This story originally appeared in the August 23 edition of the weekly LINK Reader. To get these stories first, subscribe here.
The fall sports season is one of the most hectic times of the year. If you blink, you’re more than likely to miss some of the action.
While Friday night lights and football take up the scene at the end of the week, what happens Mondays through Thursdays and on Saturdays can’t be ignored. Don’t worry, football fans, you’ve seen plenty of coverage from us in our online previews and in our print edition on Aug. 16. Now it’s time to focus on the other fall sports.
The word that comes to mind when thinking of fall sports programs in Northern Kentucky is quality. Whether it’s on the volleyball court, soccer field, golf course or cross country course, the schools in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties are usually among the state’s best.
Last season alone netted three team state champions in cross country, a state runner-up in volleyball and two state semifinalists in soccer. Now is the time to look forward to the 2024 season, and here are some of the fall sports storylines below.
Volleyball
11th state title for Notre Dame?
With all but one player returning from a state runner-up finish, it’s hard to fathom Notre Dame won’t be in position for an 11th state championship and a third since 2020. The Pandas finished 33-6 in 2023, went 15-0 against 9th Region opponents and dropped just two sets in the process – both to St. Henry, whose team graduated six seniors.
While the 9th Region provides some of the best volleyball in the state, the Pandas enter as the heavy favorite. They return Kentucky Volleyball Coaches Association First Team All-State member Ava Tilden. Julia Grace made the second team. Ella Goetz, Riley McCloskey and Lacy Hostetler return as key rotational players, with depth added from Lauren Ott, Audrey Dyas, Hannah Dannenberg, Grace Portwood and Lizzy Larkins.
“Across the board we have a lot of experience, some girls playing their fourth year of varsity,” Pandas co-coach Leslie Litmer said. “There’s a lot of leadership to rely on and experience at all of our positions. We won’t need to rely on certain people necessarily, and we’ll be able to spread it around a little bit and build off the success last year.
The usual suspects will offer the most resistance to the Pandas. St. Henry gets Corinne Blackburn into the fold after she had to sit out most of 2023 due to transfer eligibility. Beechwood returns all but two players from a 25-13 season, while Ryle, Holy Cross and Highlands will also be in the mix.
“It’s awesome to see how competitive across the area it has become,” Litmer said. “A lot of coaches help out in club ball and take that to their schools. No game or match will be easy. There’s so many skill sets and challenges. It helps keep us honest and stay focused on what our goals are throughout the season.”
In the 10th Region, expect Scott to be the preseason favorite as it returns nearly everyone from last season’s region runner-up finish to Campbell County. A 37th District school, which features four NKY schools in Campbell County, Scott, Bishop Brossart and Calvary Christian, has won all but one regional title since 2012 when the current region alignment began.
Simon Kenton came up a couple sets shy of its first 8th Region title, losing the championship game to South Oldham. It returns some key members of last year’s nucleus as it looks for its first state tournament bid since 1999 and first region championship in the 8th Region.
Cross Country
Will NKY’s dominance continue?
There’s no doubt about it: The high quality of distance running in the state comes from Northern Kentucky. In the Class A boys state meet, NKY schools took the top three spots in 2023. Bishop Brossart claimed the championship, while the Class A girls took five of the top nine spots and Beechwood took the crown. Covington Catholic claimed the 2A boys title, while Cooper and Conner finished in the top five of the boys 3A meet and four of the top nine girls teams in 3A came from NKY.
“Northern Kentucky is the place to run right now,” St. Henry’s Jeff Stewart said after the state meet last season. “All the Northern Kentucky schools are stacked; they’re going to be stacked for a long time. That’s across all classes.”
Don’t expect much difference this year with the programs annually producing solid results. Often the best competition for the teams in NKY are found at meets in their own backyards on their high school campus or at a local park with a course.
Soccer
Notre Dame girls, Ryle boys still teams to beat?
Notre Dame’s girls and Ryle’s boys advanced all the way to the state semifinals before seeing their seasons come to an end in 2023. While Notre Dame’s girls return a bunch from the state semifinalist squad, Ryle coach Stephen Collins didn’t stop short from calling this season a rebuild for the Raiders with some star-studded talent gone and the departure of 10 seniors.
What does that mean for the rest of the region? A level playing field, for one.
“The region is pretty open,” Collins said. “Probably potentially six or seven teams that could be there by the end of the year. There’s not any team head and shoulders better than the others.”
Covington Catholic is the lone boys state champion from NKY, winning it all in 2015. Since 1972, when the KHSAA started to keep records for boys soccer, the Colonels are the only state champ to hail from NKY. Others have been close, including CovCath in 2016 and 2021, Highlands in 2008 and 2018 and Ryle in 2006 and 2011 with runner-up finishes.
“The 9th Region is super hard, competitive and physical to get out of,” Collins said. “It wears you down. I put the 9th on par with any region out there. There’s a lot of rivalries, close distances between schools and all super competitive. Even if you’re the favorite going in, no one will take it easy on you. It’s a dogfight every night when you play region games out here.”
The girls of NKY have had a lot more success on the state level, with seven state titles since 2004. Notre Dame owns four of them, Highlands has two and St. Henry the other. Speaking of Notre Dame, they upended Highlands in the 9th Region semifinals in 2023, ending the Bluebirds’ run of four region titles over the previous five seasons. Highlands lost a lot to graduation, but Notre Dame is returning a lot of their nucleus, which makes them the undoubted favorite headed into the 2024 season.
Golf
Highlands goes for five
The Highlands boys golf team has won four straight 8th Region titles and looks poised to be atop the region once again, with five of their top seven golfers returning, including back-to-back region champ Hank Shick.
“Every year for the last 5-6 years, we try and peak at the right time,” Bluebirds coach Bert Richey said. “We play in a lot of tournaments; 80% of our dates are tourneys. That gears us up for the region tournament, and it’s worked out well.”
NKY boys golfers were nearly shut out from the state tournament last season. Newport Central Catholic’s Caleb Eaglin was the lone qualifier for the tournament and is now golfing at Northern Kentucky University.
“Last year was an anomaly. The backside of Kenton County Golf Course is really tough, got in the players heads, and they started pressing a bit and it hurt overall performance,” Richey said. “Don’t expect that to happen again. Our substate is one of the toughest in the state and we just didn’t play well as a whole.”
The NKY girls had solid showings thanks to the Cooper team. With four of the top five Lady Jags now graduated, is it still the team to beat or can Ryle or Notre Dame end the Jags’ run? Ryle returns all but one from last year’s 7th Region runner-up team, while Notre Dame is expected to have its whole team back.
Meanwhile, in the boys 7th Region, Ryle is the reigning champ and returns five of its top seven, while St. Henry is expected to be right in the mix with its top five golfers back from last season and a third place finish in the region tournament.
