Ryle swimming coach Jeff Floyd would love an addition to his athletic department’s trophy case.
The Raiders could fill it with what they did Saturday. They won the KHSAA state swim and dive combined team title – in which boys and girls scores are added – at the University of Kentucky’s Lancaster Aquatic Center.
“It’s the one title that everybody has a chance,” Floyd said. “With (boys champion St. Xavier) and (girls winner) Sacred Heart being such incredible teams, they can’t do it. But in my mind, it shows who’s got the best overall program in the state other than those two.”
Ryle placed third in the girls standings with 140.5 points, and when you add the boys’ 177 third-place points from Friday, the 317.5 gave the Raiders the title. Highlands was second with 222.5, and 2023 Combined champion Paul Laurence Dunbar was third with 202.
“It’s amazing, especially for the girls since we’ve never gotten third in the history of Ryle,” junior Reese Yauger said. “And then the Combined is just what we were shooting for – and we got it.”
Saturday completed Ryle’s 22 days of strong swimming. At the Region 7 meet on Feb. 2, the Raiders won the boys team title, tied Notre Dame for the girls crown and took the Combined.
It was hard telling who was more excited Saturday – there was Floyd wildly gesticulating with his arms over his head – trying to boost the Raiders’ confidence.
“If we’re good, our good is enough,” Floyd told his team.
The Raiders were good enough.
Individually, Yauger was fifth in 100 butterfly, and Hannah Panko was seventh in 100 freestyle.
In the relays, the Raiders’ Ava Hammons, Malia Kinross, Yauger and Panko took seventh in the 200 medley relay, and Hammons, Gabriella Stephens, Panko and Yauger finished fourth in the 400 freestyle.
Floyd substituted Hammons for Lydia DiVita in the 400 relay because the turnaround time from the 100 breaststroke preliminary was too quick.
“Ava’s not swam that relay all year,” Floyd said.
Glad to help
Ryle and Highlands were not the lone Northern Kentucky teams to shine Saturday – Notre Dame finished fourth with 134 points, and junior Sadie Hartig won the 500 freestyle.
Hartig placed fourth in the 200 freestyle. She was also Northern Kentucky’s second individual state winner; Ryle’s Landon Isler won the 1-meter diving crown Thursday.
“It feels really good,” Hartig said. “I’m glad I was able to help my team.”
Hartig’s 4:56.56 was nearly five seconds faster than Atherton’s Lillian Borkowski’s 5:01.32. She wasted no time in showing the other seven swimmers her heels – she was nearly a second ahead after 150 yards and three seconds clear after 350.
“I think that she looked strong all the way through,” Notre Dame coach Jamie Kelly said. “She’s a very competitive person. That’s something she’s grown into it over the last couple years – she’s grown a killer instinct.”
Hartig agreed with Kelly’s assessment – sort of. The 500 freestyle, however, is not Hartig’s favorite event.
“I guess I’ve come to love racing,” she said. “The 200 (backstroke’s) my favorite, but they don’t have that as an event.”
Relay-able
Northern Kentucky’s best relay performance, however, belonged to Highlands. The Bluebirds’ Keira Kobida, Ragan Moore, Clare Herfel and Sarah Jones were second to Elizabethtown in the 400 freestyle.
Jones, Kobida, Herfel and Moore also placed seventh in the 200 medley relay.
In the 400 freestyle, Dixie Heights’ Haley Waters, Freya Reil, Addi Johnson fifth, and Beechwood’s Maddie Staley, Gabrielle Lee, Maria Morris and Ryon Argo placed seventh.
Jones was seventh in the 100 backstroke.
A scare survived
Notre Dame sophomore Danaka Tucker finished sixth in the 500 freestyle and eighth in the 200 freestyle. She also survived a scare in the morning preliminary race – just before the starting horn, her goggles snapped.
“I kind of just started panicking,” Tucker said. “I didn’t know what to do.”
Kelly figured as much.
“I think her adrenaline was at a high level,” Kelly said. “She’s usually a fast finisher.”
A friend gave Tucker a second pair of goggles; she said she probably would’ve swam without them if she had to.
“It’s just swimming; chlorine, you can wash it out,” Tucker said. “I wouldn’t have been able to see the (lap) counter; that probably would’ve been the bad part.”
What may be the most pressing question is: who pays for Floyd’s proposed additional trophy case?
“I’m willing to, but we get great support from (Athletic Director Mike) Woolf and Principal (Matt) Shafer,” Floyd said. “I’m sure they’ll take care of it, but it’s going to have to be a new one, and it’s going to have to be big.”
For complete results, visit khsaa.org (bit.ly/3IcX3Yu).