From:
Sunday 27 August 2023 | 11:01 a.m
Courtesy of Jamie Leigh Photography
Quaker Valley grad Tabitha Bemis
To say that Tabitha Bemis was a multiple medalist at Quaker Valley would be a gross understatement.
In fact, she ranks among the all-time leading medalists in WPIAL and PIAA history.
In all of her postseason qualifiers, Bemis had a sensational high school athletic career, amassed a total of 43 medals—including 18 gold medals.
“Tabitha will surely go down in Quaker Valley athletic history as one of our most accomplished athletes,” said athletic director Mike Mastroianni. “Not surprisingly, her athletic excellence continued at the collegiate level.”
Bemis will be inducted into the Quaker Valley Sports Hall of Fame over the weekend of October 13-14. The 2023 vintage will be honored on October 13 at the Quakers home game against West Mifflin.
“I’m incredibly honored and excited,” said Bemis. “Quaker Valley has a rich history of talented athletes and I am honored to be among them.
“I have been greatly blessed by my coaches and support system throughout my athletic career. I am so grateful to have been surrounded and encouraged by such wonderful people. That honor really belongs to them as much as it does to me.”
A banquet will be held at the Edgeworth Club on October 14th at 11am to honor QV’s newest HOF members. For ticket information, please email Christina Johns at [email protected].
Bemis is currently an assistant track and field coach at Slippery Rock University, where she coaches jump and combination athletes.
In September 2021 she was hired as a full-time assistant and supervises athletes in the disciplines of horizontal jumps, multis, sprints and hurdles. Previously, she worked as an assistant from 2015 to 2017.
Bemis, of course, was by invitation when she found out about her induction into the Hall of Fame.
“It was really, really special,” she said. “I was recruiting at the Butler Invitational this spring, and Jerry Veshio, my high school track coach, former athletic director and physical education teacher, attended the meeting. He could tell me the news. I immediately called my sister and family to let them know.
“I am delighted to have my former teammate Christa Rogers join us and my cousin Aaron Vescio is honored with his basketball team.”
Bemis, a resident of Slippery Rock, was a successful three-sport athlete and cheerleader in Quaker Valley from 2006-2010.
She earned 14 college degrees, including four in track and field and cheerleading and three in gymnastics and diving.
Bemis grew from a 5’7, 98 pound freshman to a 5-5, 130 pound senior.
As a senior, she was a two-time champion and runner-up at the PIAA track finals and earned first-team laurels in all states in the long jump. She was also a two-time WPIAL and PIAA medalist in diving.
Early in her career, Bemis represented the Quakers in gymnastics, winning WPIAL and state all-around championships as a freshman and sophomore.
“I’ve always been very athletic and played several youth sports, but in high school every sport was a little different,” Bemis said. “I fell in love with gymnastics early in my life.”
Bemis dislocated an elbow during a January 2009 gymnastics competition during her junior season with QV. Basically, her 13-year gymnastics career was over.
“I tore my ulnar collateral ligament and had a lot of challenges with rehab afterwards,” she said. “I ended up not being able to fully straighten my arm for seven months after the injury and had to have surgery in August 2009 to correct that.
Bemis won the district’s 2010 Female Athlete of the Year award.
“I remember winning races at my dad’s company picnics and knew that as soon as I was old enough I wanted to run in track and field,” Bemis said. “It was my seventh grade Spanish teacher, Michael Haboush, who coached the jumps and convinced me to try the triple jump. My hurdle coach, Bill Viccari, worked with me throughout my high school career.
“My scuba instructor Lydia Holley was a classmate’s mother who encouraged me to take up scuba diving in my sophomore year. Eventually, I started cheering in middle school and stuck with it. I’ve always loved tripping and doing stunts for the soccer team.”
And of course, a highly decorated sports career brings with it a lot of outstanding, great memories.
It was important for Bemis to be able to continue the QV tradition of state hurdles competition.
As a senior, she placed first in the long jump and over 100 hurdles and second in the triple jump at the PIAA meeting. It was the tenth consecutive year that a Viccari-trained athlete became a state medalist.
“I remember finding my coaches and parents in the stands after that race and giving them a big smile and a thumbs up,” Bemis said. “It meant a lot to me to do this for my coach and to honor the athletes who came before me.”
Other fond memories for the lively Bemis include:
• In 2010, she won the PIAA long jump event by a quarter inch margin and a PR on her last jump of the competition.
• In her senior year, she flitted between hurdles and long jump events at a WPIAL qualifier. It was a rainy day and Bemis recorded what she considered to be a mediocre long jump. “I’ve won at WPIALs and states,” she said. “It’s crazy to think I almost missed a chance to compete.”
• Overcome an injury that ended a career in gymnastics – physically, mentally and emotionally – to succeed in both track and field and diving.
• Contribution to QV’s WPIAL Team Championship in 2008.
• Broke the WPIAL triple jump record as a sophomore.
After high school, the Quaker Valley product continued her prolific athletic career in Edinboro, where she was a six-time All-American, national qualifier (14 times), PSAC titlist (15 times), and All-Region drafter (18 times). was an award winner of all conferences (26 times).
Bemis competed in the long jump, triple jump, sprint, hurdles, sprint relay, and combined events at Edinboro. She broke 11 school records and was an academic All-American.
Two of her college highlights were:
• As a sophomore, he broke the 20-foot barrier in the long jump to secure the PSAC championship.
• As a junior, he won the PSAC final by a hundredth of a second and set the all-time and championship records in the 60-meter hurdles.
Bemis finished second in the long jump at national indoor championships, broke the 14-second mark (13.97) in the 100 hurdles, and earned two All-American honors in the long jump and triple jump.
“I remember being so relieved to be able to retire from a sport after giving it my all,” Bemis said. “After an injury that ended my career in gymnastics, I really struggled with what-ifs and the loss of a sport that was integral to my identity.
“Being able to go on my own terms stirred up a lot of strong emotions.”
Bemis, 31, served as an assistant at Susquehanna for four years (2018-2021). She was a careers counselor and served as an advisor to the Student-Athlete Advisory Board.
Bemis enjoys traveling, being active and spending time with friends and family. She has one sister, Amanda, who is married and recently gave birth to their first son, Isaac.
“I traveled to New Mexico in mid-August to visit my sister, her husband and my nephew,” Bemis said. “Isaac was born in June and I wanted to spend some time with them before the semester started.”
The siblings’ mother, Robin, passed away in 2020 after a five-year battle with cancer.
Her father, Frank, was one of eleven children—all Quaker Valley graduates.
Tags: Quaker Valley
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