Shaler Area High's girls lacrosse team has been a dominant team in what coach Jennifer Perestock hopes will be the Titans' next-to-last season in Division II.

With an eye toward moving into Division I in the 2015 season, Perestock scheduled two Division I teams -- North Allegheny and Seton-LaSalle -- on an already busy schedule featuring Division II opponents from Sections 1, 2 and 3. In the two Division I games, the Titans lost to North Allegheny, 11-7, but defeated the Rebels, 17-8. Neither the Tigers nor the Rebels qualified for the WPIAL Division I tournament.

The Titans opened the playoffs in much the same manner as which they approached the regular season with a 19-7 victory over Bethel Park. In the regular season, Shaler earned an 18-7 triumph over the Black Hawks.

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Craig Meyer's take on yesterday's WPIAL individual track and field championships:

"In the huddled chaos of disparate events and hundreds of competitors Thursday at Baldwin High School, Shaler's Brianna Schwartz not only managed to stand out among her peers, but she also made history in the process.

Event records are broken at the WPIAL individual track and field championships on an annual basis, but Schwartz was able to accomplish something more significant, breaking the all-time WPIAL 1,600-meter run record of 4:51.6 that Baldwin's Carol Zajac set in 1990.

Zajac, a WPIAL Hall of Famer, went on to win an NCAA championship at Villanova and is considered to be one of the best distance runners in WPIAL history."

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Joe Koch's feature on the Shlaer girls' lacrosse team:

"Shaler Area coach Jennifer Perestock believes four years of hard work are beginning to pay off handsomely as the Titans enter as the top seed in the 2013 WPIAL Division II Girls Lacrosse Tournament.

"I started at Shaler in 2010, and this senior class is the first class that I've worked with for all four years," Perestock said. "They are just a phenomenal group."

The top-ranked Division II team in the Post-Gazette's rankings and No. 6 among all girls teams in Western Pennsylvania according to Laxpower.com, the Titans begin tournament play at 4 p.m. today at home against Bethel Park, which edged North Hills, 11-10, Tuesday in a first-round game."

(Photo: Shaler senior attack Courtney Ambrozic, left, battling North Hills' Emma Weaver during a game earlier this season, had an enormous campaign for the Titans, scoring 72 goals to go along with 18 assists. Bill Wade/Post-Gazette.)

Shaler Area’s Nicole Pilewski placed eighth at last week’s Class AAA North Section qualifier (106 feet, 8 inches) and her teammate Carly Harris placed third (115-03). Check out some Shaler javelin action from last week’s Class AAA team championships:

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