By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
A couple of tight scoring battles decided regional champions in Northern Kentucky high school sports. One point was the winning margin in a regional track meet on Thursday and a regional tennis match ended in a tiebreaker on Friday.
Brossart won the boys team title in the Class 1A regional track meet, 119-118, over Walton-Verona. The Mustangs had the top finisher in only four of 18 events, but they placed well enough in others to get the points they needed to finish on top.
The dual winners for Brossart were senior Jordan Moore in the 110 and 300 hurdles and Joe Curtsinger in the 1600 and 3200 runs. Both of them were also members of relay teams that placed second.
St. Henry won the Class 1A girls regional title by a 129-103 margin over Newport Central Catholic. The top performer for St. Henry was senior Natalie Pope, who won the 100 and 200 dashes and placed third in the 400. The Crusaders also scored more than 50 points in six field events.
In the 9th Region girls tennis finals, Cooper sophomore Ellie Zurieck got past Covington Latin eighth-grader Sara Watanabe, 2-6, 7-5, 10-8, to repeat as singles champion. In last year’s final, Zureick defeated Watanabe in straight sets.
Ryle seniors Elizabeth Hamilton and Hailemae Laurino defeated Grace Eberhard and Aly Ellerman of Conner, 6-0, 6-2, to win the regional girls doubles title for the second straight year. Notre Dame finished on top in the team standings.
The 9th Region boys tennis tournament has semifinal matches scheduled on Saturday at Covington Catholic. Singles will begin at 9 a.m. with doubles at 10:30 a.m.
The singles match-ups are defending champion Toshi Watanabe of Covington Latin vs. Peter Laskey of Highlands and Kazu Watanabe of Covington Latin vs. Evan Gardner of CovCath.
In doubles, defending champions Benito and Christiano Trojani of CovCath will play John Michael Schulte and Yamaan Ahmed of Villa Madonna. The other semifinal match will be Cole Januski and Snyder of Ryle vs. Luke McHale and David Schlachter of CovCath.