Kentucky
Notre Dame, Highlands highlight Kentucky girls state swimming meet
The 2026 Kentucky high school swimming and diving season concluded on Saturday, Feb. 21, with the girls state meet at the University of Kentucky.
Notre Dame sophomore Clare Herfel was the only swimmer with a title to defend, and she did so successfully as the Pandas also took second place in the girls team race. The combined team race was a different story as Highlands attempted to dethrone Ryle’s two-year reign.
Here are the biggest storylines.
Complete results can be found here.
Savannah Bien vaults to fourth place on dive podium with stellar final round
The Notre Dame Academy junior sat in seventh place after six dives, accruing 239.7 points. Her one subpar dive was a forward 1.5 somersault 1 twist that scored only 33 points.
Thanks to her final six dives all scoring at least 36 points, she leapfrogged Cooper’s Chris Nowak, Highlands’ Addie Tinkler and Lafayette’s Sophie Kroggel into fourth place, finishing with 488.8 points. Her top dive was her back 1.5 somersault pike with a 2.3-degree of difficulty, scoring 47.15 points.
“I don’t really look at the scores because it always stresses me out. I try to do my best based on what my coach is telling me. If I am behind and not where I want to be sitting, I do focus more on every little detail,” Bien said.
Following in her father’s footsteps, Bien is a West Point commit and plans to dive there. She can earn a third straight top-five finish as a senior in 2027 after taking third place as a sophomore in 2025.
Nowak earned her second consecutive fifth-place finish, continuing a strong diving tradition at Cooper after Peytton Moore won three titles in four years.
“It means a lot. I’m glad I can. I know (freshman) Megan (Vogeler) and she’s getting really good so I hope she can continue that when I leave,” Nowak said.
She led all Northern Kentucky divers after the first round with 241 points and accrued 246.05 points in the final.
Tinkler burst out of the gates in the first round, setting herself up well with a score of 47.3 on her forward 2 somersault tuck dive, which came with a 2.2-degree of difficulty. She was set up to finish as high as fourth, but her 12th dive, a forward 1.5 somersault 1 twist, was awarded just 28.6 points.
Still, Tinkler earned high praise from her fellow competitors and coaches. Ryle coach Jeff Floyd said it was the best he’d seen her dive all year.
“I’m just glad to be here with my friends for my last year. This has been amazing,” Tinkler said. “I’ve known Jeff for five years and he’s been a really compassionate coach to me and has coached me even though it’s not his job.”
She improved from a 10th-place finish at the 2025 state meet.
Nowak and Tinkler’s coach, Kristina Jenny, was named the Kentucky girls diving coach of the year, securing a sweep of the award after Simon Kenton coach Austin Hall won on Friday.
“It shows that we pride ourselves on training our kids well and focusing on technique. Making sure they have fun is ultimately the best thing,” Jenny said.
In its pursuit of the combined team title, Ryle placed two divers in the top 16 as Anna Kopser took ninth and Emmalee Albertson took 10th.
Campbell County’s Abby Schuchter rounded out the Northern Kentucky divers in the finals with a 13th-place finish.
“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)
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – Health officials are warning residents about a rise in Cyclospora cases, a parasite that causes an intestinal illness known as cyclosporiasis and can leave people sick for weeks.
The Kentucky Department for Public Health reported 67 cases between June 14 and July 2 — nearly double the approximately 35 cases the state typically sees in an entire year. While cases normally rise in the spring and summer months, Kentucky is among several states seeing a larger-than-typical increase.
Cases likely undercounted, health official says
Cassie Prather of the Woodford County Health Department said the reported numbers are likely an undercount.
“At this point, we have an underreported number of cases because a lot of people will deal with this and their immune system can kick it in a few days,” Prather said. “For those with a suppressed immune system it can lead to quick dehydration or even a hospital visits if they’re dealing with symptoms that don’t go away for 3-5 days.”
How the parasite spreads
People can become infected after eating or drinking contaminated food or water. Fresh produce has been linked to outbreaks in the United States, but the CDC says it is still working to pinpoint the cause of the current increase.
Symptoms and timeline
Symptoms often begin about a week after exposure but can appear as soon as two days or more than two weeks later. The most common symptom is watery diarrhea. People may also experience stomach cramps, nausea, fatigue, bloating, and weight loss. Symptoms can last weeks and sometimes return after improving.
“You’re going to endure stomach cramps, nausea, sometimes you can have a low-grade fever with that,” Prather said.
Prevention guidance
Public health experts urge people to follow food-safety guidelines to reduce the risk of cyclosporiasis and other intestinal illnesses. That includes washing hands with soap and water before and after handling raw fruits and vegetables, and refrigerating cut, peeled, or cooked fruits and vegetables within two hours.
Health officials say people whose symptoms last more than a few days, keep returning, or cause signs of dehydration should contact a healthcare provider for evaluation and possible testing.
Copyright 2026 WKYT. All rights reserved.
What is going on with Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell’s health?
The 84-year-old senator is still hospitalized after nearly three weeks, according to staff. Staff members still have not said why he was admitted.
Like many Kentuckians, I have been following the recent questions surrounding Senator Mitch McConnell’s health and ability to carry out the responsibilities of his office. Every elected official deserves privacy regarding personal medical matters. But when legitimate questions arise about an officeholder’s ability to serve, the public deserves transparency.
Unlike the presidency, the Constitution provides no mechanism for addressing the incapacity of a sitting member of Congress. That makes accountability even more important. At a time when every vote and committee decision can have significant consequences, Kentucky cannot afford uncertainty about whether one of its two senators is fully able to represent the Commonwealth.
Governor Beshear, Senator Rand Paul and Kentucky’s six members of the U.S. House should insist on transparency on behalf of their constituents. Kentuckians deserve an honest assessment of whether Senator McConnell is able to fulfill the duties of the office to which he was elected.
If he is well enough to continue serving, that should be communicated clearly. Weeks of unanswered questions are not fair to Senator McConnell, nor are they fair to the people he was elected to serve. I hope my fellow Kentuckians will join me in urging our elected officials to be transparent and put the interests of Kentucky first.
— Kate Caverno, 40245
By West Kentucky Star staff
Jul. 07, 2026 | 10:07 PM
| PADUCAH
The US 51/Cairo Bridge will remain closed for a period of time.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet announced Tuesday the connector between Wickliffe and Cairo was closed Monday as crews conducted a special inspection and identified a problem with a bearing pad on the Kentucky approach.
A bearing pad shifted out of place, causing the bridge deck to become misaligned by approximately two to three inches at an expansion joint. A repair is needed.
Bearing pads function like cartilage between joints, supporting steel beams while accommodating the bridge’s natural expansion and contraction.
There are no concerns about the bridge’s overall structural integrity.
The repair will require crews to lift a heavy section of the bridge deck to replace the bearing pad. State engineers are working with the contractor and design team to finalize a repair plan as quickly as possible.
There is currently no estimated timeline for reopening the bridge. Motorists should continue to use alternate routes and expect the bridge to remain closed until the necessary repairs have been completed.
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