By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
In the final round of a three-year rivalry, Ryle senior Landon Isler outscored Covington Catholic senior Jacob Larkin to win the gold medal in boys 1-meter springboard diving at the state championship meet on Thursday at the University of Kentucky’s Lancaster Aquatics Center.
Isler won his first state title with a total score of 554.15 in the 11-dive finals and was only eight points better than Larkin’s 546.15 total. In the previous two state meets, Larkin placed third and Isler placed second and fifth.
Cooper senior Peytton Moore won the girls diving title for the third time in four years with a total score of 537.70 in Thursday’s finals. Her margin of victory was just 0.45 points over Madison Southern senior Reagan Patterson’s 537.25 scoring total.
Moore broke the girls state record that Patterson set last year when the same two girls finished first and second. Patterson won by a 0.20 margin to take that state title after Moore won the gold medal in both 2021 and 2022.
There were 16 divers in both the boys and girls finals. The other local girls among the top finishers were Grace Hedger of Campbell County (fifth) and Chris Nowack of Cooper (eighth). Sam Baker of St. Henry was seventh in the boys standings.
High school swimmers will compete for state championships Friday and Saturday at the UK aquatics center.
Times from three qualifying meets were used to seed swimmers in each event for the state championships. Notre Dame sophomore Sadie Hartig is seeded second in the girls 500 freestyle. The No. 3 seeds include Ryle sophomore Chase Knauf in the boys 200 freestyle and Highlands in the girls 400 freestyle relay.
Holy Cross player enters playoffs as state’s best free throw shooter
Holy Cross sophomore guard Luke Arlinghaus sat out five or his team’s last six regular season games with a foot injury, but he still has the best free throw percentage in Kentucky boys high school basketball.
To qualify for that stat list, a player has to average at least three free throw attempts per game. In his team’s first 22 games, Arlinghaus converted 67 of 72 foul shots for 93.1 percent to move into the top spot. He maintained the same percentage by going 1 for 2 at the line in his first game back on Thursday.
Going into Thursday’s games, four of the five players behind Arlinghaus had taken between 87 and 232 free throws, but the highest percentage among them was 90.1 by Trent Noah of Harlan County.
Arlinghaus returned to practice this week and scored five points in his team’s 56-52 win over St. Henry on Thursday. He’s expected to be in the starting lineup for next week’s game against Beechwood in the 35th District semifinals on Wednesday at Holmes. The winner of that game will advance to the 9th Region tournament.
Two weeks ago, Beechwood defeated Holy Cross, 66-64, in overtime. That was the first game Arlinghaus missed due to the foot injury. At that time, he was averaging 12.9 points and he still leads his team in 3-point goals with 45.
If Arlinghaus ends the season with the state’s best free throw percentage, it will be the third straight year that a Holy Cross boys basketball player finished on top in statewide statistics. Jacob Meyer had the state’s highest scoring average the last two seasons playing for the Indians.
Former varsity assistant takes charge of Holy Cross football program
Curt Spencer is the new head coach of the Holy Cross High School football program that he has been involved with for the last seven years. He was a high school football official before he started coaching for the Indians.
According to the Holy Cross press release, Spencer was a varsity assistant coach in charge of linebackers from 2017 to 2021 and in recent years helped with the middle school feeder program that won an 8th grade championship in 2023.
“I look forward to continue to build the program and working with the Holy Cross community,” Spencer said in the press release.
Spencer is replacing Bruce Kozerski, who spent the last 20 seasons as the Holy Cross head coach. His teams compiled an 84-144 record and the Indians won the Class 2A state championship in 2011.
Last season, Holy Cross posted a 5-6 record with nine seniors on its 34-player roster. The team’s leading rusher and scorer was freshman Ulysses Porter, who picked up 928 yards and scored 110 points.
Proposed football realignment would restore local district rivalry
Highlands and Covington Catholic will be district rivals in football once again if a proposed high school football realignment is approved by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association at its meeting in May.
The realignment would not take place until 2025, so everything will remain the same next season. If the proposed plan is approved, Highlands will be in a six-team Class 4A district with CovCath, Holmes, Grant County, Harrison County and Mason County for the 2025 through 2028 seasons.
That would leave Cooper, Conner, Boone County, Dixie Heights and Scott in the Class 5A district. The Class 1A and Class 6A districts that include Northern Kentucky teams would remain the same. But Lloyd will be in a new Class 3A district with Bourbon County, Carroll County, Pendleton County and Henry County.
St. Henry will play its first varsity season in 2025 as a member of a realigned Class 2A district that also includes Beechwood, Walton-Verona, Bracken County, Gallatin County and Owen County.