To be the winning team, fan votes play a heavy role, along with consideration from our sports team here at LINK.
Nominations are reader-submitted or recommended by our sports team. Our Team of the Week program honors all local sports at all levels, whether it’s youth or adult-oriented recreation, high school or college, professional or amateur.
The new school year has added to the awards program. OrthoCincy Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine and LINK nky are excited to expand in addition to the weekly winners, the program will be including three winners for Team of the Season and one overall winner for Team of the Year for the 2024-25 sports seasons.
New this year for the program is the addition of the Team of the Season (TOTS) and Team of the Year (TOTY) awards. Sports seasons are considered fall, winter and spring for the purpose of this awards program. At the conclusion of each sports season, an overall TOTS winner will be chosen from all previous TOTW winners for that season. Their school will also receive a $500 scholarship to be presented to the athlete of their choice at the end of the school year.
Finally, the program culminates by selecting one TOTY from the three TOTS award winners. Online and print articles will again be published, a large commemorative plaque will be presented and the school will receive an additional $500 scholarship to be presented to the athlete of their choice at the end of the school year.
The call for nominations, voting and winning announcement for each will follow the same format as the TOTW.
This week’s nominated teams are listed below with some information provided by the submitter or LINK nky staff. The poll where you can vote follows at the end of the article.
Voting is open until Friday at 11:59 a.m.
ST. HENRY BOYS GOLF
St. Henry dominated the boys 7th Region golf tournament at Boone Links Golf Course with a team score of 299, 15 shots clear of the field.
On top of St. Henry’s regional title, Crusaders’ Ben Carter took home individual medalist honors, the lone player in the 69-man field at even par with a 72.
Carter fought off a double bogey on No. 5 to battle back with birdies on No. 8 and 9 to finish the front nine one-over. A bogey at No. 11 put him two-over, but collected himself from there to birdie No. 14 and No. 16, the birdie on 16 being the eventual critical hole to win the tourney.
Carter’s three teammates were right behind him as they all placed in the top six. His brother Will Carter finished third with a 74, Will Hammond was fifth with a 76 and Jake Montgomery was sixth with a 77.
St. Henry advanced to the first round of the state tournament on Monday at Shelbyville Country Club.
HIGHLANDS BOYS GOLF
Highlands won their fifth straight 8th region title and seventh out of the last eight on Sept. 24 at Eagle Creek Country Club in Crittenden.
Nate Surrey, Hank Shick, Oliver Golden and Alex Race combined for a 14-over-par 294. Shick won his third straight individual title, defeating his teammate Surrey in a playoff.
Shick and Surrey each shot a 1-under 69. Shick’s 15-foot birdie on the first playoff hole gave him individual medalist honors.
The Bluebirds advanced to the first round of the state tournament on Monday at Shelbyville Country Club.
RYLE GIRLS GOLF
For the first time since 2019, a team not named Cooper won a 7th Region girls golf title.
Ryle shot 325 as a team and dominated the field, winning by 36 strokes over second place Notre Dame on Sept. 24 at The Kenton County Golf Courses Pioneer Course.Â
Ryle was paced by Anika Okuda with a one-over 71, finishing runner-up for the second straight season. Ryle’s day consisted of their five scoring in the top 15. The program has made leaps and bounds from where they were in the 2021 when they shot 420 at the region tournament.Â
Following Okuda for the Raiders was Lacey Wilson (80) tied for fourth, Elizabeth Dickson (83) tied for eighth, Nikaia Cornett (90) tied for 13th and Morgan Poe (91) tied for 15th.
Ryle advanced to the first round of the state tournament at Shelbyville Country Club on Oct. 1.
CAMPBELL COUNTY GIRLS SOCCER
The Camels achieved what no other team was able to do this season.
They defeated Conner (3-1) on Sep. 25, who came into the contest undefeated at 16-0-1, their third win in a row. The game before they handed Walton-Verona (5-1) their third loss of the season.
Jozie Holmes is third in NKY in goals with 19 and her teammate Ryan Weghorn has 10.
Holmes also leads the team in assists with seven, Weghorn, Caitlin Crowley, and Meryem Gonulates each have five. Kennedy Crowley is right behind them with four assists.
Morgan Roomes and Abi Medaugh have both taken care of the goalkeeping responsibilities with a combined 90 saves.
BEECHWOOD VOLLEYBALL
Not only have the Tigers collected five wins in a row, they also haven’t given up a set in those games.
In a three-game, three-night stretch last week, they took down Holmes 2-0 (25-6, 25-0), Simon Kenton 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-15) and Newport 2-0 (25-6, 25-6).
Isabel O’Brien has a team high 157 kills and Rachel Lewandowski has 127. Lewandowski also leads the group with 31 blocks.
Skylr Estep has made her name known in the assist column with a total of 368.
Three have at least 100 digs, Maggie Dawson (181), O’Brien (121), and Kendale Lair (114). Along with being the team leader in kills and near the top in digs, O’Brien leads with 36 aces.
The Tigers won’t be back in Fort Mitchell until after four-game road stretch, a meeting with Cooper to start if off on Tuesday.
LLOYD MEMORIAL FOOTBALL
The Juggernauts have won five games in a row by a combined score of 202-42 in improving to 5-1 on the year. Last week they took down undefeated Newport, 39-7.
The team has been paced by a big-play offense mixed in with a stingy defense. Kaleb Evans is the signal-caller with 1,019 yards passing and 12 touchdown passes. Yurii Collins, Isaiah Sebastian and Tyler Copeland carry the load in the run game with 751 combined rushing yards and 16 rushing touchdowns.
Sebastian leads the way in the receiving department with 22 grabs for 413 yards and four touchdowns. Copeland has three touchdown receptions while Colten Barger and Elijah Collins have two each.
Defensively, Lincoln Tomlinson and Jaxon Fann lead the team in tackles. Tomlinson has 61 tackles, 12 of them for a loss, Fann with 58 tackles, 13 of them for a loss.
Lloyd has forced 17 turnovers in their first six games, 10 interceptions and seven fumble recoveries. Collins leads the way with four interceptions, Copeland with three. Copeland also has two fumble recoveries.
Click on the team below on who you feel deserves the LINK nky Team of the Week!