Jeff Floyd isn’t satisfied.
Ryle’s swimming coach reveled in the Raiders winning the state Combined team title last February, where boys and girls scores are added together. He rejoiced in both teams finishing third in the team standings.
None of which matters now.
“It was something we chased for a long time, and we had a little time to enjoy it,” Floyd said. “But now we’re focused on doing it again because that would be great.”
A little more than 15 miles northeast of Union, Notre Dame seeks to improve upon last year’s fourth-place finish. Senior Sadie Hartig, who has verbally committed to the Air Force Academy, won the 500-meter freestyle and took fourth in the 200 freestyle.
Ryle
The Raider boys will be without state champion 1-meter diver Landon Isler, who’s now a University of Kentucky freshman. Two returnees have chosen their colleges – junior Chase Knopf has verbally committed to Louisville, and senior Chase Denigan picked Xavier. Two other seniors, Andy Pleiman and Garrett Dennis, have not announced where they’re headed. (Pleiman is considering Louisville, the University of Indianapolis and Florida Tech.)
“This is the strongest team we’ve ever had – even stronger than last year,” Floyd said.
Knopf finished third in the state 200 freestyle last year. Denigan was seventh in the 200 individual medley, and Pleiman placed third in the 50 freestyle and eighth in the 100 freestyle.
Pleiman said the 50 freestyle is his best chance to win a state title. He turned in a 20.97 at the Speedo Winter Junior Championship – East meet last week in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Ryle’s boys missed second place by just two points (Louisville Trinity edged the Raiders, 179-177). Floyd’s goal is to flip those results – a reasonable expectation because Louisville St. Xavier is the overwhelming favorite.
Floyd said graduation hit the girls team hard. Good thing senior Reece Yauger (who’s headed for Cincinnati) is back; she finished seventh in the state 200 individual medley and fifth in the 100 butterfly.
“She’s in a really great place – all signed with UC and mentally is the best I’ve ever seen,” Floyd said.
Yauger picked UC over Marshall. She said last year “was really tough.”
“I wasn’t dropping (times), and I wasn’t hitting my best times, so that was really hard,” Yauger said. “… I’ve also kind of been doing a lot of extra fun things with my friends outside swimming, which I think helps also not have my life only revolve around swimming.”
Backing up Yauger are her sister, sophomore Haley Yauger, and juniors Gabriella Stephens and Lydia Davita. At the Kentucky Card Christmas Classic Dec. 6-8 in Louisville, Stephens won the 200 yard freestyle (1:56.13), 200 butterfly (2:10.36) and 200 IM (2:07.53).
Notre Dame transfer Claire Monahan, who is headed for the University of Indianapolis, is also on the roster, but she is recovering from shoulder surgery.
As with St. Xavier’s boys, Sacred Heart is the overwhelming favorite to win the girls team trophy.
“We’ve got a lot of top in-state power … with Gabriella Stevens and Reese,” Floyd said. “If Claire comes in healthy to go with Lydia and Haley, we’re going to be just fine.”
Notre Dame
Pandas coach Jamie Kelly is overjoyed about his team’s depth.
“I think last year I had 26 girls, and we’re up to 36 now,” Kelly said.
Look for Notre Dame and Ryle to continue their rivalry. They tied for the Region 7 team title last year, and Notre Dame finished fourth in the state team standings, six points behind Ryle.
Hartig has had a strong season. At the Speedo East, she covered the 200 freestyle in 1:50.93, the 500 freestyle in 4:56.29, the 100 backstroke in 57.52 and the 200 backstroke (which is not a high school event in Kentucky) in 2:00.24.
A pair of freshmen, Clare Herfel and McKenna Bien, join the team.
At the Speedo East, Herfel swam the 200 freestyle in 1:53.78 and the 500 freestyle in 5:00.54. At the OLY Winter Invite Dec. 5-8 in Columbia, Missouri, Bien swam the 50 freestyle in 24.85, the 100 freestyle in 53.69, the 100 butterfly in 58.43 and the 200 butterfly in 2:09.32.
Herfel will challenge Hartig in the 200 and 500 freestyle.
Bien’s older sister, sophomore Savannah Bien, finished second in 1-meter diving at the regional and 10th at state. Kelly said she’ll be in the pool with McKenna this season.
“I think (Savannah’s) doing that for some conditioning, but I think she’s having a good season,” Kelly said. “… She’s more of a sprint freestyler.”
Kelly said Northern Kentucky is slowly inching closer to Sacred Heart, who won by 269 points over Elizabethtown last season – with emphasis on “slowly.”
“Inching’s probably a good way to put it,” Kelly said. “They’re still head and shoulders above everybody.”
Highlands
The Bluebirds finished second in the Combined standings.
“Our goal is to finish as high as possible at state,” coach Kevin Kampschmidt said. “We like Ryle, we like their coaches, their swimmers, but they are kind of like the top dog. I guess we are striving to be like them.”
Senior Sarah Jones leads the girls – she finished seventh in the 100 backstroke and joined Herfel, Keira Kobida and Ragan Moore to finish second in the 400 freestyle relay. Kampschmidt said Jones might add the 100 butterfly and either the 50 or 100 freestyle.
Senior Griffin Barlow, who is headed for Emory University, leads the boys. He finished sixth in the state 100 butterfly, eighth in the 100 breaststroke and teamed with Luke Deegan, Charlie Herfel and Chanith Abeysinghe to place fourth in the 200 medley relay.
Covington Catholic
The Colonels continue rebuilding a program decimated by pandemic shutdowns and decreasing numbers.
“They’ve been rebuilding for the past few years from some low numbers,” coach Ashley Smith said. “We’re starting to get our numbers back up.”
It’s been three years since the Colonels finished fourth at the state meet; CovCath finished 16th in 2022, 17th in 2023 and 14th last year.
With only two seniors, Jackson Donnelly and Evan Napier, CovCath is a young team, but there’s hope. Sophomore Andrew Boh swam a 24.17 in the 50 freestyle at a meet two weeks ago in Louisville, and Smith said junior Payton Knollman, eighth-grader Andrew Kruger and junior Will Dusing also have shots at finishing in the state top eight.
“Will and Andrew Boh mainly swim the 200 IM and the 100 breast,” Smith said. “Payton Knollman mainly swims the 100 back and the 100 fly. Andrew Kruger, he can literally swim anything we put him in.”
Scott
Like Smith, Eagles coach Sandy Arnold is happy about increased participation. She said her boys and girls teams are a mixture of youth and experience.
“We’ve got a bigger team this year, actually the biggest team we’ve had since … 2011,” Arnold said. “We’re up to 32 athletes this season, so it’s really exciting to have a big team again. “
At the Henderson Thankswimming meet last month, senior Jonah Hunt swam the 50 freestyle in 25.20, the 50 breaststroke in 32.91 and the 100 IM in 1:05.35. He placed 16th in the state 200 freestyle last season.
“I anticipate him being in that (200 free) again with some improvements,” Arnold said. “He’s a really strong swimmer this year, and obviously as a senior he is determined to make that happen.”
Arnold also said freshman Muhammad Conde is “putting up solid 24s in his 50 free.”
Senior Grace Lynn and eighth-grader Abigail Bush had a strong Henderson meet, too.
Lynn swam a 29.32 in the 50 freestyle, a personal best 35.43 in her leg of the 200 medley relay and a 1:14.76 in the 100 IM. Bush attained a personal best 31.13 in the 50 butterfly.
Freshman Rylee Pernell finished 12th in 1-meter diving.
Cooper junior Chris Nowak finished sixth,