There’s an interesting look at Kentucky high school sports released this week by the USA TODAY High School Sports Wire. And maybe even more interesting for those of us here in Northern Kentucky.
Using data from Niche Survey Statistics, they came up with the Top 25 high school sports programs in Kentucky. The data combined students’ and parents’ feedback, state championship numbers, participation of students in sports and the number of sports offered along with data from the U.S. Department of Education and here’s what they came up with.
For Northern Kentucky, with some 400,000 population, just about 10 percent of Kentucky’s total of 4,000,000, there’s lots of good news in the Top 25 list here.
25. Louisville Central High Magnet Career Academy
24. Danville High School
23. St. Henry District High School
22. McCracken County High School
21. Larry A. Ryle High School
20. Central Hardin High School
19. Bullitt East High School
18. Scott County High School
17. Lexington Christian Academy
16. Warren East High School
15. Louisville DeSales High School
14. Beechwood High School
13. Johnson Central High School
12. Boyle County High School
11. Highlands High School
10. Louisville Mercy Academy
9. Notre Dame Academy
8. Lexington Catholic High School
7. Covington Catholic High School
6. Louisville Assumption High School
5. Owensboro Catholic High School
4. Louisville Male High School
3. Louisville Sacred Heart Academy
2. Louisville Trinity High School
1. Louisville Saint Xavier High School
There you have them. Some immediate reactions.
Do the math and there are six Northern Kentucky high schools here, which is 24 percent of the Top 25 total representing just a 10th of the population. Great job for our schools here.
One program that seems like an obvious miss is that of Cooper High School that not only qualified teams for both the boys’ and girls’ Sweet 16’s this year but also had its football team in the state championship game in Class 5A.
No arguing with the top two – No. 1 St. Xavier and No. 2 Trinity. They’re pretty much in a class by themselves in the breadth and quality of the two large boys’ private schools’ programs in Louisville.
I might quibble with the idea that say, an Owensboro Catholic has a better all-around program than CovCath does. Or that Beechwood and Highlands aren’t in the Top 10 with Notre Dame and CovCath. But they’re close. And I think they got the order correct. And the three/three split between public and private schools also reflects the reality here.
Looking at the rest of the state, you have to be impressed that Danville has two schools in the Top 25 in Boyle County and Danville.
And with McCracken County in Paducah repping far western Kentucky and Johnson Central in Paintsville stepping up for eastern Kentucky, the survey does feature the length and breadth of the state.
But there is this, and it’s one of the mysteries over the past half-century in the Commonwealth: What’s the deal with Lexington? Just two schools here, both private, in Lexington Christian and Lexington Catholic. What about Lafayette, Bryan Station, Tates Creek, Dunbar, Douglass. There’s a tradition there for the large public schools in Lexington that seems to have vanished. With a population of more than 320,000 in Fayette County, and home to SEC program UK, Lexington seems to be the serious underperformer in the state.
With eight of the Top 25, it’s no surprise that Louisville dominates, as you’d expect, with its population of 795,000 – just about a fifth of the state. But for Northern Kentucky to come so close with just half the population is pretty much a strong statement of how much sports matter here.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.