These women with Pittsburgh ties made a name for themselves in sports

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh is the “City of Champions” and has been since 1979 when the Steelers and Pirates won their respective championships.

Today, that name is about more than the success of our professional sports teams. It also extends to women and girls in sports who are making a name for themselves.

On National Girls and Women in Sports Day, we want to celebrate some of the women with ties to Pittsburgh who have paved amazing paths in their careers.

Bianca Smith — Professional baseball coach (Boston Red Sox)

Bianca Smith was recently hired as a coach for the Boston Red Sox player development complex in Fort Meyers, Florida. This makes her the first minority female coach in professional baseball. Smith lived with her stepfather in Sewickley during her college years, from around 2009 to 2013.

Heather Lyke — Athletic director at the University of Pittsburgh

Heather Lyke is the first woman to hold the full-time director of athletics post at the University of Pittsburgh. Before coming to Pitt, Lyke held similar athletic department positions at Eastern Michigan University, Ohio State, the University of Cincinnati and in the NCAA.

Swin Cash — U.S. Olympian in basketball

Swintayla “Swin” Cash, a native of McKeesport, was an All-American basketball player at the University of Connecticut. She won two NCAA Women’s Division I championships with UConn in 2000 and 2002. Cash was selected second overall by the Detroit Shock in the 2002 WNBA Draft. She led the team to their first WNBA championship in her rookie season. Cash would go on to play 15 years in the WNBA. She was also a member of the 2004 gold medal-winning U.S. women’s basketball team. Cash currently serves as vice president of basketball operations and team development for the New Orleans Pelicans.

Brianne McLaughlin — U.S. Olympian in women’s ice hockey

Brianne McLaughlin was the goaltender for the Robert Morris University women’s ice hockey team, where she set an NCAA career record of 3809 saves. She played in two Winter Olympic Games (Vancouver in 2010 and Sochi in 2014) for Team USA, winning two silver medals. McLaughlin currently trains goalies at the RMU Island Sports Center on Neville Island.

Susie McConnell-Serio — U.S. Olympian in women’s basketball, coach

Suzie McConnell-Serio was a standout high school basketball player, leading Seton-Le Salle to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state championship in 1984. She went on to play at Penn State University, where she set NCAA Division I records for career assists (1307), assists in a season (355 in 1987) and season assist average (11.8 in 1987). McConnell-Serio played in the WNBA for three seasons, then returned as head coach of the Minnesota Lynx. She was named WNBA coach of the year in 2004. She won two Olympic medals in women’s basketball: gold in Seoul in 1988 and bronze in Barcelona in 1992. She’s currently an assistant coach for the Upper St. Clair girls’ basketball team.

Meghan Klingenberg — Women’s soccer player

Meghan Klingenberg helped lead the Pine-Richland girls’ soccer team to the PIAA state championship in 2005. She played college soccer at the University of North Carolina, where she was a 4-year starter and won two NCAA championships. Klingenberg won the 2015 Women’s World Cup. She currently plays for the Portland Thorns in the National Women’s Soccer League.

Amanda Polk — U.S. Olympian in rowing

Amanda Polk was a gold medalist in the Women’s Eight in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. She attended Oakland Catholic High School, where she was undefeated in her senior season. A four-time All-American at Notre Dame, Polk finished her collegiate career as the most decorated rower in program history.

Lauryn Williams — U.S. Olympian, track and field (2004, 2012) and bobsled (2014)

A native of Rochester, Lauryn Williams was a silver medalist in the 100-meter race at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. At the 2012 Olympics in London, Williams ran the anchor leg of the 4x100 meter relay for Team USA in the qualification round. The team went on to win gold. Williams then switched to bobsledding and won a silver medal in the two-woman event at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

Leah Smith — U.S. Olympian in swimming

Leah Smith is training for the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, which were pushed back to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Smith, who is from Pittsburgh and attended Oakland Catholic High School, won a gold (4x200 free) and a bronze (400 m) medal at the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro.

Lorri Johnson — Basketball player at the University of Pittsburgh

Lorri Johnson, a New Castle native, is the all-time leading scorer in men’s and women’s basketball history at the University of Pittsburgh with 2312 career points. In 2019, Johnson saw her number 24 jersey retired at the Petersen Events Center. She’s the first women’s basketball player to have her jersey retired at Pitt. She was also inducted into the Pitt Hall of Fame in 2019.

Alison Riske-Amritaj — Professional tennis player

Alison Riske-Amritaj is a professional tennis player who was ranked 18th in the world in November 2019. Riske-Amritaj played tennis for Peters Township High School in 2006, where she helped lead the girls’ tennis team to the Pennsylvania state championship and won the championship in singles.