Geibel
Fayette County Student/Athlete Scholarship Program Andyjohn always a team player
CONNELLSVILLE – Katlyn Andyjohn played striker for Geibel Catholic’s girls soccer team for three years. As a senior she gave up the offensive position and played back sweeper to help the defense.
Switching from scoring goals to preventing them would seem to be a huge individual sacrifice, especially for a senior.
Andyjohn knew she was helping her team, however.
“I had always played striker when coach (George) Dzavan asked me if I’d be interested in moving to sweeper,” Andyjohn said. “He thought it would improve the team. So I said why not try it, and it worked out so much better. It helped the team a lot. We improved a lot this season. And I still scored a few goals.”
Andyjohn even helped out one of Geibel’s boys teams. When the football team was searching for a kicker, she tried out and wound up lettering for the Gators her junior and senior years.
Andyjohn came through academically, too. She was ranked 12th in her class with a GPA of over 3.90.
Andyjohn, the 17-year-old daughter of Art and Beckie Andyjohn of South Connellsville, was selected as the top female student/athlete at Geibel Catholic High School and will receive a $500 scholarship through the Fayette County Student/Athlete Scholarship Program.
The program, sponsored by Davis and Davis Attorneys at Law in conjunction with the Herald-Standard, will provide $7,000 in scholarship money to 14 of Fayette County’s best and brightest student/athletes.
The program will culminate with a banquet, to be held at 5 p.m. Sunday, June 8, at Uniontown Country Club. At that time, each of 14 honorees will receive $500 toward a college education. HSTV will videotape the program for tape-delayed broadcast.
Andyjohn will attend Saint Vincent College where she intends to play soccer, but hasn’t pinned down a major, yet.
“I’m not sure, but it might be foreign languages,” said Andyjohn, who has one brother, 17-year-old Tim who is a freshman at Geibel.
Andyjohn was a member of the National Honor Society, the Latin Honor Society, the Rotary Interact Club, Geibel’s school newspaper and Students Taking Active Roles (STAR). She also has held a part-time job working at Dairy Queen in Connellsville.
“Taking part in STAR was something I enjoyed,” she said. “We worked with mentally and physically challenged kids. We’d go on field trips with them and work on art projects.”
While most seniors are on cruise control during the spring of their senior years, Andyjohn was just the opposite.
“This was my busiest year, especially this spring,” she said. “I had senior papers due, senior projects had to be done. I always have been up on my studies, though. Even the years before, I knew I had to come home from practice and get my homework done.”
In addition to soccer and football, Andyjohn was a four-year letterman in softball, and played on the basketball team as a sophomore. She made all-county as a junior and senior in soccer and softball.
Andyjohn helped the Lady Gators set a school record in soccer victories with 10 this past season, and was a versatile softball player who started in left field as a freshman, was a utility player as a sophomore, and played center field and catcher as a junior and senior.
Football isn’t a sport she sought out. In fact, the team came to her.
“They were looking for a kicker and asked the soccer teams if anyone wanted to try it,” Andyjohn recalled. “So I said I would and they took me up on that.”
Andyjohn remembers making her historic first extra-point attempt.
“It kind of surprised me that it went through,” she said with a laugh. “I couldn’t watch it because I was looking down, concentrating on the kick.”
Andyjohn had only two shots at kicking extra points as a senior as the rebuilding Gators struggled to find the end zone and went for two many times when they did. She made good on both of those kicks, though.
Andyjohn didn’t think making a boys football team was that big of a deal at first.
“Maybe to some people I guess,” Andyjohn said. “There wasn’t a lot of controversy about it, but a few parents were a little upset because they didn’t think a girl should be on the team. But all the coaches supported me.
“And I never really thought about any kind of impact I might be making until I saw a couple little girls in the bathroom one day and they were telling me, ‘Wow, that’s awesome.'”
It seems, with all her accomplishments, academically and athletically, Andyjohn has created her own unique niche in Geibel history.
White helps revive Gator teams
During Jordan White’s freshman and sophomore years at Geibel Catholic, the baseball and basketball teams were in a bit of a lull.
White and some of his classmates vowed to turn the Gators’ fortunes around. Two years later, White is a senior and both programs are riding high again.
The baseball team won its first section crown in a decade in 2003 after qualifying for the WPIAL playoffs with a second-place finish last year.
The basketball team followed a rare span of back-to-back, non-playoff seasons under veteran coach Ken Misiak with a co-section crown last year and another WPIAL post-season berth this year.
White, a three-year letterman in basketball and a four-year letterman in baseball, had an impact in the turnaround.
“We felt like we had something to prove,” White said of his class. “We wanted to get the programs back to where they used to be. We just wanted to get that winning history back on track.”
White has always been on track academically. He graduated from Geibel with a 4.0 GPA and was in the top seven of his class.
White, the 18-year-old son of Herman F. and Gloria White of Monessen, was selected as the top male student/athlete at Geibel Catholic High School and will receive a $500 scholarship through the Fayette County Student/Athlete Scholarship Program.
The program, sponsored by Davis and Davis Attorneys at Law in conjunction with the Herald-Standard, will provide $7,000 in scholarship money to 14 of Fayette County’s best and brightest student/athletes.
The program will culminate with a banquet, to be held at 5 p.m. Sunday, June 8, at Uniontown Country Club. At that time, each of 14 honorees will receive $500 toward a college education. HSTV will videotape the program for tape-delayed broadcast.
In addition to the diamond and the hardwood, White dabbled in a few other sports at Geibel. He lettered as the Gators’ goaltender in soccer his freshman and junior years, and lettered as a member of the golf team when he was a sophomore.
He was just a versatile in the classroom and in his community.
At Geibel, White was Mixina Cum Laude as a freshman and Magna Cum Laude as a sophomore. He was vice president of the National Honor Society, captain of the Math League, treasurer of the Junior Classical League, and also was a member of the Latin Honor Society, the Stage Crew, the Assembly Crew, the Geibel Aerospace Program and the Geibel Public Relations Club.
In his community, White has served the Epiphany of Our Lord Catholic Church of Monessen for the last 10 years and has helped out with the parish picnic.
White will attend Seton Hall University this fall where he intends to major in business management.
“Depending on how my academics go, I may try to walk on in basketball or baseball,” said White of the Big East school.
White, who has one brother in 17-year-old Tory and two sisters in 23-year-old Taylor and 13-year-old Mia, quickly learned time management with a busy schedule that included a 45-minute bus ride between school and home.
Even in the summers, White has been active, whether it’s been umpiring Little League games, cutting grass, working at K-Mart or, currently, working for a railroad company.
White played third base for three years and catcher as a senior, when he was named all-county, for a baseball team that gradually improved under coaches Dan Kupets (2000-02) and John Leonard (2003).
White, a sharp-shooting guard, was a captain on the basketball team as a junior and a senior. He was named all-county both years and all-section as a junior, when he was one of the WPIAL’s leading scorers with an 18.3 average. White took advantage of his accurate foul shooting (over 80 percent) by concentrating on driving to the basket more as a junior.
Ironically, it’s a defensive play White made in Geibel’s section-clinching win over Clairton when he was a junior that sticks out most in his mind.
“I remember assistant coach (Bob) Fedorko alerted us that they were going to throw a lob pass over our trap late in the game,” said White, who suffered a facial injury that required 10 stitches in an earlier loss to Clairton. “I picked it off and drove in for a lay-up and I think that helped sway the game our way.”
When looking back, White sees his sparkling career at Geibel as a group effort.
“A lot of people have helped me in my accomplishments,” White said. “I owe thanks to my parents, my coaches, all my friends, and to the Geibel faculty, too.”