To be the winning team, fan votes play a heavy role, along with consideration from our sports team here at LINK.
OrthoCincy Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine and LINK nky are excited to expand once again and continue addition to the LINK nky Team of the Week (TOTW) weekly winners, the program will be including three winners for Team of the Season (TOTS) and one overall winner for Team of the Year (TOTY) for the 2025-26 sports seasons.
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 receive a commemorative plaque and 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.
COOPER GIRLS LACROSSE
The Lady Jaguars won their first District 5 girls lacrosse title with a 9-6 victory over Ryle on Friday at Dixie Heights High School.
Emily Forbes scored five goals in the victory and added two assists, who was later named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Maddy Reinert and Claira Kemper were also named to the All-Tournament team. Reinert had two goals and two assists in the championship game.
Cooper will face the 7th District runner-up on Wednesday at Cooper.
RYLE BOYS VOLLEYBALL
The Raiders earned back-to-back regional titles as they claimed the 6th Region title with a straight sets victory over Oldham County on Friday at Simon Kenton High School. They took down the Colonels, 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-19).
Drew Stropko, Eddie Rieffer, Ryota Kondo and Max Kidd were named to the All-Tournament team for the Raiders, Kidd taking home MVP honors. In the championship game, Kidd had seven kills, an ace, four digs and four blocks. Stropko tallied 16 kills, four blocks, 11 assists and four digs. Rieffer had six blocks to go with two kills, two assists and a dig. Kondo had five kills and led in assists with 24 and digs with 14.
BELLEVUE BOYS TRACK AND FIELD
Bellevue won their first NKAC track and field title in nearly 30 years, winning last week’s meet at Ludlow for the first time since 1997.
Dakarai Minor won the 300-meter hurdles – his time of 40.94 seconds is a Top 25 time in the state – and finished second at 110 hurdles (16.93) and 200 dash (24.23); and the Tigers won the 400, 800 and 1,600-meter relays.
Bellevue’s boys won with 107 points, besting runner-up Villa Madonna by 20 points.
VILLA MADONNA GIRLS TRACK AND FIELD
Villa Madonna’s girls won a ninth straight NKAC Division III title last week. They scored 132 points, runner-up Bellevue with 86.
There were individual distance wins: eighth-grader Abigail Ford and seventh-grader Jasmine Cozmanciuc finished 1-2 in the 1,600; senior Lena Schroeder won the 400, junior Norie Barker and Ford were tops in the 800, and Cozmanciuc and junior Lily Lewis were first and second in the 3,200.
Villa also won the 3,200 (Cozmanciuc, Barker, Ford and Schroeder) and 1,600 (Norie Barker, Emily Barker, Anna Kolar and Schroeder) relays, and junior Lucy Vick won the high jump and pole vault.
BISHOP BROSSART TRACK AND FIELD
The Mustangs swept the NKAC Division II conference titles last week, the girls beat Beechwood, 126-69, and the boys did the same to the Tigers, 112.5-74.
Brossart junior Adam Tarvin was part of the Mustangs’ winning 4×400, 4×800 and 4×1,600 quartets, and he’s finished no lower than fourth in the 800, 1,600 or 3,200 this season. While Tarvin stayed on the ground, junior Justin Bezold took to the sky – he won the pole vault by tying his personal record at 11 feet, 6 inches.
Whether it was distances, sprints or field events, you could find Brossart at or near the top. Starting with the 4×1,600, where Avery Tarvin, Paislee Litmer, Allison Kuper and Tessa Hafer beat Newport Central Catholic by nearly two minutes. Continue with the 4×800, where Hafer, Callie Ochsner, Larah Callahan and Addison Geiman beat NewCath by nearly 25 seconds.
Brossart’s closest win was the 4×400, where Hafer Aubrey Bevan, Larah Callahan and Mackinley Scott defeated Walton-Verona by nearly six seconds. Brossart’s Ava Walters duplicated among the girls. She won the shot put with a 36-5 and discus with a 126-11.
Junior Anna Curtsinger, Litmer and Maria Everett went 1-2-3 in the pole vault, with Curtsinger winning with a 9-6.
NEWPORT BASEBALL
The Wildcats picked up their first win of the season and first win in nearly four years with an 8-5 victory over Holmes on May 8.
Their last win came on May 10, 2022 against Covington Latin. Friday’s win over Holmes snapped a 78-game losing streak (Newport opted out of the 2023 season due to low numbers).
In the 8-5 victory over Holmes, Donovan Avila-Macario had three hits, Sean Hurry and Ethan Koster had two. Adam Kuebel pitched a complete game, allowing five hits, three earned runs, walked two and struck out eight.
SIMON KENTON SOFTBALL
The Lady Pioneers are on fire, having won six in a row including a 3-0 week last week. They defeated Walton-Verona, Notre Dame and Ryle to improve to 14-10 on the season.
The win over Walton secured the No. 1 seed for the 32nd District tournament.
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