Prep Sports Report: Ryle senior posted top marks in shot put, discus during first month of track season

By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter

Winning state championships in the Class 3A girls shot put and discus events on the same day is something that’s never been accomplished by a high school athlete in Boone, Campbell or Kenton counties.

Ryle senior Viktoriya Emelianova came close to doing it last year when she won the shot put and placed second in the discus in the large school state meet. She’ll get one more chance at the end of May and currently has the best marks in both events among Class 3A contenders this season.

Ryle senior Viktoriya Emelianova

Emelianova’s top throws of the season so far are listed as 131 feet, 10 inches in the discus and 42 feet, 8.5 inches in the shot put. She leads the entire state in the discus and ranks second in the shot put behind Taylor Burton of Bracken County, a Class 1A competitor who has a mark of 43 feet, 2 inches.

There are four girls from Northern Kentucky’s three-county area who have won shot put and discus state titles in the same year in two other classes. The dual winners in Class 1A were Maggie Buerger of Walton-Verona in 2022, Brianna McCarthy of Beechwood in 2011 and Lori Waller of Walton-Verona in 1984. The only one to do it in Class 2A was Makayla Reichert of Highlands in 2016.

This is Emelianova’s second year at Ryle after transferring from Sycamore High School in Ohio. She’s a high-level student with a 3.77 GPA and told reporters she plans to study economics at Dartmouth University after finishing high school.

In addition to winning the state discus title as a junior, Emelianova was among the weight class champions in Kentucky’s first sanctioned girls state wrestling tournament last February. She followed that up by winning the Class 3A girls shot put event at the first sanctioned indoor state track meet in March. There was no discus event at the indoor meet.

Northern Kentucky has several track and field event leaders in each of the state’s three classes. The current leaders below are taken from listings on the kymilesplit website .

CLASS 1A BOYS
100 dash — Luke Erdman (Beechwood) 11.00. 200 dash — Luke Erdman (Beechwood) 22.30. 800 run — Wyatt Shearer (Walton-Verona) 1:58.85. 4×100 relay — Beechwood 44.23. 4×800 relay — Brossart 8:10.7. Pole vault — Noah Everett (Brossart) 12-6.

CLASS 1A GIRLS
400 dash — Maryah Counts (Beechwood) 58.99. 1600 run — Lily Parke (Beechwood) 5:02.44. 4×200 relay — Newport Central Catholic 1:47.35. 4×400 relay — Beechwood 4:09.70. High jump — Hayden Harlan (St. Henry) 5-0. Discus — Anna Guard (St. Henry) 124-11.

CLASS 2A BOYS
1600 run — Will Sheets (CovCath) 4:16.13. 4×800 relay — Covington Catholic 8:11.18.

CLASS 3A GIRLS
4×400 relay — Notre Dame 4:09.13. Discus — Viktoriya Emelianova (Ryle) 131-10. Shot put — Viktoriya Emelianova (Ryle) 42-8.5.

Groundbreaking for Dayton’s multi-purpose athletic field on Monday

Dayton Independent Schools has scheduled an official groundbreaking ceremony at 1:30 p.m. Monday for a multi-purpose athletic field that will be on campus.

The synthetic turf field will be the built on property between Dayton High School and Lincoln Elementary School that was acquired by the school district over several years. A building and apartment houses on the property were demolished last summer.

When the field is completed, students in the high school and elementary school will be able to use it for physical education classes and sports, including football.

Dayton football teams have been playing games at O.W. Davis Field, which was built during the 1930s near the original high school building. When the new high school building opened in 1983, it was more than a mile away from the historic field.

The synthetic turf field is not expected to be completed until the 2025-26 school year so Davis Field will be used for one more season.

Winless weekend for local teams in All “A” Classic state tournaments

For the first time since 2017, Northern Kentucky did not have a team reach the championship game of the All “A” Classic state baseball tournament that was played Saturday and Sunday at Eastern Kentucky University.

Owensboro Catholic opened the eight-team state tournament with a 5-4 win over Walton-Verona in nine innings and went on to take the title. In five previous All “A” Classic state tournaments, Walton-Verona or Beechwood played in the championship game. The 2021 tournament was cancelled due to the pandemic.

Holy Cross was the 9th Region representative in the All “A” Classic state softball tournament Saturday and Sunday in Owensboro. The Indians went 0-3 in pool play and didn’t make it to the single-elimination tournament that was won by Livingston Central.

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