A new PennLive Cup champion is crowned after 7 appearances in the district title match

For the third time in three years, a school has won the PennLive Cup for the first time in its history.

This year, that award goes to Trinity High School.

The Shamrocks’ 2023-24 athletic season was about as diverse as a school could hope for, with 12 programs contributing to the overall tally in the PennLive Cup race. That includes seven teams vying for a District 3 championship, with four of them winning the title. Add in a handful of stellar individual performances, and it all adds up to Trinity winning its first PennLive Cup.

The PennLive Cup, sponsored by Renewal by Andersen of Central PA, is awarded to the Mid-Penn school with the best overall athletic program at the end of the school year. Using a scoring system established by PennLive, each school earns points based on individual and team performance in sports offered at Mid-Penn.

The more championships and trophies a team wins, the more points they earn toward the PennLive Cup. At the end of the school year, all the points earned were added up. And with a total of 205 points, the Shamrocks came out on top.

Trinity opened the school year strong, winning two district championships in girls soccer and girls volleyball. That girls volleyball team — which hadn’t lost a set until the PIAA semifinals — finished second in the state with a total of 50 points. It was ultimately named PennLive’s Female Team of the Year.

The Shamrocks’ soccer team reached the District 3 title game, while the boys’ golf team won a Mid-Penn title.

In the winter season, Trinity’s boys basketball team finished second in the District 3 tournament, losing to Columbia in the championship game. Junior guard Owen Schlager scored 35 points in that game and averaged 23.7 points per game all year en route to winning PennLive’s Boys Basketball Player of the Year award.

The Shamrocks also won two individual District 3 titles during the winter season, in both swimming and boys wrestling.

The spring season was another impressive run for Trinity, as it captured two more District 3 championships. The boys lacrosse team defeated Lower Dauphin in the district title game, capturing its third District 3 championship in program history. The softball team captured its first district crown, defeating Kennard-Dale.

Nico Chirieleison was named PennLive’s Boys Lacrosse Player of the Year for helping the lacrosse team reach the PIAA quarterfinals with 113 goals and 34 assists.

The Shamrocks had two track and field athletes win District 3 gold medals. Jeremiah Hargrove took first place in the boys triple jump, while Julianna Prokop took first place in the girls high jump.

Trinity’s baseball team lost to Camp Hill in the district championship, completing the team title for the year.

Below are the top 10 schools in the final PennLive Cup standings for 2023-2024:

1) Trinity – 205 points

2) Cumberland Valley – 170 points

3) Camp Hill – 165 points

4) Palmyra – 140 points

5) Bishop McDevitt – 120 points

5) State College – 120 points

5) Steel-High – 120 points

8) Central Dauphin – 115 points

9) Hershey – 100 points

10) Chambersburg – 85 points

10) Mechanicsburg – 85 points