By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Dixie Heights didn’t have many gold medal winners in the Class 3A, Region 5 track and field meet on Wednesday, but the Colonels finished on top in both the boys and girls team standings at Scott High School.
The Dixie Heights girls won a tight three-team battle for first place with 106 points, followed by Campbell County with 99 and Notre Dame with 95. The top three in the boys standings were Dixie Heights 134.5, Cooper 85 and Ryle 84.
The only event winners for the Dixie Heights girls team were senior Emily Bruns in the 300-meter hurdles and sophomore Ari Carter in the discus.
The Colonels netted 48 points with six second-place finishes. Five of those came in individual events with sophomores Tatja Andracenko and London Williams both placing second twice.
Campbell County senior Olivia Holbrook took home four gold medals. The Ohio State University recruit won the 800 and 1600 runs and was a member of the winning 4×800 and 4×400 relay teams.
Simon Kenton junior Alexis Howard was also a triple winner in the 100 dash, long jump and triple jump. Cooper sprinters Carys Colgan, Lyric Hooper, Olivia Haswell and Chris Nowak won the 4×100 and 4×200 sprint relays with Haswell earning another gold medal in the 400 dash.
The Dixie Heights boys opened their region meet with a victory on the 4×800 relay and picked up points in 15 of the next 17 events to compile the highest team total.
The Colonels’ other first-place finishers were Brennan Simpson in the 400 dash, Nicholas Kopp in the 800 run and Carson Hehman in the shot put. They also placed second in three relays and four individual events.
Nathan Verax, quarterback on Ryle’s state runner-up football team last fall, won gold medals in the 100 dash, 4×200 relay and 4×100 relay in the region meet.
Another triple-winner was Simon Kenton senior Brayden Polly in the long jump, triple jump and high jump. He played on the Pioneers’ basketball team that posted a 24-7 record.
Two of the state’s best distance runners faced each other in region races. Cooper junior Paul Van Laningham won the 1600 run ahead of Grant County senior Lincoln Herald, but the order of finish was reversed in the 3200 run.
At the Class 3A boys state country meet last October, Van Laningham crossed the finish line first and Herald came in third.
Complete results from the Class 3A, Region 5 meet are posted on the khsaa.org website.