By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Two of Simon Kenton’s top wrestlers are sidelined by early season injuries, but the team still managed to win the Northern Kentucky Athletic Conference Championships on Thursday at Cooper High School.
The Pioneers scored 33 points in the medal round of the one-day tournament to come out on top in the 11-team standings with 156 total points. Dixie Heights placed second with 144.5.
“All of my guys have been working really hard (in practice),” said Simon Kenton coach Steve Kaiser. “They’ve been showing up every day and putting in the work and it’s paying off for all of them. We had some teaching moments (Thursday) too, but that’s good. It’s still early.”
Without returning state qualifiers Dante Castellano and Salim Mardis in the lineup, Kaiser was glad the conference tournament had a round-robin format instead of the standard double-elimination bracket. Wrestlers got to compete in multiple matches in the early rounds and earn more points.
When the medal round started, the top five teams in the standings were all within 13 points of each other. The Pioneers came out on top by winning three first-place matches and two third-place matches.
Two of Simon Kenton’s conference champions were seniors Casey Cornett at 170 pounds and Elijah Jackson at 182. Both of them were state qualifiers last year and Cornett won a state championship.
The other Simon Kenton wrestler who won a gold medal Thursday was sophomore Migdoel Ocasio at 106. He came into the conference championships with a renewed sense of confidence after placing fifth in his weight class at a major tournament in Ohio last weekend.
“He learned a lot about himself up there and what it takes to win,” Kaiser said. “I think he’s going to do some big things this year, but we’ll see.”
Three matches in the championship round were decided by one point and another went into overtime. Dixie Heights teammates Jacob Peters and Kairus Washington won the last two matches to get the points the Colonels needed to place second in the team standings.
Campbell County’s eight-year run as conference champion ended with the Camels finishing in fifth place. Three Campbell County wrestlers made it to the championship finals, but Brady Wells is the only one who scored. Tanner Yenter, the team’s returning state champion, did not compete in the tournament.
TEAM SCORES
Simon Kenton 156, Dixie Heights 144.5, Scott 143, Ryle 141, Campbell County 130.5, Cooper 124.5, Newport 77.5, Boone County 43.5, Covington Catholic 38.5, Conner 32, Holmes 25.
WEIGHT CLASS FINALS
106 — Migdoel Ocasio (Simon Kenton) dec. Joey Delong (Dixie Heights), 11-3.
113 — Shay Horton (Ryle) dec. Brenden Pye (Scott), 6-5.
120 — Seth Lutes (Scott) dec. Thomas Ketchen-Carter (Campbell County), 8-7.
126 — Brady Wells (Campbell County) pinned Jackson Belk (Ryle), 5:59.
132 — Aaron Brossart (Ryle) dec. Collin Barrett (Campbell County), 6-4 OT.
138 — Travis Coovert (Boone County) dec. Clayton Boyd (Conner), 5-4.
145 — Zach Holub (Cooper) dec. Noah Duke (Ryle), 10-1.
152 — Cody Huston (Cooper) dec. Cody Roland (Scott), 13-1.
160 — James Barrie (Dixie Heights) def. Jared Kelsay (Scott), injury withdrawal.
170 — Casey Cornett (Simon Kenton) pinned Kaleb Campbell (Cooper), 1:39.
182 — Elijah Jackson (Simon Kenton) def. Jake Vollbrecht (Ryle), best record in round-robin matches.
195 — Daylan Bailey (Cooper) pinned Cody Lonkard (Ryle), 4:21.
220 — Jacob Peters (Dixie Heights) pinned Nathan Justice (Scott), 2:39.
285 — Kairus Washington (Dixie Heights) dec. Dalton Holliday (Simon Kenton), 7-2.
Ohmer is first Scott boys’ basketball player to reach 2,000 points
Scott basketball player Jake Ohmer put his career scoring total over the 2,000 mark Thursday when he netted 21 points during his team’s 67-57 win over Aiken in the consolation round of the Simon Kenton Invitational.
Ohmer now has 2,003 points in his four-year varsity career at Scott. The 5-foot-10 guard has scored 40 or more points in three games this season and he’s one of the leading scorers in the state with a 30.1 average.
Ohmer was the leading scorer in Northern Kentucky the last two seasons, averaging 26.2 and 22.2 points per game. In addition to being the all-time leading scorer for the Scott boys’ basketball program, he set a single-game team record last season by getting 54 points against Clark County.
Scott will take a 6-2 record into its game against Highlands at 3:45 p.m. today at Simon Kenton. Next week, the Eagles will play in the Tradition Bank Holiday Classic at Lexington Catholic High School.
CovCath players named to King of Bluegrass all-tournament team
Covington Catholic guards Cole VonHandorf and C.J. Fredrick were both named to the King of the Bluegrass all-tournament team after the Colonels placed third in the annual early season showcase for the state’s top boys’ basketball teams.
CovCath lost to Louisville Trinity in the semifinals on Monday and defeated Bowling Green in the third-place game on Tuesday to finish the tournament with a 3-1 record. In their team’s four games, Fredrick scored 102 points and shot 63.1 percent (36 of 57) from the field while VonHandorf netted 82 points and shot 56.6 percent (30 of 53).
Cooper senior guard Sean McNeil was also named to the King of the Bluegrass all-tournament team. He had three-game totals of 56 points and 23 rebounds for the Jaguars.
CovCath has compiled a 100-17 record with VonHandorf in the lineup over the last four years. He recently moved into second place on the Colonels’ career scoring list with 1,820 points. If he maintains his current 17.6 scoring average, he’ll break the existing team record of 1,980 points and become the first CovCath player to score 2,000 points.
That’s My Boy nominees on hold until all-state teams are announced
Northern Kentucky high school football coaches are waiting for the Courier Journal newspaper in Louisville to publish its all-state teams before announcing this year’s finalists for the Brian Williams That’s My Boy Award.
The winner of the prestigious award is the player who scores the highest in a rating system that assigns points for achievements in football, academics and extra-curricular activities.
Points are awarded to a player selected to an all-state team so the nominating process can’t be completed without that information, according to Dave Brossart, president of the Northern Kentucky Football Coaches Association.
The award is named for Brian Williams, a former recipient who played football at Covington Catholic High School. He was killed in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City.
This year’s winner will be announced during the Greater Cincinnati Chapter of the National Football Foundation banquet on Feb. 28.