Highlands, Notre Dame highlight KHSAA Region 7 swimming meet

A variety of winners emerged from the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Region 7 swimming championships Sunday at Silverlake Recreation Center in Erlanger.

While the champions were spread out, with eight different schools winning at least one, two individuals stood above the rest.

Notre Dame junior Lainy Kruger was named the swimmer of the meet after winning two solo events, helping the Pandas finish second in one relay to automatically qualify for state, and helping another relay finish third and likely pick up an at-large berth.

Kruger won the 200-yard freestyle in 1 minute, 47.84 seconds, claiming a 7.1-second win over second place and shattering a meet record set in 2016 by former Pandas' great Sophie Skinner.

Kruger won the 100 breaststroke by 6.15 seconds. She is defending state champion in that event. Her time of 1:02.25 was just a 10th of a second off her meet record from last year.

Kruger earned automatic All-American status in both events.

Highlands senior Sam Jones was the male swimmer of the meet after winning the 100 freestyle and 200 free by 3.46 seconds and 7.04, respectively. He helped the 200 medley relay team and the 400 free relay team finish second to earn automatic state berths.

They were the only competitors to win two solo championships, as swimmers from eight different schools won event titles.

The top two finishers in each event earned automatic berths to the state meet Feb. 18-19 at the University of Kentucky. At-large berths will be awarded on Tuesday after all the regional meets around the state are finished.

The diving competition was postponed by last week’s weather, which will impact the team scores. Ryle leads the girls competition and Highlands the boys competition after today. Ryle has a decisive edge in the combined championship.