Vroom, vroom. Let’s go.
The rest of Kentucky better get ready to grapple with this. Northern Kentucky high schools boast one top-ranked wrestler, three second-ranked wrestlers, one top 10 team and four top 20 teams in the latest rankings by Kentuckywrestling.com. Simon Kenton sophomore Brayden Blevins is No. 1 at 120 pounds. A trio of locals are bubbling under with No. 2 rankings: Ryle junior Landon Evans at 126 pounds, Walton-Verona junior TJ Meyer at 132 and Ryle junior Rider Trumble at 150.
Ryle is No. 9 in the team rankings and No. 1 in Region 5, followed by Walton-Verona (No. 2 regionally, No. 15 statewide), Simon Kenton (No. 3 regionally, No. 16 statewide) and Conner (No. 4 regionally, No. 20 statewide).
NKU’S WARRICK NOMINATED: Northern Kentucky University senior Marques Warrick is on the Lou Henson Award Mid-Season Watch List. The Lou Henson National Player of the Year Award goes to to the top NCAA Division I mid-major basketball player. Warrick ranked 15th in the nation in points scored (325), and 35th in both converted field goals (105) and converted free throws (76) at the time of the announcement. He leads NKU and ranks fourth in scoring in the Horizon League (18.8 ppg).
Let the Warrick Watch begin. The prolific guard has scored 1,930 career points, ranking fourth all-time in NKU history. Warrick needs 137 points to pass NKU all-time scoring leader Drew McDonald (2,066), formerly of Newport Central Catholic.
SMITH AND JONES ARE SAINTS: Thomas More University women’s basketball players Alex Smith (Mercy McAuley) and Maggie Jones (Simon Kenton) rank 1-2 on the Saints in scoring. Smith averages 12.7 points per game. Jones averages 8.4. Three of the Saints’ top seven scorers are from Northern Kentucky.
PREP STAT OF THE WEEK: Newport’s 6-foot-8 freshman Griffin Starks, who didn’t get his first basketball start until Dec. 29 while averaging less then 3.0 points per game, erupted for a team-high 18 points and added six rebounds in the Wildcats’ win over Holy Cross in the 9th Region All “A” Classic Tournament final. Starks was all-tournament and picked up the slack for star guard Tay Kinney, injured in the final.
KINNEY INJURY UPDATE: The Wildcats’ hotly recruited sophomore guard has apparently avoided a serious injury after suffering a setback in Saturday’s 9th Region All “A” Classic final. Kinney, who has 22 NCAA Division I college offers, did not return during Newport’s All “A” final win over Holy Cross after suffering an injury and did not play Sunday vs. Middletown. There is a possibility that Kinney returns next week for the All “A” Classic state tournament which begins Jan. 25 in Corbin.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW: Former Notre Dame Academy basketball coach Cheryl Darpel was recently on court to help celebrate Ryle coach Katie Haitz’s 200th win but Darpel hasn’t been a head coach in 15 years. Darpel, on staff with Haitz at Boone County when both were assistants under Nell Fookes, is owner and funeral director at Ronald B. Jones Funeral Home in Ludlow, where Darpel grew up.
“I bought my family’s funeral home,” Darpel said. “I grew up around the business, but I’ve been a funeral director since 2012.”
The 1987 Notre Dame graduate won over 200 games and three regional titles from 1996 to 2009 while teaching science, but left NDA to work full time at the family business. She purchased the funeral home last year. Darpel, Haitz and Fookes have combined for more than 1,100 career high school victories and counting.