By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Dixie Heights freshman Alyssa Bechtol took a different path to her second consecutive Region 6 singles championship in girls bowling than she did last season.
Bechtol entered Monday’s region finals at Bellewood Lanes in Newport as the No. 4 seed in the singles stepladder bracket and had to win three matches to repeat as region champion. Last year, she was the No. 1 seed and needed only one victory to take the title as an eighth-grader.
Based on five-game qualifying pin totals, the No. 1 seed on Monday was Cooper senior Alexis Tignor. That put her in the region final for the third consecutive year, but she lost to Bechtol, 199-163, in the championship match.
Both region finalists qualify for the state tournament along with Abree Young of Dixie Heights and Ashlee Bolton of Cooper.
In the Region 6 boys singles final, Boone County junior Maddox Kurlya defeated classmate Lucas Hug, 204-189, to win his first title after placing third last year. The other state qualifiers in the boys stepladder bracket were Tyler Ketron of Cooper and Dylan Davis of Covington Catholic.
The Region 6 team champions were decided last week with the Covington Catholic boys and Dixie Heights girls taking those titles. They qualify for the state team tournament along with the region runner-up Holy Cross boys and Boone County girls teams.
Aggie Celiz-Hernandez and Quinton Keith of Beechwood won the Unified Team Bracket region title to advance to the state tournament in that division.
The Region 5 tournament that includes local bowlers had its team tournaments on Tuesday and scheduled its singles tournaments on Feb. 3 at Bellewood Lanes. The state tournaments will be Feb. 10 (boys), Feb. 11 (girls) and Feb. 12 (unified) at Kingpin Lanes in Louisville.
Simon Kenton girls among state RPI leaders
With nine games remaining on its regular season schedule, the Simon Kenton girls basketball team had the third highest Ratings Percentage Index in the state on Tuesday as its prepared for a huge home game against Cooper, the three-time defending 9th Region champion, that’s set for 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
Simon Kenton raised its record to 14-3 with a 56-27 win over Walton-Verona on Monday that clinched the top seed in the 32nd District tournament. Cooper (12-4) had won six in a row before losing to Franklin County, 48-38, last Saturday.
On Tuesday, Simon Kenton had a .702 RPI, a system that ranks teams according to won-loss record and strength of schedule. Two of the Pioneers’ three losses came in close games against teams that are also among the state’s RPI leaders.
They came up three points short in road games against No. 1 North Laurel, 42-39, on Jan. 16 and against No. 4 Franklin-Simpson, 48-45, on Dec. 22.
Cooper has a .667 RPI that ranked third in the 9th Region behind Holy Cross (.692) and Notre Dame (.686) on Tuesday. The Jaguars defeated Simon Kenton by double-digit margins the last three years, but they came into this season with four first-year starters in the lineup.
Thursday’s game will feature two of best sophomore guards in the area. Haylee Noel of Cooper is averaging 14.6 points and 7.7 rebounds. Brynli Pernell of Simon Kenton averaged 15.3 points in her team’s first 15 games with 36 of her 78 field goals coming from 3-point range.
State champion’s mom selected for hall of fame
Three months after her son won a state championship in cross country, Michele Marshall Van Laningham will be inducted into the Kentucky Track & Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame for her exceptional career as a distance runner for Boone County High School.
Cooper junior Paul Van Laningham finished first in the Class 3A boys state meet on Nov. 1 at Kentucky Horse Park. The hall of fame induction ceremony is scheduled for Feb. 2 in Lexington.
That’s when Michele will be honored for winning nine Class 3A state championships — two in girls cross country and seven in 1,600 and 3,200 girls track events — while she was a student at Boone County.
Michele graduated in 1993 and continued her running career at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. When she returned to Northern Kentucky, she coached region championship teams in girls cross country and track at Notre Dame Academy from 2001-2004.
Michele’s husband, Eric Van Laningham, is head coach of the Cooper cross country program. He was a state champion distance runner on the Boone County boys cross country and track teams and graduated in 1992.
Baseball coaches inducted into hall of fame
Boone County baseball coach Wayne Huff and former Simon Kenton baseball coach Troy Roberts were inducted into the Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame during its annual convention earlier this month.
Huff has compiled a 238-212 record as Boone County’s head coach over the last 15 seasons, excluding the 2020 season that was cancelled due to covid restrictions. He previously coached at Silver Grove and has won more than 300 career wins.
Roberts resigned as Simon Kenton’s head coach last summer with a 269-170 record and three 8th Region championships in 12 years. He was named Kentucky’s 2014 Coach of the Year after taking the Pioneers to their first state championship game that year.
Roberts was head coach at Scott for 11 years before coming to Simon Kenton and has more than 400 career wins.