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)
Kentucky
Kentucky is poised to land either Donnie Freeman or Sebastian Rancik this weekend, per report
Jones posted on Twitter that “Kentucky will have (absent a major change) either Freeman or Rancik by tomorrow,” while also noting the Wildcats still need to add another shooter and another big to round out the roster.
One of the top targets is Donnie Freeman, a 6-foot-9, 205-pound sophomore forward transferring from Syracuse. Freeman arrived in Lexington on Tuesday night and began his visit on Wednesday before leaving without a commitment. While there was concern he could land at UConn, that visit has since been canceled, leaving Kentucky and St. John’s as the top teams.
Freeman averaged 16.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game last season, while adding nearly a block and a steal per contest. He shot 47.4% from the field but 30.2% from 3-point range across 23 games.
The other option is Sebastian Rancik, a 6-foot-11, 220-pound sophomore forward transferring from Colorado. Rancik visited Kentucky starting Wednesday through Thursday and brings a versatile skill set, averaging 12.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2 assists per game while shooting 33.1% from 3.
Either Freeman or Rancik would provide a significant boost at the power forward position for head coach Mark Pope. Kentucky has already added guards Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins in the portal.
Kentucky football coach Will Stein reflects on new position
Will Stein was officially introduced to fans and media as the head coach for the Kentucky Wildcats, replacing Mark Stoops.
LEXINGTON — Kentucky football had its first spring game under new coach Will Stein at Kroger Field on Saturday.
The offense, in blue jerseys, had its moments. So too the defense, donning white uniforms.
Ultimately, the blue squad earned a 23-18 victory in a game called just after noon because of inclement weather.
Stein admitted he “got emotional” as he charged onto the field prior to kickoff.
“I know it wasn’t a real game, but when I ran on the field, I definitely — man, I felt it,” he said. “It was like a wave running over me. And very, very, just cool.”
While it doesn’t count in the standings, Stein walked away pleased.
“I think we got a lot of really good work,” he said. “That’s the goal of spring is to improve with fundamentals and technique, learn how to practice, learn what winning edges that we need throughout spring to go into summer and fall and prepare the team for play. And we came out of the scrimmage clean. There (were) no injuries, which to me, that’s the biggest win of the day. I could (not) care less about the score.
“If we come out clean, that’s good. The Wildcats won.”
New starting QB Kenny Minchey looked about as expected, with sharp passes evened out by moments of inconsistency. Martels Carter Jr., a defensive back who is lining up at running back this spring, scored a touchdown and had several nice runs.
And the defense forced multiple three-and-outs and also picked off one Minchey pass on a two-point conversion.
This story will be updated.
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
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