“I was definitely surprised at how well the girls did. They came in strong and they stayed steady the whole time. I was really proud of how they stayed focused and didn’t get the jitters,” Jenny said.

Clare Herfel is Northern Kentucky’s lone state champion

The sophomore and defending 500-yard freestyle state champion had no problem defending her title, cruising to a nine-second margin of victory, touching the wall in 4:51.44.

“At the start of this season, I wanted to win the 500 freestyle, so I was really happy about that,” Herfel said.

She leads a deep freestyle squad for the Pandas that included Danaka Tucker’s third-place finish in the 500 and seventh-place finish in the 200 and Liv Wallace’s eighth-place finish in the 200. Herfel also finished third in the 200 and led Notre Dame to a fifth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay and a runner-up finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

Northern Kentucky was well-represented in the longest freestyle race. Conner’s Ella Thomas took fourth place and Highlands’ Taryn Ripley took seventh place.

“I feel like our club teams are really good. Clippers, the Y, the Marlins, they all have pretty good coaching staffs,” Tucker said.

Highlands takes combined team title, Notre Dame finishes second in girls race

In 2024 and 2025, the Ryle Raiders took home the combined team title, just another marker of how far the program has come under Floyd.

But Highlands, thanks to a third-place finish in the girls 400-yard freestyle relay compared to Ryle’s seventh-place result in the same event, overtook the Raiders to win the combined team title with 272.5 points. The Bluebirds edged out Louisville Eastern, which finished with 268 points. Ryle had 265 points.

“Boys and girls, if you look, they actually both scored in the 130s. We’re a very balanced team. We knew we were going to try and chip away at their lead because Ryle’s boys and Eastern’s boys were better than ours,” Highlands head coach Kevin Kampschmidt said.

The Highlands boys scored 139.5 points to take fourth place in that team race and set the girls up for success. While Taryn Ripley was the only individual to swim in a championship final, all three girls relays earned top-six finishes, just as the boys had done on Friday.

“I’m super proud of them. That last relay, they let it all hang out, gave it everything they had,” Kampschmidt said.

The biggest factor to point to is Ryle’s boys 400-yard freestyle relay. The Raiders entered the state championship with the No. 3 seed but faltered in the prelims and failed to make the championship final.

The Notre Dame Pandas finished as the girls team runner-up for the second straight year, scoring 236 points on Saturday night. As mentioned before, the freestyle events anchored the Pandas, but head coach Jamie Kelly knows his team is expanding its abilities.

“This year, I think we’ve kind of spread out into other events and done real well across the board,” Kelly said.

Abby Carnes took fifth place in the 200-yard individual medley and sixth place in the 100-yard backstroke. McKenna Bien scored points in the consolation final of the 100-yard butterfly.

The Pandas graduated Sadie Hartig and Ava Deegan, who contributed to last year’s runner-up finish. Kelly was just as proud of how this year’s senior class stepped up, especially in the postseason.

“They had an incredible meet and were great leaders for the team,” Kelly said.

Which Northern Kentucky girls swimmers and divers finished on the 2026 state podium?

1-meter dive: 4. Savannah Bien, Notre Dame; 5. Chris Nowak, Cooper; 6. Addie Tinkler, Highlands

200-yard medley relay: 4. Notre Dame (Abby Carnes, Reaghan Connelly, McKenna Bien, Danaka Tucker); 6. Highlands (Margaret Meyers, Taryn Ripley, Keira Kobida, Vivian Winkler); 8. Ryle (Gabriella Stephens, Lydia DiVita, Annie Lucas, Haley Yauger)

200-yard freestyle: 3. Clare Herfel, Notre Dame; 7. Danaka Tucker, Notre Dame; 8. Liv Wallace, Notre Dame

200-yard individual medley: 4. Gabriella Stephens, Ryle; 5. Abby Carnes, Notre Dame

100-yard butterfly: 6. Maddie Staley, Beechwood

500-yard freestyle: 1. Clare Herfel, Notre Dame; 3. Danaka Tucker, Notre Dame; 4. Ella Thomas, Conner; 7. Taryn Ripley, Highlands

200-yard freestyle relay: 3. Highlands (Taryn Ripley, Keira Kobida, Ella Kate Reynolds, Ragan Moore); 5. Notre Dame (McKenna Bien, Liv Wallace, Peyton Quinn, Clare Herfel)

100-yard backstroke: 6. Abby Carnes, Notre Dame; 8. Alexis Fassbender, St. Henry

100-yard breaststroke: 5. Freya Reil, Dixie Heights

400-yard freestyle relay: 2. Notre Dame (Clare Herfel, Liv Wallace, Danaka Tucker, Abby Carnes); 3. Highlands (Ragan Moore, Taryn Ripley, Ella Kate Reynolds, Keira Kobida); 7. Ryle (Lydia DiVita, Haley Yauger, Evelyn Panko, Gabrielle Stephens)