After a brief hiatus, the Highlands boys golf team is back on top.
The Bluebirds won the Region 8 golf title on Monday at Pendleton Hills Golf Course. Highlands had won five straight region titles from 2020-24 before finishing fourth last season.
The Bluebirds shot 322 as a team as James Kuhn, Devin Massie, Bryson Vail and Conner Barlow all placed in the top six individually. Kuhn and Massie shot 80’s while Vail and Barlow shot 81. Berz Wagner wasn’t far behind with an 83 as all five Bluebirds finished in the top 11. They cleared runner-up Newport Central Catholic by 19 strokes.
The Thoroughbreds shot a 341, led by runner-up Evan Himmelsbach with a 77. Keegan Collopy followed with an 87, Ben Fassler 88 and Alex Bacon with an 89. Alex Tracy rounded out the scoring with a 90.
Bracken County’s Kasen Bertram was the individual medalist with a 75. Bishop Brossart’s Collin Parks finished tied for eighth with a 82.
Highlands and NewCath also extended their seasons, qualifying for next week’s sectional part of the state tournament at Kenton County Golf Course Willows Course on Sept. 28. They’ll join the top two teams from Regions 5-8 as three of the top eight teams in that tournament advance to the state tournament in Bowling Green the following week.
For NewCath, this marks the second straight season they’ve qualified for the next round, prior to that, they hadn’t made it past the region tournament since 2011. Himmelsbach netted his second straight top five finish in the region tournament, placing fourth last year. Henry County was the region champ last year and finished fourth this year.
After the top two teams, the next 10 individuals not on those teams also qualify for the sectional round. Those 10 qualifiers are (score in parentheses) Bracken County’s Bertram (75), Henry County’s Nick Bryan (81), Carroll County’s Luke Taylor (82), Brossart’s Parks (82), Harrison County’s Jesse Crump (82), Henry County’s Dean Miskell (82), Owen County’s Ezekiel Mefford (83), Brossart’s Derek Bezold (83), Campbell County’s Bryson Guidugli (86) and Nicholas County’s Peyton Hatton (86).
