By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Highlands freshman Maria Broering begins her leg in the 4 x 800 relay at the Class 2A state meet. (Photo by Jackson Sports Photography)
Highlands was the only local team that won an event in the Class 2A state track and field meet and none of the local qualifiers in the state tennis tournament made it past the quarterfinal round on Friday in Lexington.
Highlands needed a strong finish in the final lap of the girls’ 4 x 400 relay to edge out Boyle County by a fraction of a second in the final track event of the meet. The Bluebirds’ winning time was 4:08.94 and Boyle County finished in 4:09.00.
The four members of the state champion relay team were senior Beth Ann Griffith, juniors Savannah Brady and Sophie Steppe and freshman Adriana Mutaner. Their victory along with three third-place finishes earlier in the meet provided most of 46 points Highlands needed to finish fifth in the girls’ team standings.
The Bluebirds placed third in the 4 x 800 relay, Brady placed third in the 800 run and junior Mary Clair Redden placed third in the discus to provide 18 of their team’s points.
The Highlands boys’ team scored a total of 17 points and placed 11th in the Class 2A team standings.
The state track and field championships will resume Saturday with the Class A meet at 9 a.m. and the Class 3A meet at 4:30 p.m. Based on the results from last week’s regional qualifying meets, Northern Kentucky teams have the top-seed in 12 of the 18 Class A girls’ events.
At the state tennis tournament on Friday, Elizabeth Hamilton became the first Ryle tennis player to reach the quarterfinal round in girls’ singles, but her season ended there with a 6-1, 6-4 loss to Priya Sukkanha of Oneida Baptist Institute.
Jared Haught and Benito Trojini of Covington Catholic made it to the quarterfinals as the No. 3 seed in the boys’ doubles bracket and were upset by Brody Bilderback and Tanner Sparks of West Jessamine, 6-1, 6-4.
CovCath singles players Anthony Bosch and Matt Cook and both of Notre Dame’s doubles teams — Kylie Moellering-Katherine Meadows and Isabel Bailey-Josephine Meyer-Hogan — were eliminated in the round of 16.
