Prep Sports Report: Teams in unclassified fall sports begin practice looking to make run at state titles again

By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter

Kentucky high school teams are not separated into classes for soccer, volleyball and golf, three fall sports that begin pre-season practice this week. Last year, Northern Kentucky teams were among the leading contenders for state titles in each of those sports, and they hope to do it again.

Notre Dame Academy was state runner-up in volleyball and made it to the state semifinals in girls soccer last fall. At the state golf tournaments, the Cooper girls placed third and the Ryle boys placed seventh. Ryle also made it to the final four in the boys soccer playoffs.

The local team that’s most likely to be a state title contender once again is Notre Dame in volleyball. Ten of the 11 players the Pandas used in last year’s state championship match are returning and seven of them are seniors.

That senior class includes Ava Tilden, Lauren Ott and Julia Grace, who were team leaders in kills, assists and digs, respectively, during last year’s 33-6 season that ended with a 3-1 loss to Louisville Assumption in the state final.

This summer, Tilden, Grace and their Notre Dame teammates Riley McCloskey, Lacey Hofstetter and Ella Goetz played on a NKYVC select team that placed fifth in a national tournament.

The Ryle boys soccer team that scored 95 goals in 26 matches last season lost four players to graduation that accounted for more than half of that total. The Raiders’ starting goalkeeper was also a senior.

But there’s no reason to think that Ryle head coach Stephen Collins can’t put together another state contender this season. He has compiled a 316-109-43 record in 20 years with the program. Six of his teams made it to the state semifinals and two of those claimed state runner-up trophies (2006, 2011).

The Raiders’ top returning players are junior Brice Denigan, who had 25 goals and nine assists, and senior Chris Maraduaga, who got Ryle’s lone goal in a state semifinal game against Louisville St. Xavier that was decided on penalty kicks.

The Notre Dame girls soccer team had five seniors in the starting lineup when it lost to Louisville Sacred Heart, 3-1, in the state semifinals. But the Pandas’ top three scorers – Kate Lenihan, Riley Robertson and Cameron Kirtley – are all back along with goalkeeper Joelle Hentz.

Cooper senior golfer Reagan Ramage hopes to lead the Jaguars to their fifth consecutive Region 7 team championship and a return trip to the state tournament where they placed third last year. Ramage was fourth on the individual state leaderboard, but two of her talented teammates graduated.

“I’m sad some of my prior teammates won’t be there with me but the girls from the jayvee (junior varsity) have put in some good work and I’m excited to see them out there with me,” Ramage said of the upcoming season.

The Ryle boys golf team that placed seventh among the 10 qualifiers for the state tournament final has junior Paxton McKelvey and sophomore Jake Roscoe returning from that foursome. McKelvey tied for 25th on the individual state leaderboard.

Two boys cross county runners will open
season ranked among the top 10 in state

Northern Kentucky has two of the state’s top 10 boys cross country runners going into the 2024 season that begins in August, according to a list posted on the kymilesplit.com website .

Based on best times recorded in high school cross country meets last season, the state’s top returning runner is Thomas Nelson senior Riku Sugie at 14:51.92.

Covington Catholic senior Will Sheets is next in line (14:58.90) and Cooper junior Paul Van Laningham ranks seventh (15:27.00).

The other local runners among the top 20 in the state are Conner senior Nathan Hopper (14th, 15:36.5) and Campbell County senior Jonathan Christopher (18th, 15:42.69).

In last year’s state championship meets, Sheets placed third in Class 2A and Van Laningham placed fourth in Class 3A. After sitting out much of the season with a hip injury, Sheets led CovCath to the Class 2A team championship.

Cooper graduate on men’s basketball team
that will compete in $1 million tournament

Cooper graduate Adam Kunkel is among the former Xavier University basketball players on the Zip ‘Em Up team that will compete for the $1 million grand prize in The Basketball Tournament that gets under way next week.

The 64-team tournament will begin with games at eight regional sites. Zip ‘Em Up is the No. 2 seed in the Cincinnati Region and will face No. 7 seed TakeOver BC at 6 p.m. Friday at the University of Cincinnati’s Fifth Third Arena.

The region bracket’s top seed went to Nasty ‘Nati, a team that includes former UC players.

Kunkel played three seasons at Xavier, averaging 9.2 points, 2.2 assists and 2.3 rebounds in 82 games. During his final season in 2022-23, the 6-foot-3 guard moved into the starting lineup and contributed 10.8 points, 3.0 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game. He also shot a team-high 43.3 percent from 3-point range.

After college, Kunkel played 20 games for a professional basketball team in Astana, Kazakhstan, and seven games in the NBA G League.

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