Girls on the 400-meter relay team in recent years at Penn Hills High School don't just hand off the baton from runner to runner. They hand it off from team to team, and year to year.

It's hard to believe any WPIAL school has dominated an event for years like Penn Hills has the 400 relay. This year's team is the class of the area, running the best time in the WPIAL. But this team is simply running in the fast lane that Penn Hills always seems to occupy.

You want a running legacy? Look at the fastest 400 relay times in the history of the WPIAL.

1. Penn Hills 2008 (47.38 seconds)

2. Penn Hills 2004 (47.67)

3. Penn Hills 2007 (47.97)

4. Penn Hills 2006 (47.99)

5. Penn Hills 2003 (48.06)

6. Penn Hills 1981 (48.11)

Penn Hills has won WPIAL Class AAA 400 relay championships four times in the past five years. So how does Penn Hills keep getting four fast girls?

"I think the foundation of these girls is very solid because a lot of them have been running since they were tiny for clubs like Steel City and the Penn Hills Eagles," said Sara Miller, Penn Hills' first-year coach. "A lot of them have a bunch of experience behind them and I don't know if other areas have that. Also, these girls just seem to love to run and have a drive to win."

Miller also was a Penn Hills assistant coach for two years.

"I went to Riverview High School and coached in a few other schools. It's just a whole different level here," Miller said.

This year's 400 relay team is made up of Arrie Smith, Taelor Fowler, Gisele Adanlete and Jordan Lee. LaShawna Carter-Sewell runs occasionallyin place of Lee.

Track is very much an individual sport. But at Penn Hills, relay teams have become important.

"A couple girls have decided to give up an individual event to focus on the relays," Miller said. "That says a lot right there. They want to do it for each other."

Penn Hills will probably continue life in the fast lane in the future. Lee and Carter-Sewell are sophomores and Smith a junior.

"We were watching the junior high and there are some stallions coming up from there," Miller said. "It's like these girls are born to run."

Hunting Gators

College football assistant coaches are on the road recruiting this month, visiting high schools to find possible recruits for next season. A lot of the coaches are showing up at Gateway to recruit some Gators.

Gateway junior football linebacker Dorian Bell was heavily recruited and already has made a verbal commitment to Ohio State. Receiver-cornerback Corey Brown has more than 30 scholarship offers. When Bell announced his decision at a news conference to attend Ohio State, Brown stood in the background, waving an Ohio State towel. Ohio State has not offered Brown, but Bell is hopeful the Buckeyes will in the future.

Gateway tight end-defensive end Brandon Stevens and lineman Colin Rodkey also have some Division I offers. Coach Terry Smith said as many as eight Gators could end up with offers from Division I schools.

Smith is starting to churn out a handful of Division I recruits just about every year. What's the reason?

"I think I'm just blessed," Smith said. "I'm blessed to have a tremendous amount of talented kids lately who really believe in me and trust that what our coaches are telling them is the right thing."

Scholarship winners

The WPIAL has selected its scholar-athlete winners for the 2007-08 school year. Burrell's Shane Welsh, Jeannette's Nick Spino, Quaker Valley's Christa Rogers and Vincentian's Trish Melvin will each receive $5,000 for college. For Rogers and Melvin, the WPIAL award is a family thing. They both had older sisters who won the award a few years ago.

Also, eight other senior boys and eight other senior girls will receive $500 scholarships.

Transfer contested

The WPIAL will have a hearing soon to determine if Justin Hosack's transfer from Hopewell to Lincoln Park involved athletic intent.

Hosack, a junior guard, was a starter on Hopewell's basketball team that made it to the WPIAL Class AAA championship game this past season. Lincoln Park is a charter school in Midland and has been in the WPIAL only one season.

Forfeiting the season

The Oakland Catholic softball team forfeited the season after four games because of a lack of players.

Oakland Catholic athletic director George Rudolph said only 10 girls came out for the team and the only pitcher got hurt early in the season. After losing the first four games by a combined score of 56-1, Oakland Catholic school officials decided to forego the rest of the season.

"All of our other teams except softball are in good shape in terms of numbers," Rudolph said. "But we hope next year to start the program back up."

The bare facts

A high school lacrosse player in Michigan came up with a creative way to ask a girl to the prom, but it got him and 12 teammates suspended from the team.

During a recent junior varsity game, Kristoff Wennersten and 12 of his varsity teammates dropped their pants and displayed the question "Will You Go To The Prom With Me? Yes or No?" on their backsides. The message was for Carolyn Campbell, who accepted Wennersten's invitation. But the school suspended the 13 players for an undetermined number of games, suspended them from school for a day and ordered them to perform 20 hours of community service.

Name game

The Fort Cherry girls' softball team has a junior player named Harley Davidson. Seriously.

The name begs for an obvious question. Has she ever hit for the cycle?