At 8:12 p.m. Tuesday, Covington Catholic athletic director Tony Bacigalupo received a vigorous round of applause.
The reason: he announced that the Northern Kentucky Athletic Conference Division I track meet would resume after a little more than 90 minutes of weather delays.
Notre Dame and CovCath were maybe the most grateful because the Pandas and Colonels captured the all-relay girls and boys team titles. Notre Dame defeated Campbell County, 106-74, and CovCath beat Dixie Heights, 117-91.
Lightning and torrential rain were the common denominators, but some attitudes differed.
“Track coaches obsess about the weather,” Notre Dame coach Matt Hollenkamp said.
Cooper coach Eric Van Laningham admitted to frequent weather app check-ins, while CovCath coach Jeremy Mosher wears out his browser’s refresh button.
“You’re hyper aware of it,” Van Laningham said. “But I think one of the best things you can do as a coach is recognize you have to surrender control over it.”
At least one high-schooler, however, didn’t seem worried.
“We have delays like this, we have to, towards the end, we have to be ready to go back out as fast as possible,” Conner sophomore Dagon Caple said.
Hollenkamp said you only need look at Notre Dame’s t-shirts with the three-inch high word “GRIT” to figure out why the Pandas won.
“That, to us, means toughness, resiliency, fight,” Hollenkamp said.
A five-letter word – pride – is another good choice.
“We pride ourselves on being a very complete team,” Hollenkamp said. “And I think we showed that (Tuesday) from every area. I mean, sprints to mid-distance to long distance to field events.
“We won the shot put (senior Ella Goetz), second in discus (Goetz).”
Notre Dame also won the sprint medley, 4×400 and took second in the 4×800.
Mosher enjoyed the Colonels’ returning focus after last week’s spring break.
“One, they’re competitive, but two, I think we had guys that really were committed to doing work,” Mosher said.
CovCath winning the 4×800 (Joel Barczak, Luke O’Hara, Jack Salyers and Will Sheets in 8 minutes, 13.07 seconds) didn’t surprise Mosher. What he loved was O’Hara’s performance.
“O’Hara is a junior who’s had some scuffles with a stress fracture, and … he ran like an animal,” Mosher said. “Jack Salyers, he’s had an Achilles thing (that) flared up recently.”
The suspense was over relatively early. Notre Dame took a 48-34 lead over Campbell County and Ryle after 11 events, while CovCath led Dixie, 56-43, after five.
Dixie Heights boys coach Stephen Saunders, meanwhile, was overjoyed, especially after J. J. Kriger, Jared McDowell, Nishawn Golsby and Camrin O’Donnell won the 4×400 by nearly a second over CovCath.
“This will be the highest finish for our team in the 37 years I’ve been coaching,” Saunders said. “We finished third a couple of times, I think, but never second.”
A throwing trio
Dixie Heights sophomore Ari Carter is the latest in a family state champion throwers.
Carter won the state Class 3A discus title last year; she took Tuesday’s NKAC with a 108-feet, 5-inch toss.
“This wasn’t my best meet, but I’ve had a pretty rocky season so far,” she said. “I started off the season by starting around low 100s, but I’m normally throwing higher, 118 to 120. I think it definitely has to do with my form; I feel like I might be rushing it a bit much.”
Carter became the third member of her family to claim state discus championships last year. Her uncle, Simon Kenton graduate Steve Funke, won in 1991, and her mom, 1998 Pioneer alumna Patsy Funke, did it in 1998.
Loud celebrating
Ryle’s Jaz Bartlett, Stella Carpenter, Isabelle Morin and Allison Kopser won the 4×1,600 relay by a little more than two minutes over Campbell County. But you could’ve heard Kopser enthusiastically screaming in Fort Wright or Covington even though she, Carpenter, Aubrey Poore and Bartlett finished fourth in the 4×800 relay behind Campbell County, Notre Dame and Conner in 9 minutes, 58.65 seconds.
“Yeah, we were pretty excited,” Kopser said. “We’ve been wanting to break 10 all year, so getting 9:58 was a huge victory for us as a team.”
For complete results, visit ky.milesplit.com (bit.ly/4cUOqQV).
PHOTOS: NKAC Division I track and field meet at Covington Catholic (provided by Charles Bolton)
