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Prep Sports Notebook: Two boys basketball coaches chasing records will go against each other Tuesday


By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter

Two boys high school basketball coaches who are closing in on records will be facing each other Tuesday when Covington Catholic visits St. Henry in the second week of the 2022-23 season.

If CovCath wins, Scott Ruthsatz will have more victories than any coach in program history. He’ll go into the game with a 313-68 record in 12 seasons with the Colonels. The coach ahead of him is Dan Tieman, who retired in 2000 with a 313-146 record in 15 seasons at CovCath.

Scott Ruthsatz

Dave Faust

If St. Henry wins, Dave Faust will move a step closer to breaking the 9th Region boys basketball coaching record for career victories that has been on the books for more than 30 years.

Faust took over second place last week when he pushed his record to 453-375 in 31 seasons at St. Henry. The region’s record-holder since 1989 has been Kenney Shields, who compiled a 460-257 record in 23 seasons at St. Thomas and Highlands.

CovCath was ranked No. 1 in a preseason poll of Northern Kentucky basketball coaches and the Colonels won their first three games by double-digit margins. The team leader is senior guard Evan Ipsaro, who averaged 24.6 points, 7.3 assists and 4.3 rebounds during the 3-0 start. He was named first-team all-state last year.

St. Henry entered the season ranked No. 10 in the local coaches poll. The Crusaders defeated two higher-ranked teams — No. 2 Cooper and No. 4 Conner — and then lost to Newport Central Catholic in the opening week. Their starting lineup includes seniors Jack Grayson, Braden Fedders and Matthew Resing, who all have double-figure scoring averages.

Two state finalists head list of returning wrestlers on local teams

Five of the seven Northern Kentucky high school wrestlers who reached the weight class finals at last year’s boys state tournament were seniors and two of them won state titles. The returning state finalists are Conner junior Sebastian Vega and Walton-Verona sophomore TJ Meyer, who opened this season competing in the 120 and 126 weight classes, respectively.  

TJ Meyer

Meyer finished last season with a 37-4 record that included a 10-1 run through the post-season tournaments in the 120 weight class. In the state final, he lost a tight match by a 4-2 decision. Vega posted a 45-2 record at 106 pounds last season. He was the only Conner wrestler who made it to the state finals after winning 10 consecutive matches in the region, semi-state and state tournaments.

The list of returning state qualifiers also includes third-place finisher Jonah McCloskey of Simon Kenton and fourth-place finishers Mason Orth of Campbell County and Mason Schweitzer of Walton-Verona.

McCloskey and Orth opened this season competing in the 113 weight class with Schweitzer at 150.

In girls wrestling, Simon Kenton junior Gabriella Ocasio is the defending state champion in the 138-pound weight class. Two sisters who won state titles as Ryle wrestlers — Olivia and Addison Messerly — transferred to Grant County for their senior year.

Ryle grad Maddie Scherr leads SEC women’s basketball in assists

Ryle graduate Maddie Scherr is the assist leader in Southeastern Conference women’s basketball after her first seven games as a starting guard for the University of Kentucky team that’s off to a 6-1 start.

Scherr, a junior transfer from the University of Oregon, is averaging 6.4 assists for the Wildcats. Two weeks ago, the former Miss Kentucky Basketball had a career-high 11 assists in a win over Dayton. Her other season averages are 6.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. She also has 11 steals and five blocked shots.

Kentucky visits Minnesota at 8 p.m. Wednesday and has a home game against Louisville at 1 p.m. Sunday that will be televised on ESPN.


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