By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Covington Catholic’s return to Class 2A in boys track and field got off to a good start when the Colonels won the team title at the state indoor championship meet in March.
On Saturday, CovCath showed why it’s among the leading contenders for the outdoor state title as well by winning the Class 2A Region 4 meet in Lexington by a wide margin.
The Colonels won six events and had nine second-place finishes to account for most of their 169 points in the eight-team region meet. Bourbon County was region runner-up with 96 points.
CovCath won the 4×200 relay and placed second in the 4×800 and 4×400 events during the meet. The winning 4×200 foursome that finished in 1:30.73 included Ethan Long, Jake Heitker, Hank Smith and Jackson Schmid.
Long, a senior sprinter, also scored 24 points with his second-place finishes in the 100, 200 and 400 dashes.
The Colonels’ region champions in individual events were junior Oliver Link in the triple jump (41-3), senior Mason Edwards in the high jump (5-8), senior Luke Meagher in the 800 run (1:59.69), junior Will Sheets in the 1600 run (4:21.50), and sophomore Joe Mayer in the 3200 run (9:53.41).
Mayer placed second behind Sheets in the 1600 run. They were also the top two finishers in the 3200 run with Mayer winning by a fraction of a second. Last fall, they were the leading runners on the CovCath cross country team that won the Class 2A state championship.
The only time CovCath won a state championship in track was 2009 in Class 2A. The Colonels competed on the Class 3A level for several years before a statewide realignment put them back in Class 2A this school year.
The only local winner in the Region 4 girls track meet on Saturday was Holmes senior Ja Nia Johnson, who cleared five feet in the high jump. Complete results from the meet are posted on the milesplit.com website.
Bracket for 9th Region baseball tournament looking very familiar
There’s a good chance the eight-team field for the 2024 9th Region baseball tournament will be the same as it was the last three years.
Seven teams secured berths in the 9th Region bracket on Saturday with victories that put them in district finals. Those teams are Ryle, Conner, Dixie Heights, St. Henry, Covington Catholic, Beechwood and Newport Central Catholic.
Highlands will play Dayton in a 36th District semifinal game on Monday to decide the other region qualifier. If Highlands wins that game, the field will be the same as it was the last three years.
Beechwood has won the last four 9th Region baseball tournaments, excluding the 2020 season when spring sports were cancelled due to the pandemic.
After the district finals, a draw will determine first-round pairings for the 9th Region tournament that’s scheduled to start on May 27 at Thomas More Stadium in Florence. A district winner will play a district runner-up in all four of the first-round games.
District finals scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday are Conner at Ryle and Dixie Heights vs. St. Henry at Ludlow. On Tuesday, Beechwood will visit CovCath at 5 p.m. and NewCath will face the Highlands-Dayton winner at 5:30 p.m. at Highlands Park.
Notre Dame graduate named volleyball league’s top defensive player
Notre Dame Academy graduate Morgan Hentz was named Libero of the Year in the Pro Volleyball Federation as a back row defensive specialist for Atlanta Vibe, the team that had the best record (19-6) in the league’s first season.
The Vibe lost in the semifinals of PVF playoffs. Hentz played in each of the team’s 94 sets this season and tallied 389 digs for a league-leading 4.14 average. She was one reason the Vibe held their opponents to a league-low .181 hitting percentage and averaged a league-best 17.9 digs per set.
Hentz, 26, is also a member of the USA Volleyball national team and spent the last two years competing with Athletes Unlimited, a unique pro league where players switch teams during a five-week season.
In high school, Hentz was named 2015 Kentucky Player of the Year after her senior season at Notre Dame. She was recruited by Stanford University and played on three NCAA Division I championship teams there.