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Wyoming Valley West standout Chris Bleich leaves for controversial IMG Academy

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Freshman Kirah Koshinski made her debut with the West Virginia women&#8217;s gymnastics team last Saturday and it was quite a beginning.Koshinski, a Berwick grad, captured the vault (9.875) and finished third on both the balance beam (9.800) and floor exercise (8.825) as the Mountaineers finished third behind Denver and Southern Utah in Denver. The vault score ranks her 13th in the country.For her efforts, Koshinski was named Big 12 Conference Newcomer of the Week in women&#8217;s gymnastics on Tuesday.&#8220;Kirah did exactly what I expected her to do,&#8221; coach Jason Butts said. &#8220;She&#8217;s so calm and collected during training and that came through in the meet. She is a no-stress gymnast. She just stepped up and did her job. That&#8217;s how she competed in club gymnastics (Northeast Gymnastics) and that&#8217;s what I expected. She knocked it out of the park.&#8221;The coach feels that Koshinski doesn&#8217;t act like a freshman.&#8220;I feel like I&#8217;m dealing with a four-year student-athlete,&#8221; he said. &#8220;She is so confident, but not cocky. I&#8217;ve never dealt with a gymnast like her before.&#8221;The Mountaineers host New Hampshire Sunday in Morgantown.Bourdeau impressiveSt. Joseph&#8217;s Freshman Nathaniela Bourdeau, a Coughlin grad, captured the 200-meter dash and finished second in the 60-meter dash at last Saturday&#8217;s Princeton Tri-Meet in Princeton, N.J. Despite her effort, the Hawks finished third behind host Princeton and St. John&#8217;s.Bourdeau bested a field of 18 in the 200 and her winning time of 25.27 qualifies her for the ECAC Championships. She finished second out of 13 in the 60 with a time of 7.69, which was .21 seconds faster than her time in her college debut at Haverford on Dec. 5.&#8220;Nat had two amazing performances at Princeton,&#8221; coach Melody O&#8217;Reilly said. &#8220;She raced like a seasoned collegiate athlete. I was really impressed by the fact that she wasn&#8217;t intimidated by the competition at all. She&#8217;s a true champion.&#8221;Two other area athletes helped St. Joseph&#8217;s capture the 4x800. Senior Sara Radzwilka (Wyoming Area) and freshman Lindsey Oremus (Dallas) were members of the team which won in 10:04.69.The Hawks return to action in Lehigh&#8217;s Angry Birds Invitational Saturday in Bethlehem.Polachek fitting right inFreshman Bobby Polachek has scored three goals and picked up six assists with the SUNY-Fredonia men&#8217;s hockey team. The 6-foot-4 forward from Kingston (Wyoming Seminary) had two goals in a 5-4 loss to Neumann last Friday.&#8220;The first thing you notice, besides how tall Bobby is, is his relaxed, laid back way,&#8221; coach Jeff Meredith said. &#8220;He has had a pretty good first half of his college career and is really ramping it up for the second semester.&#8221;According to the coach, Polachek has a tremendous upside to his game.&#8220;Bobby skates extremely well, has good hands and can shoot the puck,&#8221; Meredith said. &#8220;I like how well he protects the puck down low and can distribute it to his line mates. As he gets stronger and more experienced, he is going to be a big part of our program the next four years.&#8221;Kozloski working hardRyan Kozloski is one of the top javelin throwers in the Centennial Conference, but that&#8217;s a spring sport so the Dallas High grad is competing in the triple jump this winter with the Franklin &amp; Marshall indoor track team. He finished fifth in the triple jump (40-8 3/4) behind three Division I and a club athlete at the season-opening Jack Pyrah Invitational on Dec. 5.&#8220;Ryan worked very had this fall to improve his craft,&#8221; coach Carl Schnabel said. &#8220;Javelin throwers are very skilled and methodical worker, at least the good ones are, and Ryan is a good one.&#8221;Kozloski&#8217;s goal is to throw in the 59-meter range and the coach feels that figure is very possible.&#8220;Ryan will be gunning for one of the top spots in the conference and a possible trip to the nationals,&#8221; Schnabel said. &#8220;He works incredibly hard and always has a great attitude. He is a pleasure to coach and have on the team.&#8221;Schoennagle&#8217;s a starterJunior Keana Schoennagle is playing guard for the Bryn Athyn women&#8217;s basketball team, the Lions who are 5-4 overall and 3-1 in North Eastern Athletic Conference play. The Hazleton Area grad is averaging 7.0 points a game with 22 rebounds, 13 assists and 11 steals. She had 10 points in a 74-58 league victory over Penn State-Berks last Saturday.&#8220;Keana has been a crucial part of building the program here,&#8221; coach Kayla Felty said. &#8220;Her high energy, hard work and consistency bring out her best on the court.&#8221;Schoennagle was named a captain this season.&#8220;She has developed into a player that we can rely on and she has improved greatly her first two years here and is making bigger contributions in the box score and as a leader on the court.&#8221;Augustine comes throughThe Widener women&#8217;s swim team battled Washington College down the wire in the final dual meet (Dec. 12) before the holiday break. The meet came down to the 200 free relay and with freshman Kaylin Augustine swimming the anchor leg, the Pride won in 1:42.37 to clinch a 137.5-124.5 victory. The Dallas High grad also picked up important points by finishing third in both the 100 and 200 yard freestyle and fourth in the 100 butterfly.&#8220;Kaylin is an integral new addition to our swim program,&#8221; coach Kathryn Peterson said. &#8220;She has a positive attitude and the ability to make changes and that has already led to great success this season.&#8221;The coach and swimmer are eyeing the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships Feb. 11-14 in York.&#8220;We look for Kaylin to make considerable progress heading into the championships,&#8221; Peterson said. &#8220;She will be a strong contender on numerous relays and individual races.&#8221;Missel takes to the boardsTom Missel is diving for the Marywood men&#8217;s swim team this winter. He didn&#8217;t compete with the Pacers last season and competed in the butterfly and 200 IM as well as with the medley relay teams as a freshman.&#8220;Tom approached us at the beginning of the season and asked to join the team again,&#8221; coach Katherine Weaver said. &#8220;He spent countless hours teaching himself to dive during his breaks as a lifeguard and he came to school with a full list of six dives on both boards.&#8221;Missel&#8217;s diving has scored points that the Marywood squad would not usually get.&#8220;We don&#8217;t have a diving coach but Tom is very self-motivated and driven to succeed,&#8221; Weaver said. &#8220;He&#8217;s putting in the time to learn new dives and we predict that he will be a major contender at the conference meet by placing in the top eight in both the 1 and 3, completing a full 11 dive list.&#8221;The Landmark Conference Championship is Feb. 12-14 in Boyds, MD.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Freshman Kirah Koshinski was named Big 12 Conference Newcomer of the Week in women&#8217;s gymnastics on Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_Koshinski2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Freshman Kirah Koshinski was named Big 12 Conference Newcomer of the Week in women&#8217;s gymnastics on Tuesday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Bill ArsenaultFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-6397 or on Twitter @tlsports.</shirttailMeta></div>

College Corner: Kirah Koshinski makes big debut for West Virginia