By: Marc Hardin, prepsports@enquirer.com
TAYLOR MILL - Excitement has been building all week for Scott High School swimmers and divers ahead of the Scott Eagle Classic, a two-weekend event in Taylor Mill featuring swimming competition Saturday and diving the following Saturday.
Marquee participants for the home team include girls' diver Lindsey Fox and boys' swimmer Ty Grubb. There's also a passel of young swimmers and divers eager to make their marks for the host.
"Everybody is really looking forward to it. They always get excited about the Classic," Scott coach Sandy Arnold said. "Outside of the conference and the region, it's the only meet of the year that brings together all the teams in Northern Kentucky. It gives the kids a great chance to see how they compare with each other. You see what you're up against."
It's Arnold's first Eagle Classic as Scott head coach. She joined the program last season as an assistant.
"Because we're the host, it brings that fire to put it all out there," Arnold said. "I'm excited about our boys. My girls team is really young. I have a lot of freshmen and middle-school girls, and we've got our state champion."
Fox, reigning state, regional and conference champ, will defend her Eagle Classic diving crown Jan. 14.
Grubb, a regional championship swimmer with a third-place finish at state, is seeking repeat Classic wins in the 100 breaststroke and 200 individual medley.
Both Scott 200 freestyle relay teams are looking to crack the top five after the boys finished fifth last year and the girls took seventh.
The Eagles are seeking to better last year's seventh place for the boys, 11th for the girls and a combined finish of 12th, just 25 points out of the top 10. Scott team captains include Laura Beck for the girls and Grubb, Stewart Nichol and Trey Burns for the boys.
Covington Catholic is defending boys' team champion. Notre Dame Academy is defending girls' champ. Highlands is defending its combined team crown. They are favorites to emerge as Eagle Classic champions again this year.
Top CovCath challengers include Highlands, Dixie Heights and Boone County.
Highlands, Dixie Heights and Beechwood will battle it out behind Notre Dame in the girls' competition.
Dixie Heights, Beechwood and Richmond Model will challenge Highlands for the combined crown.
Start time each Saturday is 10 a.m.
Even though the Scott swimming and diving teams will compete separately, they'll be rooting for each other on their days of competition.
"Absolutely. The kids do a lot together and they pull for each other," Arnold said. "It should be a lot of fun seeing what they can do the next two weekends."