By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Campbell County tennis player Natalie Smith claimed her second 10th Region girls singles championship on Monday after winning four matches in straight sets during the tournament. Two of her teammates — Sydney Melton and Isabella McDowell — rolled through the doubles bracket without losing a set in four matches as well.
With those eight victories leading the way, the Camels finished on top in the girls team standings to sweep all three 10th Region tournament titles for the first time in the history of the program.
Campbell County tennis coach Marca Dawn, center, poses for photos with team members, left to right, Annika White, Natalie Smith, Sydney Melton and Isabella McDowell.
Campbell County coach Marca Dawn said her players wanted to do something special this spring after the 2020 tennis season was cancelled due to the pandemic.
“These girls have gone out on the court and earned every win they’ve had,” Dawn said. “I am proud of everything they have accomplished. They have worked hard to get where they are and deserve every bit of praise.”
Smith and the Melton-McDowell doubles duo lived up to their No. 1 seeds in the region tournament.
The Camels picked up the additional points they needed to take the team title from fourth-seeded Annika White getting to the semifinals in singles and unseeded Madison Copes and Anna Maren making it to the final four in the doubles bracket.
All six of the Campbell County players qualified to compete in the state tournament that begins Tuesday at the University of Kentucky tennis complex in Lexington. Two years ago, Smith, White, Melton and McDowell all lost in the opening round of the state tournament. They’re determined to do better this time.
“Nothing about this team has surprised me this year,” coach Dawn said. “They are an amazing group of young ladies.”
Other state tournament qualifiers from the 10th Region include Sofia Allen and Elise Henderson of Scott, the runner-up in girls doubles, and Campbell County junior Nick Whittrock, a semifinalist in boys singles.
Wrestler raising funds to compete in world championships
Walton-Verona senior wrestler Spencer Moore has created a GoFundMe page to raise money for him to compete in the Cadet Freestyle World Championships July 14-21 in Budapest, Hungary. The trip and world team training camps are expenses he needs to cover without the aid of USA Wrestling.
Spencer Moore
A two-time state high school champion, Moore showed why he’s among the top-ranked wrestlers in the country by winning the 55 kilograms (120 pounds) weight class at the Cadet Freestyle National Championships in April.
Now he has the opportunity to represent his country in an international tournament before starting his college career at the University of North Carolina.
Moore was named the state’s top senior wrestler by the Kentucky Wrestling Coaches Association after winning his second straight state championship to cap a perfect 27-0 season. He was also named 8th Region Athlete of the Year across all sports by athletic directors in that region.
Moore is an outstanding student who tested out of his junior year to join this year’s graduating class at Walton-Verona. He has a 4.0 grade-point average and is ranked among the top five in the senior class. He plans to study actuarial science at North Carolina.
Ryle graduate joins college basketball team to stay with coach
Ryle graduate Lauren Schwartz will transfer to the University of Washington and continue her college basketball career with the coach who recruited her.
Schwartz played for coach Tina Langley at Rice University the last two seasons. A few weeks ago, Langley was hired as Washington’s head coach and Schwartz decided to join her there.
“I am blessed and grateful that coach Langley and the staff at the University of Washington gave me this opportunity,” Schwartz said in a press release. “I’ve heard so many great things and I can’t wait to be a part of it.”
Schwartz started in all 56 games over the last two seasons for Rice, averaging 11.2 points and 4.2 rebounds. The Owls had a 44-12 record and won the 2021 National Women’s Invitational Tournament with the 5-foot-11 forward in the lineup.
Washington is a member of the PAC-10 Conference. One of its conference rivals is Oregon, a nationally ranked team that had Ryle graduate Maddie Scherr in the starting lineup at the end of last season. Schwartz and Scherr were teammates on Ryle’s 2019 state championship team.
Highlands names new head coach for girls soccer program
Chris Norris is the new head coach of the Highlands girls soccer team that won the last three 9th Region championships and made it to the state finals in 2018 and 2019.
Norris will replace Alex Dean, who compiled a 58-11-7 record over the last three seasons as head coach of the Bluebirds. He left the program to take a coaching position at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati.
Norris lists 31 years of coaching experience on his resume, including 11 at the high school level. He was the boys head soccer coach at Boone County from 2015 to 2019 and coached select teams for Fusion FC. He played soccer for Northern Kentucky University and earned three varsity letters.
