By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
One of the longest reigns as regional champion in Northern Kentucky high school sports came to an end Saturday when Bishop Brossart claimed the first-place trophy in the Class A girls’ regional cross country meet at Ryle High School.
St. Henry had won the small-school regional meet for 17 consecutive years, but the top three team scores on Saturday were Brossart 35, Walton-Verona 52 and St. Henry 71.
The Mustangs won the team title with a solid pack of runners who followed each other across the finish line. The team leader was sophomore Maria Klocke, who placed fifth overall. The next four finishers for Brossart were junior Rebecca Schroer, seventh-grader Amy Klocke, eighth-grader Claire Curtsinger and junior Ashley Beck.
This is the first time that Brossart has won a girls’ regional cross country title under long-time coach Dave Schuh. The Mustangs finished second behind St. Henry in the team standings four times in the last six years.
Newport Central Catholic freshman Abby Jones won the Class A girls’ regional race for the second straight year with a time of 21:16.10 on the soggy 5,000-meter course.
St. Henry took the Class A boys’ team title for the third straight year with senior Ethan Snyder the leading the way. He won the boys’ race in 16:59.50 to repeat as individual champion.
Highlands placed first in the Class 2A girls’ regional meet for the sixth consecutive season. Ryle won the Class 3A girls’ championship with two eighth-graders, two freshman and a junior in the lineup.
In the closest race of the day, Campbell County senior Sidney Reagor came in four seconds ahead of Simon Kenton junior Sophie DeLisio for first place in the Class 3A girls’ meet.
Covington Catholic came out on top in a tight scoring battle for the Class 3A boys’ regional title. The Colonels finished with 52 points, followed by Cooper with 54 and Conner with 60. Thirteen of the first 16 runners across the finish line were from those three teams.
Simon Kenton senior Kyle Mastin won the boys’ large-school race for the second consecutive year. He covered 5,000 meters in 16:58.30, the fastest time of the day.
CovCath senior Owen Piatt placed fifth overall in 17:19 and four of his teammates finished within the next 25 seconds to post the lowest team total. The Colonels’ other scoring runners were senior Nick Eten (ninth), junior Michael Kessans (11th), senior Will Akin (13th) and junior Will Tate (14th).
The last time CovCath won a regional cross country championship was 2013 when the Colonels competed on the Class 2A level. They moved up to Class 3A in 2015 and placed second behind Cooper in the last two regional meets.
The state cross country championship meet will be Saturday at Kentucky Horse Park. St. Henry has won the Class A girls’ state title the last six years and the Crusaders want to continue that streak even though they faltered in the regional meet.
The schedule of races for Saturday’s season finale is: Class A girls, 9:30 a.m.; Class A boys, 10:15 a.m.; Class 2A girls, 11:30 a.m.; Class 2A boys, 12:15 p.m.; Class 3A girls, 1:30 p.m.; Class 3A boys, 2:15 p.m.