An Enduring FriendshipS<strong>TO</strong>RY AND PHO<strong>TO</strong>SBY DICK GLOVIERMichele Wengryn is the mother of <strong>West</strong> <strong>Allegheny</strong> volleyballplayer Korin Wengryn and the godmother of wrestler and footballplayer Troy Reaghard.Theresa Reaghard is Troy’s mother and also Korin’s godmother.Over the years Troy, Korin, and their families haveremained close as the two gifted athletes brought hometrophies and medallions emblematic of their extremelysuccessful high school careers.Troy and Korin graduated this spring but left behind alegacy that is a testament to the magnificent 2009-10 falland winter sports seasons. In that seven-month span the Indianswon their fifth WPIAL football title and the volleyball teamrepeated as WPIAL champions. It was the 4 th appearance in fiveyears in the finals for the WA netters. Troy won his third WPIALregional championship.Both Korin and Troy were key players in the success of theirteams. Their relationship endured because of their respect for eachother’s talents in their chosen sports, according to Korin. Theyremain best friends even though they will go their separate ways incollege.“We had our little disagreements growing up but nothing thatever lasted. Seems like we have known each other forever. We werealways competing against each other in a friendly fashion. Iremember when we were like six or seven Troy got mad when hefound out I was several months older than him. Then he was reallytore up when I grew taller than him,” reminisced Korin with asmile. This April she signed a letter of intent to attend <strong>West</strong>Virginia Wesleyan on a volleyball scholarship.Troy on the other hand displays an attitude of quiet unassumingself confidence, a demeanor that masks his mental toughness andan inner fire that surfaces in competition. He graduated as the onlyfour year letterman (wrestling) in any sport at <strong>West</strong> <strong>Allegheny</strong> thispast year.Troy was a three-time WPIAL regional champion, a four-timeMAC champion, three-time section champion, and two-time<strong>Allegheny</strong> County champion. He was the PIAA runner-up at 160pounds this past season.Among the numerous gold medals he has for wrestling, Troyproudly displays a gold medal he won as a linebacker andfullback on the football team. A two-year starter, he was listedas 175 lbs. on the game program.“I moved from outside to the inside linebacker position mysenior year. I was actually undersized at that position. But whatwas really tough was the transition to wrestling. I had to makeweight and the training for football and wrestling are twodifferent things. There were seven of us who played football andalso wrestled so we all had to make the adjustment together andin a hurry,” said Troy.Adjust he did. He won at the Mac, the sectionals, the county,and the WPIAL’s. He capped his high school career with a 41-win season. And, he was selected to represent the WPIAL inthe 160-pound weight class in the Dapper Dan Classic.Korin, too, was considered undersized at her position. Highschool middle hitters are usually taller than 5’11."“Although she is not as tall as some of the girls that play themiddle we found out at an early age that Korin loved the gameand had this leaping ability. She could out jump the girls thatwere taller than her,” said her father, Steve Wengryn.Korin was in junior high when the Indians won a statechampionship in 2006 with Michele Walker playingthe middle. Walker is currently playing basketball atOhio State.“I learned a lot watching those guys and studyingtheir techniques,” said Korin, whose numbers this yearhad the college scouts doing the math in awe -- a killpercentage of .427 with 275K’s, 61 solo blocks, and 108assisted blocks for a total of 169 blocks.Despite playing the past two years with a torn shoulder, Korinwon the section MVP award, was first team All-WPIAL for thesecond time, first team on the PA Coaches Association team,and was named to the Coaches All-Tournament first team. Shehad the shoulder taken care of after the season.Korin starred academically as well. She was a member of theNational Honor Society with a 3.7 GPA.In keeping with their tradition of friendly competition Troywas also an honors student. He had a 4.2 GPA.From the many Division I colleges that showed an interest inhim, Troy narrowedhis choices down toa final four of Pitt,Maryland, <strong>West</strong>Virginia, and PennState.ABOVE: Korin andTroy; RIGHT: Troyand his mother,Theresa Reaghard,and MicheleWengryn and herdaughter, Korin.28 <strong>Allegheny</strong> <strong>West</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> June 2010
June 2010 <strong>Allegheny</strong> <strong>West</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> 29
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