By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
With seven athletes who won gold medals in last year’s state track meet returning, Brossart will be making a bid for its third consecutive Class 1A girls state championship this spring.
The Mustangs showed they’ll be a strong state contender once again on Tuesday when they won the girls team title at the Diocese of Covington Championships with two of their returning state champions leading the way.
Brossart senior Chloe Hein won the long jump and finished first in the 100 and 200 dashes at the Diocese of Covington Championships. (Photo by Bob Jackson)
Senior speedster Chloe Hein won gold medals in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and long jump. Brossart’s other triple winner was sophomore Lexi Braun in the 400 dash, 4×200 and 4×400 relays.
Braun and Hein were also members of the 4×100 relay team that placed second in the diocesan meet that included Notre Dame, a Class 3A team that placed second.
At last year’s Class 1A state meet, the Brossart girls won three relays, placed second in another and had two individual champions — Braun in the 400 and Hein in the long jump.
The team’s list of returning relay runners includes seniors Amy Klocke, Hayley Hickman and Hannah Kramer and sophomores Izzy Hummel and Kaitlyn Kramer, who won the 300 hurdles in the diocesan meet.
Northern Kentucky’s returning state champions in Class 1A boys track include Walton-Verona senior Grady Shay in 110 hurdles and Brossart juniors Ryan Clines and Nathan Ruth, who were on the winning 4×880 relay team.
Highlands junior Rilen Pinkston won the pole vault in the Class 2A boys state meet last year. The top local finisher in Class 3A was Campbell County distance runner Olivia Holbrook, who placed second in the girls 800 run as a freshman.
More than 19,000 fans watched 9th Region basketball tournaments
The 9th Region boys and girls basketball tournaments played at Truist Arena last month drew 19,460 fans, the second-highest attendance total in the history of the event, according to statistics compiled by Northern Kentucky high school athletic directors.
Newport basketball players celebrate after winning 9th Region title game. (Photo by Bob Jackson)
The region tournaments have been held at the 9,000-seat arena on the Northern Kentucky University campus 11 times in the last 12 years. The games were played at multiple sites in 2021 due to the pandemic.
The highest total attendance was 22,264 in 2019. The totals dipped to 15,056 in 2020 and 14,206 in 2022 before rebounding this year when Cooper repeated as girls region champion and Newport won its first boys title since 2010.
More than 4,000 fans watched the boys region championship game between Newport and Cooper that was decided in the final seconds.
After paying arena rental fees and other expenses, profits from boys and girls 9th Region tournament games are shared by the participating schools. Advancing teams get an extra share for each win, according to Matt Wilhoite, president of the Northern Kentucky Athletic Directors Association.
The 9th Region boys and girls tournaments were held in high school gyms before moving to the NKU arena in 2012. Fans had to be turned away at the door whenever a high school gym reached capacity, but that has never been a problem at the present site. The lowest total attendance at the college facility was 12,039 in 2012.
Scott graduate will continue her college basketball career at NKU
Mya Meredith, the third leading scorer on the Western Kentucky University women’s basketball team last season, is coming home to continue her collegiate career with the Northern Kentucky Norse.
Mya Meredith
The Scott High School graduate averaged 8.5 points and 5.0 rebounds in her second season at Western Kentucky, the runner-up in the Conference USA tournament. She had nine points, five rebounds and three assists in a season-ending loss to Kansas in the first round of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament.
Meredith was named Conference USA Freshman of the Year in 2022 when she averaged 12.7 points and 5.1 rebounds in her first season with the Hilltoppers. The 5-foot-11 guard’s two-year totals were 544 points and 367 rebounds.
In high school, Meredith was voted second-team all-state after her sophomore season at Scott when she averaged 25.2 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. She sat out her junior season following knee surgery and played in only 13 games as a senior due to another injury.
