When the Moeller Crusaders wrapped up their 4-1 win over Olentangy Orange in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division I baseball state finals, they wrapped up the entire school year for sports in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.
Moeller's ninth baseball state title capped off another year full of championships for local athletes. Here are all the local state champs from the 2022-2023 season in the OHSAA, Kentucky High School Athletic Association and Indiana High School Athletic Association.
Fall
Football
East Central: East Central dominated New Prairie 37-7 in the IHSAA Class 4A state championship, earning the program's third state championship trophy.
Beechwood: Needing an extra point to tie the KHSAA Class 2A state final, Mayfield's kick fell incomplete to aid Beechwood to a 14-13 victory in head coach Noel Rash's final game leading the Tigers.
Golf
Kylee Heidemann, Mercy McAuley: The Mercy McAuley senior had been in the state tournament before, but finally claimed the state championship in her final try. Heidemann shot a 141 over two days, including a 69 in round two to clinch first place by two strokes.
Seven Hills boys: The Seven Hills team sat in second place in the Division III state tournament after shooting a 337 on day one. On day two, Seven Hills improved to take a 322 in day two, finishing first overall with a 659.
Tennis
Shyla Aggarwal, Mason: Aggarwal topped North Canton Hoover's Tess Bucher 6-2, 6-1 in the Division I state finals for her second individual state championship overall and her third trip to the finals.
Mason: Following the OHSAA tournament, the Mason girls won the team tennis title in the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association final four over Hoover. The title was the sixth-straight team title for the Comets in the tournament.
CHCA: In the Division II bracket of the OTCA team tournament, CHCA took down Hathaway Brown to clinch the state championship.
Cross country
Mason girls: The Comets had two runners finish in the top eight overall and had five runners finish in the top 25 of scoring runners, finishing with 75 points overall to win the Division I state championship.
Mason boys: Mason had a clean sweep of cross-country team titles as the boys also claimed the Division I title. The Comets finished in first thanks to 128 points scored, 14 points better than runner-up St. Xavier.
Beechwood girls: Beechwood's girls claimed the Class A title with 65 team points thanks to five runners finishing in the top 22 scoring placers.
St. Henry boys: Including individual champion Dixon Ryan, St. Henry cruised through the state finals run with just 53 points, bettering runner-up Villa Madonna by 50 points.
Conner boys: The Cougars won the Class 3A state championship with a team score of 73 points. Conner lapped the field as state runner-up Louisville St. Xavier finished with 154 points.
Dixon Ryan, St. Henry: The senior completed his Class A run in 16:03.83, nearly a 15-second-cushion between him and Bishop Brossart's Nathan Ruth.
Maddie Strong, Scott: The Scott junior won the Class 2A solo title with a time of 18:41.98.
Will Sheets, Covington Catholic: Sheets helped lead Covington Catholic to a third-place finish as a team as he finished in first place individually, running the final race in 15:28.20.
Soccer
Seton: A Shannon Ott goal in the second half gave Seton a 1-0 victory over Strongsville in the Division I state final and the first soccer state title in the school's history.
Cincinnati Country Day: A 1-0 in the Division III finals gave the Nighthawks their third state championship since 2018.
Volleyball
Ursuline Academy: After dropping the first set in the Division I state final to Rocky River Magnificat, the Lions regrouped to win the next three sets to finish as Ohio state champions for the eighth time.
Notre Dame: The Pandas finished the 2022 season with a 34-5 record with a state championship sweep over Paul Laurence Dunbar, 25-22, 25-11, 25-16.
Winter
Basketball
Princeton girls: Princeton picked up the program's third basketball state championship after going 28-2 on the year, including the 69-51 win over Olmstead Falls in the Division I state final.
Purcell Marian girls: Purcell Marian moved up to Division II after winning the Division III state title in 2022. No problem for the Cavaliers who had Ms. Basketball winner Dee Alexander lead them to a 57-48 victory over Canal Fulton Northwest for a repeat title.
Swimming and diving
St. Xavier: After ending its state championship streak in 2022, the Bombers returned atop the podium in February 2023. St. Xavier clinched the Division I state title with 287 points, 104 more than second-place Upper Arlington.
Relay state championship winners:
- St. Xavier 200-yard medley relay
- St. Xavier 200-yard freestyle relay
- St. Xavier 400-yard freestyle relay
- Indian Hill (boys) 200-yard medley relay
- Indian Hill (boys) 400-yard freestyle relay
Individual state championship winners:
- Thackston McMullan, St. Xavier: 200-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle
- Addie Robillard, St. Ursula: 200-yard individual medley, 100-yard breaststroke
- Taylor Bacher, CHCA: 200-yard freestyle
- Julia Shafer: CHCA: 200-yard individual medley
- Jason Zhao, Indian Hill: 500-yard freestyle
- Logan Ottke, CHCA: 100-yard breaststroke
- Gibson Holmes, Indian Hill: 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard individual medley
- Lainy Kruger, Notre Dame: 100-yard breaststroke, 200-yard freestyle
- Ella Boeres, Walnut Hills: 1-meter dive
Wrestling
Harrison girls: In the inaugural OHSAA girls state wrestling tournament, Harrison had first place in the state championship before the final day of the meet had even started. The Wildcats scored 97 points overall with two individual champions and four placers overall.
Individual champions:
- Chloe Dearwester, Harrison: 105
- Raegan Briggs, Harrison: 125
- Jesse Foebar, Clermont Northeastern: 145
- Elizabeth Madison, Loveland: 170
- Eugene Harney, Sycamore: 150
- Braden Blevins, Simon Kenton: 106
- Landen Evans, Ryle: 113
Spring
Baseball
Moeller: The 31-3 Crusaders lost just one game to a team from Ohio all year and dominated their schedule all the way to a 4-1 win over Olentangy Orange in the Division I state championship. The win was the ninth state title in Moeller history.
Volleyball
Moeller: In the first boys volleyball tournament as an OHSAA-sanctioned sport, the Moeller Crusaders continued like they always have for the 11th overall volleyball title and third straight. Falling to a 2-0 deficit and facing a finals loss to Olentangy Liberty, Moeller picked up the reverse sweep for the historic victory.
Tennis
Drew Evans/Carson Dwyer, St. Xavier: Evans, a senior, and Dwyer, a freshman, teamed up to claim the state championship in Division I doubles, topping a duo from Sycamore in the state finals.
Kalei Christensen/Alex Yeager, Covington Catholic: Down to a third-set tiebreaker, Christensen and Yeager took the final game 10-7 over their opponents from Greenwood to become the first doubles state champs in school history.
Sycamore boys: After placing individuals in third and fourth place in the OHSAA Division I tournament, Sycamore was led by Nick Meyers and Nicholas Choo to a team title in the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association Division I tournament.
Seven Hills boys: In the Division II finals of the OTCA tournament, Seven Hills took down Lexington for the state title.
Track and field
Beechwood girls: Beechwood scored 100 points in its run to the Class A state championship, topping runner-up Bishop Brossart by 32 points on the final scoreboard.
Walton-Verona boys: After finishing as the state runner-up in 2022, Walton-Verona scored 64 points to edge Louisville Collegiate's 56 points to finish first overall.
Relay state championship winners:
- St. Xavier 4x800-meter relay
- La Salle 4x100-meter relay
- Waynesville (girls) 4x800-meter relay
- Bishop Brossart (girls) 4x100-meter relay
- Beechwood (girls) 4x200-meter relay
- Beechwood (girls) 4x400-meter relay
- Walton-Verona (boys) 4x200-meter relay
- Bishop Brossart (boys) 4x800-meter relay
- Holmes mixed 4x100-meter relay
- Highlands (boys) 4x800-meter relay
- Covington Catholic 4x800-meter relay
Individual state championship winners:
- Chloe Hein, Bishop Brossart: long jump
- Al Bessler, St. Henry: triple jump
- Will Sheets, Covington Catholic: 3,200 meters
- Viktoriya Emelianova, Ryle: shot put
- Jackson Smith, Walton-Verona: 100 meters, 200 meters
- Grady Shay, Walton-Verona: 110-meter hurdles
Rugby
Withrow: Withrow's Division II rugby squad won the school's first team state championship since 1950 by knocking off two-time defending champions Watkins Memorial 36-34 in the state final.
