard raised his career total to 2,089 points.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Keystone High School senior Garrett Heath became the all-time leader in career scoring in PIAA District 9 boys basketball Tuesday night in a 70-49 victory over Karns City.
Heath, a 6-foot-4 guard, scored 35 points to give him 2,089 for his four-year career. He needed 31 points to better the record of 2,084 set by Cameron County's Brandon Housler.
Heath made 11 of 16 field goal attempts, including five 3-pointers, and was 8 for 8 at the foul line for his 35 points.
Father's view
"Really, we haven't paid that much attention to him getting the record," said Heath's father, Greg, who is Keystone's coach. "Garrett has been a four-year starter, so his breaking the record is more of a longevity type of thing."
Garrett Heath is averaging 23 points per game, helping Keystone to a 19-3 record. The Panthers will be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming District 9 Class AA playoffs.
Heath has been contacted by some Division II and Division III schools. The only Division I program to show much interest has been Navy.
"I don't know if he wants to make that kind of commitment," Greg Heath said. "I think he could play at a lower Division I school, depending on the program."
Keystone isn't a one-man show. Seniors A.J. O'Neil (6-5), Buck Neely (6-0) and Bill Colwell (5-9) join Heath and 6-1 junior Sam Swartzfager in the starting lineup. Keystone was 27-1 last year, losing to Farrell in the second round of the PIAA tournament.
"We lost four starters off last year's team, so what we've done this year is a little unexpected," Greg Heath said. "But the guys who are playing this year got a lot of experience last season and that has helped a lot."
Baseball finals
The three PIAA baseball championship games will be played June 18 at Commerce Bank Park in Harrisburg, home of the Double-A Harrisburg Senators.
The games were to have been played in Williamsport, but problems that arose there last year caused the PIAA board to vote to change the site.
The PIAA was forced to hastily switch sites last year from Williamsport to Harrisburg because of poor field conditions at Williamsport's Bowman Field.
Water inundated Bowman Field the day before the finals were to have been played, and the games could not be rescheduled for Williamsport because the Crosscutters minor league team was opening a home stand.
The PIAA baseball finals are set for 11 a.m. (Class A); 2:30 p.m. (Class AA) and 4 p.m. (Class AAA) on June 18.
Treys abound
Jenna Palumbo of Hazleton made a school record 10 3-pointers while scoring 35 points in a 97-32 victory against Coughlin. Hazleton had 17 3-pointers in the game.
John Griffin, a 6-2 guard at St. Joseph's Prep in Philadelphia, scored 20 points against Kennedy-Kendrick recently to become the school's career scoring leader. A Bucknell recruit, Griffin entered the week with 1,323 career points. The previous school record was 1,316 points, set last year by Mark Zoller, now a freshman at Penn State.
On the mats
Brett Gephart set Penns Valley High School's record for career wrestling victories Tuesday when he pinned Ryan Welder of Moshannon Valley at 135 pounds. It was Gephart's 93rd career win, moving him past Craig Herrold on the school's all-time list.
Gymnastics
Vanessa Rocca of North Allegheny was the all-around winner in the diamond division at the PIAA District 7 (WPIAL) girls gymnastics championships as a freshman. Last year, Rocca was sidelined with two stress fractures in her back and could not defend her title. Now a junior, Rocca returned to action to win three gold medals, including the all-around title, and two silvers at the District 7 meet last weekend.
Record setter
Andrew Dubs, a senior at Council Rock South, broke the Track Coaches Association of Greater Philadelphia meet record in the Division I shot put with a winning throw of 58 feet, 31/2 inches.
The record previously was 56-101/2 by Conestoga's Eric Krohn in 1985.
Dubs was eighth in the shot put at the PIAA Class AAA championships last year.