Three named WPIAL scholar athletes
Chase Dustevich
Deidre Flaherty
Steven Suchko
Chase Dustevich and Deirdre Flaherty from Mt. Lebanon along with Peters Township’s Steven Suchko were among the recipients of the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League’s (WPIAL) James Collins Scholar-Athlete Award.
Twenty candidates (10 male, 10 female) were selected by the WPIAL from a group of 162 nominees. The 162 nominees were a 21-year high for the program and are a 20-nominee increase from the 2021-2022 school year. The candidate pool consisted of 81 male and 81 female student-athletes from a total of 92 schools.
Among the group of applications, 88.3 percent participated in multiple sports, 53.4 percent ranked inside the top 10 of their class among schools that rank, and 17.7 percent were ranked first in their class among schools that rank.
With 5.30 GPAs, Dustevich and Flaherty rank among the best in Lebo’s Class of 2023.
Dustevich earned an appointment to the United State Air Force Academy. He plans to pursue a degree in physics or mathematics.
A four-year letterwinner in swimming & diving, Dustevich captained the Blue Devils to a section title and a third-place finish in the WPIAL. He was a gold medalist on the 400-yard freestyle relay.
A National Merit Scholar Finalist, he earned AP Scholar with Distinction acclaim as a junior and spent two years as a student pilot at High Flight Academy. He is a member of the National Honor Society, Investment Club, Future Business Leaders of America, and International Marketing Competition.
A four-year letterwinner in softball, Flaherty has served as team captain these past two seasons. A two-time all-state selection, she was Pennsylvania’s Player of the Year as a junior.
Named a USSSA Softball All-American as a sophomore and a Softball Factory Academic All-American in her first two varsity seasons, Flaherty owns school records in single-season home runs, batting average, runs batted in, and hits, and career home runs. She led the WPIAL in round trippers as a junior.
Academically, she earned the Jefferson Book Award, PHEAA Certificate of Merit, National German Exam Gold Medal, and College Board AP Scholar with Honor acclaim. She also helped organize a school blood drive and coached at Al Liberi youth baseball/softball clinics
A National Honor Society member, she plans to pursue a degree in pre-medicine while playing softball at the University of Dayton.
Suchko produced a 5.27 GPA in the classroom while excelling on the soccer pitch and track for the Indians.
He served as captain of both his athletic teams and helped the PT soccer club to three section titles. He garnered All-WPIAL and Finest Fifteen recognition during the fall soccer campaign.
Academically, he collected AP Scholar Award accolades as a sophomore and junior. He is a member of the National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, German Club, Chess Club, Math Club, and Boy Scouts of America. He has volunteered at the Washington City Mission, 412 Food Rescue, Scouting for Food, and as a math tutor.
Suchko, who has served as a soccer camp counselor, assisted in rebuilding the chapel at Boy Scout Camp Anawanna as well as constructed and placed luminaries for Christmas and Easter services at St. Benedict The Abbot Church.
Suchko will pursue a degree in chemical engineering at Penn State University.
The WPIAL awards scholarships annually to student-athletes from schools and school districts comprising the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) District VII. Since 1992, the league has given $698,000 in scholarships to the James Collins Scholar-Athlete Award recipients.
WPIAL board
The WPIAL elected its board of directors for the 2023-24 academic and athletic year. The group consists of 10 senior high representatives.
Among the local reps are athletic administrators from Chartiers Valley (Michael Gavlik), Bethel Park (Laura Grimm), Mt. Lebanon (John Grogan) and Peters Township (Brian Geyer).
Founded in 1906, the WPIAL represents its member schools by promoting academics, the safety of participants, sportsmanship, citizenship, and lifelong values as the foundation of interscholastic athletics. The league holds championships for 26 different sports, and its member schools are made up of 10 state counties: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington, and Westmoreland.