PHILADELPHIA — Shikellamy High School graduate Brian Bingaman was named strength and conditioning coach at Saint Joseph’s University, the first strength coach in school history.

He becomes the first full-time strength coach for the Hawks and joins the SJU staff after serving in the same position at La Salle University for the past five years.

Bingaman also served as the assistant strength and conditioning coach at Duquesne University for one year and was a graduate assistant coach at Penn State during the 2003-04 season.

A native of Northumberland, Bingaman was an honorable mention All-American in football at Bloomsburg University. Upon graduation from Bloomsburg in 2003, he earned his master’s degree in health education from Penn State in 2008.

NITTANY LION NEWS: A pair of local products helped two nationally ranked Penn State women’s teams get their seasons off to a good start on Friday.

Mifflinburg graduate Hannah Allison, the 2008 Daily Item Female Athlete of the Year, scored the PSU field hockey team’s first goal in a 4-0 rout of No. 18 Old Dominion on Friday. Allison, who scored five goals as a freshman last year, scored in the ninth minute off assists from Lauren Purvis and Jessica Longstreth to lead the No. 16 Lions to an easy win.

Shikellamy alum Megan Monroig, a senior on Penn State’s No. 12 women’s soccer team, started at back and played all 110 minutes in the Nittany Lions’ 1-1 draw with No. 15 Virginia. The game was played in front of a record 3,912 fans at Jeffrey Field in State College.

SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS: The Lewisburg Hotel hosted a reception to honor the recipients of this year’s Samuel F. McCollumn Jr. Memorial Scholarship.

The scholarship was started in 2006 to honor the memory of Sam McCollum for his contributions to wrestling in the Susquehanna Valley. His love of wrestling dated back as far as 1960 when his son Sam III began wrestling. Along with his other sons, Ben (Shikellamy’s first state champion), Bart (Bucky), and Allan, wrestling became a significant part of his life. In 1977 he started coaching Shikellamy Ivy league wrestling. Then, along with his son Sam he began a YMCA wrestling club. Wrestlers from Shikellamy, Danville, Selinsgrove and other area schools came to the YMCA to become one of the top youth wrestling teams in the state. He even coached a father of one of the recipients. His love of wrestling continued throughout his life by following the wrestling careers of his sons and grandsons.

This year’s scholarship winners were Derek Shingara of Shamokin, Mount Carmel’s Ahmad Aboumar, Selinsgrove’s Spencer Myers, and Shikellamys William Petersen.

The scholarship is given to a senior wrestler who plans to continue their education either at a credited college or trade school. Senior wrestlers of the 2010-2011 graduating class from Berwick, Bloomsburg, Central Columbia, Danville, Jersey Shore, Lewisburg, Line Mountain, Midd-West, Mifflinburg, Milton, Mount Carmel, Selinsgrove, Shamokin, Shikellamy, Southern Columbia, Warrior Run, and Williamsport are eligible.

RUBBING ELBOWS: Valley natives Karen Zoda and her brother Joey Zoda had a busy few weeks working for Ripken Baseball, which recently staged its own Cal Ripken World Series in Aberdeen, Md.

Karen Zoda is a corporate sales manager for Ripken Baseball, a sales and marketing company in Baltimore that represents business and philanthropic efforts of Cal Ripken Jr. and his brother Bill.

The organization hosted six international teams and 10 American squads, with the championship games airing on MLB Network.

PANTHER PRIDE: The cheerleaders and administrative staff at Milton are inviting the community to Alumni Stadium on Tuesday at 7 p.m. to meet this year’s fall coaching staff, teams, and band members.          

During the evening mini footballs and T-shirts will be thrown out to the crowd. Lucky fans who catch a T-shirt will have the chance to get $2 off the price of admission at the home football opener against Lewisburg.

Following the festivities the coaches, athletes, and band members will be available to meet and greet down on the field.

That leads to Friday night’s game against Lewisburg. Before the game, cheerleaders will sponsor a mini-tailgate for those lucky fans who caught T-shirts at Meet the Panthers Night. The mini-tailgate will be held from 5:30-6 p.m.