When the Northern Kentucky University men’s basketball team returns to action Dec. 29 at Purdue-Fort Wayne, the Norse will be without starting guard Sam Vinson. Vinson, a former first-team all-state standout at Highlands High School, suffered a knee injury in last Thursday’s 92-56 Norse loss at Saint Mary’s in Moraga, California. It has since been […]
Author Archives: Marc Hardin
Posted inBasketball
Fast-starting Bellevue girls gearing up for annual Stephanie Wilson Memorial Tournament
It’s nearly tournament time for the Bellevue High School girls basketball team. The Tigers host seven schools at the annual Stephanie Wilson Memorial Tournament, played over three days Dec. 28-30 on Mike Swauger Court at Ben Flora Gymnasium. Bellevue opens against the Cincinnati Home School Trailblazers in the first day’s fourth and final game beginning […]
Posted inBasketball
All he wants for Christmas is his first college offer
This story originally appeared in the Dec. 22 edition of the weekly LINK Reader. To get these stories first, subscribe here. You would think a left-handed, 6-foot-7, 215-pound high school senior basketball player capable of scoring 50 points and grabbing 25 rebounds in a game would boast a sleigh full of college offers by Christmas. You […]
Posted inBasketball
Rebels with a cause: Boone County seniors hope for winning basketball season
This story originally appeared in the Dec. 15 edition of the weekly LINK Reader. To get these stories first, subscribe here. It’s the second week of the high school basketball schedule, and co-captains Maddox Jones and Eli Bodkin and fellow senior Mason Hall are discussing Boone County’s promising start. They are standing in the lobby that […]
Posted inSports
Walton-Verona wrestling: Big-time small-school power ready to take down opponents
This story originally appeared in the Dec. 8 edition of the weekly LINK Reader. To get these stories first, subscribe here. In 10 short years since its inception, the wrestling program at Walton-Verona High School has become a Kentucky power on a par with teams from much bigger schools that have been around a lot longer […]
Posted inSports
Wrestling has a hold on Ryle High School coach Tim Ruschell and his family
Tim Ruschell has held many roles in his adult life including semipro football player, math teacher, coach, husband, father, grandfather, patriarch of Ryle High School’s first family of wrestling and Santa Claus. Later this week, Gray Middle School is putting Ruschell in a red suit again and rolling him out as jolly old Saint Nicholas […]
Posted inCross Country
Beechwood’s girls cross country runners are masters at running it back
This story originally appeared in the Dec. 1 edition of the weekly LINK Reader. To get these stories first, subscribe here. Members of the Beechwood High School girls cross country team tightened their shoes and affixed numbers to their red tiger-striped uniforms as they prepared for action at the Trimble County meet in Bedford. They jogged […]
Posted inFootball
CovCath, Cooper football coaches shared car rides to school. Almost 30 years later, they’re in the state finals
Nearly every morning during the school week one year when they were students at Newport Central Catholic High School, Randy Borchers pulled into Eddie Eviston’s driveway on Crowell Avenue in Fort Thomas and honked his horn. The Eviston’s home was a short trip from Borchers’ house less than a mile away. “Randy lived on the […]
Posted inCollege
Q & A with Thomas More athletics director Terry Connor
It’s a milestone year for Thomas More University’s longtime steward Terry Connor, who has coached the Saints’ men’s basketball team, undertaken the role of athletics director and added the title of university vice president to his lengthy resume. It’s Connor’s 25th year as Thomas More athletics director. He became the school’s first full-time AD in […]
Posted inBasketball
Highlands’ very tall and talented Marissa Green has a high ceiling on the basketball court
This story originally appeared in the Nov. 17 edition of the weekly LINK Reader. To get these stories first, subscribe here. Marissa Green was one of 16 Highlands High School girls basketball players attending the University of Cincinnati women’s game against nationally ranked Louisville at Fifth Third Arena. Bluebirds coach Jaime Richey likes to take her […]
