Ryle's Leone wins state in discus

Raiders finish in eighth place, only Northern Kentucky school in top-10

by Marc Harden,  NKY Enquirer


Ryle produced its first Class 3A track and field boys’ individual state champion Saturday with a win by Michael Leone in the discus and the Raiders enjoyed their highest finish in 15 years, placing eighth in the final team standings. 

“This is by far the best we’ve finished at state in a while,” coach Russell Harden said. “We set three school records today. Michael Leone broke his own record twice.” 

Leone, Tanner McConvey, Nathan Davis and Nick Kennedy have re-written the Ryle record books. Leone became the first Ryle individual champion since 1997 when B.T. Pickett won the high jump with a leap of 6-2 at the Class 2A meet. 
Davis since has broken Pickett's record. McConvey set the school record in the pole vault.

On Saturday, McConvey (110- and 300-meter hurdles), Kennedy (long jump) and Davis (high jump) combined for four fifth-place state finishes. Kennedy set a school record with a leap of 22 feet. They say it's for the good of the team. 

Ryle's Brandon Mefford

“It’s a great personal gain when you do well but it means even more to help the team do something monumental,” Leone said.

The senior had a winning discus throw of 145 feet, 3 inches. An earlier toss erased his previous school mark of 143-6. Leone grabbed 10 points with the victory. That was more than the seven points the entire Raiders team had scored at state in a six-year span from 2005-2010.

“We had nothing in 2008 then two points in 2009 and five in 2010,” Harden said. “We got 17 last year and we almost doubled that.”
Ryle accrued 29 points, well behind team winner Bryan Station (66). Boone County (3) finished 30th in the final standings, followed by Scott (2) and Dixie Heights (2) in a tie for 32nd place, and Cooper (1) in 34th.