Fore! Incoming Covington Catholic senior Gastright doing it right

BY MARC HARDIN | LINK NKY CONTRIBUTOR

When it comes to posing for celebratory photographs, Mitchell Gastright doesn’t mind standing next to other Covington Catholic High School people who are a lot taller than he is. With a 6-foot5 golf coach and a slew of tall teammates, Gastright really hasn’t had a choice in the matter.

“I’m 5-9,” Gastright said. “That’s just the way it is right now.”

What matters to Gastright is not the length of his frame but the strength of his game.

“I felt like I could be playing better, so my dad has got me in the gym,” he said. “It feels like I’m getting stronger.”

As a result, he’s definitely getting longer off the tee. Gastright, 17, is capable of driving a golf ball up to 300 yards, a number that’s nearly twice his weight of 155 pounds.

“I’ve always hit the ball as far as anyone,” Gastright said. “I feel like my mechanics really help me out. Getting stronger is just going to make me better.”

Pound for pound, Colonels coach Alex Ammerman said Gastright just might be one of the best high school golfers in Kentucky. The rising senior has ascended to the No. 1 spot on a deep and talented Colonels squad after a solid showing in his first three years.

Gastright underscored his ascent by winning last month’s 21st Lexington City Junior Championship at Kearney Hill Golf Links with a two-day score of 3-under-par 141. He shot 70 the first round for a two-shot lead and kept a stranglehold on the competition with a second-round score of 71.

“I think I had nine birdies in the tournament,” Gastright said. “When I make birdies, that tells me I’m doing things right.”

Coach Ammerman, himself a former CovCath golfer, admires the way Gastright attacks the course, a playing trait that produces birdies in bunches.

“As he’s gotten stronger, he’s gotten better,” the coach said. “A lot of what makes Mitchell a good golfer is he’s a good athlete. And he’s really consistent, so he’s got a high floor.”

That consistency was on display in Lexington, where Gastright carded nine-hole splits of 34, 37, 35 and 35.

“He’s having a good summer,” Ammerman said. “We know he’s going to have a good senior year.”

Gastright set the bar pretty high his first three years.

“Mitchell has played varsity golf at Covington Catholic since he was a freshman, which is very rare,” coach Ammerman said. “He’s got a great attitude. The harder I am with him, the better he responds.”

Gastright has a career-low score of 74 in high school tournament play. He has shot 75 in the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Region 7 Tournament in back-toback seasons. He had an individual finish of third place at last year’s regional, helping the Colonels to a runner-up team finish. He tied for 53rd at state. He was seventh regionally as a sophomore. An eight-time tournament medalist, he has qualified for state each of the last two seasons. He made a hole-in-one during a CovCath practice round on a 183-yard, par-3 at Ryland Lakes Country Club as a sophomore.

While perfection on the links is elusive, with one year left on the CovCath golf team, Gastright just wants to get it right one more time. To that end, he has greatly improved his short game and added 20 yards on his drives over the last year.

“I think we can win the region,” Gastright said. “So I want to play as well as I can.”

His coach has no doubts.

“Mitchell is an extremely hard worker,” Ammerman said. “The future is very bright for him.”

Ditto, for the team.

“We have a lot of good golfers, so our lineup will be extremely fluid,” Ammerman said. “Essentially, 2-7 will all be getting somewhat equal playing time.”

That group includes seniors Luke Pieper, Vince DiTommaso, Eli Wagner, Avery Stanley and incoming juniors Ben Unkraut and Nathan Arkenau.

Their mighty mite is Gastright. He and his coach have the pictures to prove it.

“I’m usually the shorter guy in the picture,” Gastright said. “It’s OK. It just shows I can play with bigger guys.”

He could have been playing with baseball guys. He comes from a baseball-playing family. Looking back on things, Ammerman said Gastright picked the right sport.

“His mom showed me a picture of him when he was a freshman. He was only 5-foot-1, so he’s actually grown a lot,” Ammerman said. “He may not be the tallest kid, but not every golfer can be as tall as me.”

And that is pretty much the long and short of it when it comes to CovCath golf. The Colonels’ season starts July 20 at the Taylor County Tournament at Campbellsville Country Club.

St. Henry’s Schlueter wins Gatorade Player of the Year

playing their soccer season during the spring sports session.

She joins Covington Catholic’s Will Sheets as the Northern Kentucky area student-athletes to win Gatorade Player of the Year in their respective sport. Sheets won the award in cross-country in January after winning the KHSAA Class AAA individual state cross -country title in November with a personal best time of 15:28.2.

Sheets became the first sophomore to win the award in Kentucky in 22 years. He recently won the 3,200 meters at the Class AAA state track and field meet in Lexington on June 3 in a time of 9:16.81, and helped the Colonels 4×800 relay team also win a state title.

gion and some 10th Region schools.

Martin was a finalist with Scott Allison of Carlisle and Grant Weaver of Louisville. Allison was named the Outstanding Official of the Year.

Each year, the Kentucky High School Athletic Association honors the top officials for the 10 sports in which it licenses officials. Finalists in each sport are selected through a combination of not only on-field performance but local association activity and leadership, training efforts and the mentoring of newer officials nal college season. The Hebron native scored 1,394 points in his college career. He had pre-draft workouts with the Warriors and New York Knicks before going undrafted in the 2023 NBA Draft on June 22.

St. Henry District High School’s Amanda Schlueter has been named the Kentucky girls soccer Gatorade Player of the Year.

Schlueter led the Crusaders in goals, collecting 35 of them in her only high school soccer season, playing on elite travel teams the rest of her career. She also recorded seven assists, scoring in all 17 games played during the 2022 season as she helped the Crusaders to the 9th Region tournament semifinals.

The award recognizes athletic excellence and high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field. She volunteered locally at a food bank and has donated her time as a youth soccer and basketball coach.

Schlueter graduated with a 4.22 GPA and signed a national letter of intent to continue her career at Ohio State University. The late announcement is due to some states

Burlington resident Donchez Martin was one of three finalists for the KHSAA Outstanding Official of the Year in baseball for the 2023 season.

Martin is a member of the Northern Kentucky Baseball Umpires Association, which primarily consists of umpires in the 9th Re-

One official in each sport is named Outstanding Official of the Year for their sport in appreciation of their dedication and service to schools and student-athletes across the state. Winners are selected following consultation with local assigning secretaries, veteran officials’ observers, coaches throughout the state and additional staff review.

Each finalist will receive a commemorative watch and certificate courtesy of the Officials Division Trust Fund, with the Official of the Year receiving an additional recognition award.

Kunkel to join Golden State’s Summer League team

Former Cooper High School standout Adam Kunkel will get his NBA chance.

Kunkel recently agreed to join the Golden State Warriors for the NBA Summer League. He played the last three seasons at Xavier University after starting his college career with Belmont during the 2018-19 season. Kunkel averaged 10.9 points and shot 42% from the 3-point line in his fi-

Golden State started Summer League play on July 3 in the California Classic Summer League in Sacramento with two games before playing in Las Vegas starting on July 7. The majority of Summer League games are on television via ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and NBATV.

At Cooper, Kunkel helped lead the Jaguars to the KHSAA Sweet Sixteen state championship game in his junior season, finishing runner-up to Bowling Green. Kunkel was the second-leading scorer on the team that season behind Sean McNeil. Kunkel led the Jaguars in scoring his senior season with 20.0 points per game, finishing 9th Region runner-up to Covington Catholic.

If Kunkel impresses over the summer, the Warriors roster situation is currently a tricky one that’s hard to project. They recently traded away Jordan Poole, and Draymond Green rejected his player option for the upcoming season. In the Poole trade, they acquired Chris Paul, who was traded away from the Suns earlier. The Warriors have plenty of roster spots open, with only eight players under contract for the upcoming season. The NBA free agency period begins July 1.