Pioneers earn first regional title in school history

Saturday brought a lot of joy to the boys for the Simon Kenton and Covington Catholic track and field teams, and Highlands' girls were feeling pretty good, too. They joined Ryle as team winners at regional meets involving local schools.

Simon Kenton won its first-ever regional championship at the Class 3A Region 5 meet at Dixie Heights, beating the runner-up hosts by 16 points. Simon Kenton opened its doors in 1937.

"I asked our coaches. I asked parents. I asked our athletic director. I asked everybody. We've never done it before," Pioneers coach Jesse Herbst said. "We had two guys (Logan Winkler and Brent Russell) score a lot of points. And jumper Isaiah Evans was our dark horse. He improved by feet, not inches."

Winkler, a junior, helped score 38 of a possible 40 points. He won the high jump and triple jump, placed second in the long jump and anchored the winning 400-meter relay team. He tied the meet record with a high jump of 6 feet, 2 inches. He triple-jumped 42-3 1/2. His long jump of 20-9 was two inches short of the winner.

All of the runners on Simon Kenton's 400 relay team, including sophomores Ben Mulberry and Dillon Powell and freshman Dylan Hampton, are underclassmen. Mulberry, Powell and seniors Russell and Chase Wilson took the 800 relay.

Russell helped score 32 points. He won the 300 hurdles with a meet record time of 40.23 seconds, was second in the 110 hurdles, and ran a leg on the winning 800 relay and a leg on the fourth-place 1,600 relay. Tucker Mueller won the discus, and Grant Vercheck was third. Cameron Hansel was second in the shot put. Evans was second in the triple jump and third in the long jump.

"We had 68 points in the field before we even started the running events," Herbst said. "It was a great effort by everybody."

Runner-up Dixie received a pair of rare doubles. Regional and state diving champion Bailey Harrison repeated in the pole vault. State champion wrestler Brandon Johnson won the shot put, breaking the 6-year-old meet and track records with a throw of 53-1.

The Covington Catholic Colonels won their fourth Class 2A title in six years. Jake Erpenbeck won the 100- and 200-meter races. Sean Panoushek won the 800, helping CovCath (125 points) outpace runner-up Highlands (109), which received three firsts from Ethan Shuley, in the open 1,600 and 3,200, and 3,200 relay.

Highlands' girls won their second Class 2A title in three years, edging favored Lexington Catholic by seven points. Sydney Ossege (30) and Hanna Schenck (28) were the leading point producers. "Our throwers had 22 points," coach Brian Alessandro said. "We performed well in pretty much everything."

Ossege was a triple-winner, in the 1,600 and 3,200 relays and open 800. Schenck was first in the triple jump and third in the long jump, high jump and 100 meters. Mikayla Reichert was second in both the shot put and discus.

Owen County received a third-place tie from the girls and fifth place from the boys at the Class A Region 5 meet at Danville. Paula Rivera won the discus and placed second in the shot put for the girls. Hunter Trenary won the 3,200 for the boys.

The Class A Region 4 meet involving powers Bishop Brossart, Newport Central Catholic and St. Henry is Wednesday starting at 5 p.m. at Walton-Verona.

SECTIONAL TENNIS: Covington Catholic was eliminated 3-2 Sunday by Richmond Model in the elite eight of the KHSAA boys' team sectional tournament at Eastern Kentucky University. CovCath swept Montgomery County 3-0 in the first round. No. 1 singles player Austin Hussey and No. 2 Anthony Bosch won both their matches for the Colonels.