By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Senior guards Jacob Meyer and Evan Ipsaro were voted the top two boys basketball players in Northern Kentucky in a preseason poll of local coaches and they’ve certainly lived up to expectations during the first two weeks of the season.
Meyer is averaging 33.6 points and 10 rebounds for the Holy Cross Indians, who are off to a 4-1 start. Ipsaro has team-high averages of 27.4 points, 6.6 assists and 5.8 rebounds for the 5-0 Covington Catholic Colonels.
Jacob Meyer
Evan Ipsaro
Those two players will be going against each other on Tuesday when Holy Cross visits CovCath in a 35th District seeding game. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
CovCath has won the last 12 games between the two teams. That streak began with a 62-41 win in the 2016 35th District final
The closest margin in any game since then was 16 points. Last season, the Colonels defeated the Indians 87-45 in the regular season and 96-57 in the district final.
Meyer scored 31 points in last year’s district final and ended the season as the state’s leading scorer with a 38.2 average. He picked up where he left off this season, scoring 33, 35, 29, 34 and 37 points in the Indians’ first five games.
Ipsaro has netted 30 points or more in three of CovCath’s first five victories. Last season, he had the state’s second highest free throw shooting percentage at 90.2 and he converted 32 of 36 foul shots for 88.9 percent in the first five games this season.
Based on statistics posted on the khsaa.org website, the top five scorers in 9th Region boys basketball going into the third week of the season are Meyer (33.6), Ludlow senior guard Jaxson Rice (33.2), Beechwood senior guard Cameron Boyd (28.0), Ipsaro (27.4) and Highlands senior guard Will Herald (24.0).
Herald is shooting 55.4 percent (41 of 74) from the field overall and 48.9 percent (23 of 47) from behind the 3-point line for the 5-0 Bluebirds, who are averaging 89.6 points and 12.2 3-point goals per game.
Ludlow upgrading historic stadium with synthetic turf, new track
Ludlow High School plans to upgrade historic James Rigney Stadium with a new synthetic turf field and track, according to a photo posted on the high school website that reads “Coming in 2023.”
The Ludlow Board of Education approved four motions for stadium improvements at its meeting on Dec. 8, according to minutes posted on the Ludlow Independent Schools website.
The synthetic turf will be red with black borders to match the school colors. The estimated cost of the project is $900,000, according to superintendent Randy Borchers.
The 85-year-old stadium was built by the federal Works Progress Administration during the New Deal and dedicated in 1937. It was named in memory of a Ludlow High School student who died in an automobile accident earlier that year.
Ludlow is one of the few local high schools that still had a natural grass field. A few weeks ago, Lloyd High School launched a $3.3 million project to install synthetic turf on Cecil Dees Field along with new bleachers and a new track.
Senior on St. Henry girls soccer team receives All-America honors
St. Henry soccer player Amanda Schlueter is one of 62 high school girls from across the nation to receive All-America honors for the 2022 fall season from the United Soccer Coaches organization.
Schlueter was one of 36 forwards on the girls All-America list. She was the leading scorer in Northern Kentucky with 77 points (35 goals, seven assists) for the St. Henry team that made it to the 9th Region semifinals and finished with a 13-2-6 record.
A first-team all-state selection for Regions 9-16, Schlueter will continue her soccer career at Ohio State University next fall.
