BREEHANA JACOBS

SCHOOL: Laurel Highlands.

WHO IS SHE? One of the premier girls' sprinters in the nation.

RECENTLY: A junior, Jacobs will compete in the 100- and 200-meter dashes at the WPIAL championships today. She qualified by winning each event at the Southern qualifier at West Mifflin May 9.

Jacobs won both dashes at the Baldwin Invitational May 5. Her 200 time of 23.98 seconds broke the invitational record of 24.41 set in 2000 by Rochester's Lauryn Williams, later an Olympic silver medalist in the 100. That also was the third-best time in WPIAL history behind Aliquippa's Nellie Bullock (23.72 in 1978) and Williams (23.85 in 2001).

SEASON: Jacobs has the WPIAL's best times in the 100 (11.63), 200 (23.98) and 400 (55.6) this spring. Her 100 and 200 finishes are 10th nationally.

CAREER: This is Jacobs' third varsity season. She competed for Uniontown as a freshman before transferring.

Jacobs was the WPIAL Class AAA champion in the 100 the past two years.

Last season, she also earned PIAA gold in that event, helped her 400 relay team win a WPIAL title, and took second in the 200 at the WPIAL and PIAA meets.

INTENSITY: Speed isn't Jacobs' only attribute. "She is a fierce competitor with unlimited potential," said Laurel Highlands coach Ron Morris.

"Off the field, she's a great student and a great daughter with a great personality. Most of all, she's a great person."

Jacobs' goal this season is simple: "I want to break the state record in the 100 and 200. Oh, my primary goal is to win them. But I want the records."

WEIGHTY MATTER: Jacobs has come a long way in a short time. She did not compete in sports until eighth grade, when she tried track. It remains her only athletic pursuit.

She is as tall as she was a year ago, 5 feet 2, but she is more muscular. "I've been doing a lot of weight-training," Jacobs said. "I had never done much of that before, but it's helped."

FAMILY: Jacobs' stepfather, Corey Brown, has been instrumental in her development as a runner. Brown played football and basketball at Clairton High School and football at Slippery Rock University and for the semipro Pittsburgh Colts.

FUTURE: A number of Division I programs are interested in Jacobs. She said she prefers warm weather and, for now, her top choices are Miami, Southern California and UCLA.

-- By Rick Shrum

NICK RIVETT

SCHOOL: Fox Chapel.

WHO IS HE? A 6-foot-2, 160-pound senior and standout volleyball player.

RECENTLY: Rivett helped Fox Chapel win a section championship as the Foxes edged Plum, 3-2. It marked the first time Fox Chapel has won a section title outright.

FINDING HIS NICHE: Rivett got into volleyball after he was cut from the eighth-grade baseball team. "I used to always watch beach volleyball on TV and I always liked to play it at picnics," Rivett said. "So I thought, 'Why not try it out?' I've been playing it year-round the past three years."

Rivett was a first-team all-WPIAL selection as a junior.

PROGRAM-MAKER: Rivett is part of a senior class that has put Fox Chapel volleyball on the WPIAL map. The Foxes were ranked No. 1 in the most recent rankings and begin the WPIAL playoffs tonight.

"He's definitely been one of the building blocks of this program," said Fox Chapel coach Phil O'Keeffe. "I think he's proven at times that he's one of the best players in the state."

NOT CALIFORNIA BOUND: Rivett signed with the University of California at Santa Barbara last fall. The school recently informed him his grades weren't high enough for admission, so Rivett has reopened his recruiting. St. Francis, Pa., and a few other Division I schools have shown interest.

"My grade-point average is 3.0, but [UCSB] said they have higher standards," Rivett said. "I was pretty mad. For a whole year, you think you're going to a place, and then it gets messed up at the last minute."

-- By Mike White