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The Athletes of the Week - one boy and one girl - are chosen from teams in the WPIAL and City League by the Post-Gazette scholastic sports staff. Lauren Bricker, Hempfield -- Bruce Gradkowski, Seton-LaSalle
Thursday, September 14, 2000 By Paul Zeise and Mike White, Post-Gazette Sports Writers
SCHOOL: Hempfield.
WHO IS SHE? A 5-foot-7 sophomore cross-country runner.
LAST WEEK: Bricker ran a personal-best 18:59 to win the California University Invitational Saturday. There were more than 30 teams and 200 runners competing in the event.
SEASON: Hempfield has competed in two other meets, and Bricker has starred in both. In a meet at Boyce Park against Penn Hills, Connellsville and Geibel, Bricker won and set a course record with a 19:43. She also won the Gateway Invitational with a time of 19:49, narrowly missing the course record.
CAREER: Last year, she won the WPIAL Class AAA championship and finished 33rd at the PIAA meet.
THREE SPORTS: Along with cross country, Bricker also plays basketball and runs track for the Spartans. Last season, she lettered in varsity basketball as a freshman and most likely will be a starter at one of the guard spots this year. In track, she finished third in the WPIAL in the 800 and helped the Spartans win the 4x400 relay and place second in the 4x800 at the WPIAL meet.
"I don't have a favorite sport," said Bricker, "because they are all different. I do enjoy cross country more than track because I love to run through the woods and over different courses. Running around in circles can get very boring very fast. And basketball is a lot of fun because it is a team sport, and it helps break up my two running seasons."
GOOD STUDENT: Bricker sports a lofty 96 average and is on the Distinguished Honor Roll. She excels at math and enjoys history, too. She hopes to pursue a career in medicine.
NEW GOALS: Coming into the season, Bricker's goal was to break 19 minutes by the end of the year. Since she already has achieved that, she has set new goals for herself.
"Now, I will aim for 18:45 and see if I can go even lower than that," said Bricker. "I never thought I'd get this fast this quick, but I'm happy about it because I've trained hard."
COACH'S COMMENT: "She is unique. We've had some pretty excellent runners in year's past," said Hempfield cross country coach Ron Colland. "She fits in her own way. We have her work out in speed workouts with the guys. She'd have been one of the top five boys runners looking at her times. She is sort of her special in her ability. When the gun goes off, she is focused on winning and won't back off. She's a tremendous competitor."
-- By Paul Zeise
SCHOOL: Seton-LaSalle.
WHO IS HE? A 6-foot-2, 185-pound senior and the leading passer in the WPIAL after the first two games.
LAST WEEK: Gradkowski had a memorable Friday night, completing 19 of 30 passes for 363 yards and four touchdowns in a 35-7 victory over North Catholic. He bounced back from a sub-par opener against Fort Cherry when he completed only 6 of 28 for 178 yards.
SEASON: Gradkowski leads the WPIAL in passing yardage, completing 25 of 58 for 541 yards. He also has six touchdown passes.
CAREER: He is in his second season as Seton-LaSalle's quarterback. A year ago, he completed 122 of 221 for 1,603 yards.
PASS HAPPY: Seton-LaSalle Coach Lou Cerro believes in adjusting to his team's talents. He knows where the talent is this season. "We've always basically been a 50-50 team with running and passing," Cerro said. "But with the talent we have at quarterback this year, we figure we might throw the ball 75 percent of the time."
FOOTBALL OR BASKETBALL: Gradkowski also is an excellent basketball player. A guard, he averaged 19.7 points a game last season in helping Seton-LaSalle to the WPIAL Class AA championship game. Richmond, Kent State, Eastern Michigan and Toledo have all called Gradkowski to express their interest in him for football. Richmond's basketball team also is interested in him. He is unsure what sport he'll pursue in college.
"A lot is going to depend on this football season," Gradkowski said. "I'm not sure what I'll do. I'm just going to wait and see what happens after the season."
FOR THE TEAM'S SAFETY: For the first time this season, Cerro will use Gradkowski at safety tomorrow in the opening Interstate Conference game against Brownsville. "We have to use his athleticism on the field somewhere," Cerro said.
WHAT A TEAM: In Gradkowski's pre-high school years, he played on some successful midget teams in the Keystone Oaks Athletic Association. The star running backs were Bubba Ventrone, who is now a standout at Chartiers Valley, and Brandon Fuss-Cheatham, the Blackhawk basketball star.
-- By Mike White
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