Ashley Kirkpatrick has done her fair share of traveling thus far during her young life, and she’s prepared to do a little more in the near future.
The Kennedy Catholic High senior announced she will matriculate at Washington & Jefferson College to continue her education and basketball careers. She will major in information technology with an emphasis on media technologies.
Due to transfers in her father’s professional career, Kirkpatrick and her family have resided in Ohio, Oregon, Louisiana and Pennsylvania. However, she found a home in Hermitage after relocating literally 3 days before her junior year commenced.
A multi-sport standout who also excels as a soccer goalkeeper and track & field thrower (she also competed in tennis while attending a Cleveland-area school), Kirkpatrick’s Kennedy Catholic cage career — through short-lived — was fruitful.
This past season the 5-foot-10 frontliner averaged 15.3 points (7th-best in Herald- area annals) and 13.5 rebounds per game in keying Kennedy to the District 10 Class A semifinals for 1st-year head coach Tom Burns. After commencing the campaign losing 9 of its 1st 10 games KC concluded with 9 wins in its last 16 games. Kirkpatrick collected 21 double-doubles and 3 triple-doubles, highlighted by a 33-point, 22-rebound, 10-assist, 6-blocked shots line in a 60-53 Jan. 8 win over Greenville.
A daughter of Lori and Robb Kirkpatrick (her sister Katie is a Duquense University freshman and played at Kennedy last season), she maintains a 3.5 grade-point-average and member of Kennedy’s National Honor Society chapter and earned 6 varsity letters during her 2-year tenure at Kennedy. Following the recent hardwood season she was named as well as last fall as KC’s keeper in soccer she was a 2nd-team D-10 All-Region selection. For the latter she also was chosen for the annual Mercer-Lawrence County all-star match. She also is a member of Students Against Drunk Driving and volunteers for Special Olympics and as a cage camp counselor.
Kirkpatrick, contacted by a dozen schools for basketball and a half-dozen for soccer, could conceivably contribute to an already powerful Presidents’ program. Under the direction of 4th-year head coach Jina DeRubba W&J; went 23-7 overall and 11-3 in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference this past season, qualifying for the Eastern College Athletic Conference playoffs.
ä Tina Beggs, former Lakeview High standout, fared well in the recent Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference indoor track & field championships at East Stroudsburg University.
The Slippery Rock University sophomore speedster stood 7th in the 55-meter dash (7.53) and ended 8th in the 200-meter sprint (26.781). Slippery Rock and Shippensburg shared the women’s team title.
SRU’s cinder squad ventured to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas as well as San Diego State University for its season-opening outdoor meets.
Beggs, a 2006 Lakeview alumna, is a daughter of Bob and Sally Beggs.
Ed Farrell is assistant sports editor for The Herald
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KC's Kirkpatrick to W&J; Beggs shines at the PSAC Championships
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