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Thursday, February 15, 2001

By Paul Zeise, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

SCHOOL: Montour.

WHO IS HE? A 6-foot-7 senior forward who is one of the top boys' basketball players in the WPIAL.

THE PAST WEEK: Tielsch had 38 points, 17 rebounds and six blocked shots in a 65-56 victory over Chartiers Valley on Monday. He had 26 points in a 71-49 victory over Upper St. Clair last Thursday.

SEASON: Tielsch is eighth in the WPIAL in scoring with a 22.1 average and also averages 17.2 rebounds and 4.5 blocks a game. He has helped Montour to a 16-5 record and the Class AAAA Section 5 championship.

	Daren Tielsch

A DIFFERENT ATTITUDE: He has played well all season, but seems to have taken his game to another level since teammates Brandon Chiarelli and Brian Finnegan were killed in an auto accident two weeks ago.

"Right now I think I'm playing as hard as I possibly can, as hard as I've ever played," Tielsch said. "Seeing what happened to those two has made us work so much harder. Not only are we playing for ourselves now, but we sort of feel like we're playing for Brandon, Brian and their families."

Montour Coach Ed Wovchko also has seen a change in Tielsch -- and his entire team.

"I thought something was missing on this team and that we needed to grow up and get closer to becoming men," Wovchko said. "Unfortunately a tragedy hit and shocked them. They had grief and despair. But as the cloud seems to be lifting here a little, I see them growing up a little and taking things a little bit more seriously."

MUSCLE MAN: Tielsch believes he has improved greatly from last year. "I put on about 25 pounds since," said Tielsch, who weighs 213. "That's made the biggest difference."

ALONG FOR THE RIDE: Wovchko knows how important Tielsch will be to Montour's playoff run. "I'm not afraid to say he has to carry us," Wovchko said. "He's gone a lot of places and done a lot of things in basketball. But I told him one thing remains. He has to be the person that carries us now. You can't say that about too many players."

NITTANY LION RECRUIT: Tielsch already has signed with Penn State. "I think he has to play a little faster and be a little more embroiled to play at that level. But I really think he can," Wovchko said. "I've seen kids not as good as him who have made it at that level."

SCHOOL: North Allegheny.

WHO IS SHE? A junior on the school's gymnastics team.

PAST WEEK: She won the Gold Division All-Around competition at the WPIAL Championships on Saturday at Moon. Her total score for the four events -- vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise -- was 37.55 (out of a possible 40) and helped North Allegheny to the team title. She also won first place in the floor exercise with a score of 9.4 and was second in each of the other three events.

CAREER: St. Clair won the all-around gold medal last year in the Gold (Advanced) Division at the WPIAL meet as well as in the four individual events. She has been involved in gymnastics since she was 10 and recently became a level 10 gymnast. She competes year-round in USAG (USA Gymnastics) events for Jewarts Gymnastics.

GOOD DAY: Although St. Clair was the defending champion, she was not favored to win the all-around because she did not have an outstanding season. She had lost to teammate Stephanie Zick in all eight North Allegheny meets this season. She also was beaten three times by Samantha Gray of Hampton, who finished second in the WPIAL.

"This sport boils down to who is doing well on a given day," North Allegheny Coach Lisa Failla said. "And, in this case, Anne had the best day when it counted most. That's what makes this sport unique. She came up with her best performance of the year and beat a very talented field."

BIG MEET PERFORMER: Failla said St. Clair's strongest event is the vault but what sets her apart is that she is consistent on all of the events. That's one reason she's had so much success in the bigger meets. The other is she is very aggressive in her approach to the big meets.

"She is always so poised and reliable, and that is important because she is always at or near the top when she competes," Failla said. "But before this meet, she added some difficulty to her bar routine as well as a few other little twists and really went after the championship. She pushed herself to do some things that were fairly aggressive and a lot more difficult than normal because she wanted to win. It made things more difficult for her, but in the end it paid off."

NEXT STEP: The PIAA does not hold championships in gymnastics. The Pennsylvania Classic championship meet will be held Saturday at Chambersburg Area Middle School. St. Clair qualified for the event, but is not going to attend because she will be competing in the Buckeye Classic in Columbus, Ohio. More than 2,100 gymnasts from the United States, GreatBritain and Canada compete in the event which is one of the top USAG events.

"It is important for her to go to the USAG events because she needs to increase her recognition nationally," Failla said. "It is her goal to do gymnastics in college, and those events are much higher profile and give her the best chance of being scouted by colleges."