By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Northern Kentucky high school swimmers have the top-seeded times in six boys and four girls events going into a state qualifying meet on Saturday at Scott High School.
Swimmers were seeded according to times recorded in the Region 7, 8 and 9 meets. Based on those times, Ryle senior Chase Knopf and Notre Dame sophomore Clare Herfel are each expected to walk away with three gold medals on Saturday.
Herfel has top-seeded times in the girls 200-yard freestyle (1:49.27) and 500 freestyle (4:52.35). She’s also a member of the top-seeded Notre Dame 400 freestyle relay team (3:35.83).
Last year, Herfel was the only local swimmer who won a state championship medal. She finished first in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:51.22 at the season finale.
Knopf enters Saturday’s qualifier with the fastest times in the boys 200 freestyle (1:39.63) and 500 freestyle (4:27.81). He’s also a member of the top-seeded Ryle 200 freestyle relay team (1:27.13). Knopf placed second in the 500 freestyle at last year’s state meet.
The other top-seeds going into Saturday’s state qualifier are Notre Dame in the girls 200 medley relay (1:49.40), Highlands in the boys 200 medley relay (1:37.04), CovCath junior Andrew Boh in the boys 200 individual medley (1:55.37) and Ryle sophomore Tyler Rice in the boys 100 breaststroke (58.93).
There will be two heat-timed finals in each individual and relay event. The top three finish times will automatically qualify for the state meet. At-large berths will be determined by comparing times posted at all three state qualifying meets.
The two-day state championship meet at the University of Kentucky is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 20 (boys ) and Saturday, Feb. 21 (girls). Last year, Notre Dame placed second in the girls state meet. Ryle was third in the boys team standings and had the highest combined point total in boys and girls events.
Campbell County bowlers sweep Region 5 team titles
Campbell County bowling teams swept Region 5 titles and Notre Dame won its first Region 6 girls championship in local post-season tournaments.
Campbell County teams defeated the Highlands girls, 3-1, and Newport Central Catholic boys, 3-2, in the Region 5 finals. Pendleton County had won the boys title the last five years and Highlands was the girls defending champion.
Pendleton County sophomore Kree Brewer won the Region 5 girls singles title for the third straight year by outscoring Lyssa Mullins of Dayton, 174-134, in the final.
The boys singles champion was Pendleton County junior Braden Brann, who defeated Tyler Blume of Simon Kenton, 232-181, in their title match.
In Region 6 team competition on Monday, Notre Dame defeated Boone County, 3-0, in the girls team final. The Pandas were the top-seeded team in the bracket after getting the highest pin total in qualifying games.
Covington Catholic was the No. 1 seed in the boys bracket and defeated Lloyd, 3-1, to repeat as team champion. The Colonels were on the verge of elimination in the semifinals before getting the high score in the last three games to pull out a 3-2 win over St. Henry.
The Region 5 boys and girls singles tournaments are scheduled for Thursday at Bellewood Lanes. The top two teams and top four singles bowlers in each region advance to the state tournament Feb. 9-11 at Kingpin Lanes in Louisville.
State tournament qualifiers in the Unified Teams bracket were Beechwood and Dixie Heights in Region 6 and two Pendleton County teams in Region 5.
Holy Cross grad surpasses 1,000-point mark in college
Holy Cross graduate Jacob Meyer was a double-figure scorer in five straight games for the Alabama-Birmingham basketball team that takes a 14-8 record into a home game against American Conference rival Memphis on Thursday.
The junior guard started his scoring run with a season-high 29 points against East Carolina on Jan. 11. It ended last Saturday when he got nine points against North Texas. His current average is 13.8, the second highest on the team. He has scored 1,057 points in three college seasons.
Meyer played for DePaul and Coastal Carolina before transferring to UAB. He scored 3,280 points during his high school career to set a 9th Region record.