The smile that spread across Brent Grover's face was worth a thousand words. A Highlands graduate bound for Purdue University, Grover was surprised to be named the Buddy LaRosa Male High School Athlete of the Year Saturday during ceremonies at the studios of WCET-TV (Channel 48).

        “There were so many good athletes, I didn't think I had a chance to win the award,” said Grover, an all-state and All-America middle linebacker for the Kentucky Class AAA champion Bluebirds.

        “The guy from St.X (Jayme Cramer) was the national swimmer of the year, and I wasn't the national football player of the year. This is a great honor.”

        Northern Kentucky made it a sweep when Bishop Brossart's Katie Schwegmann claimed the Buddy LaRosa Female High School Athlete of the Year honors.

        In addition to football, Grover starred in track and this season won the Class AA titles in shot put and discus.

        Schwegmann, who will attend Miami University, is Kentucky's Miss Basketball and was a state track champion this spring on Brossart's 3,200-meter relay.

        Grover and Schwegmann were among 12 finalists (six girls and six boys) nominated for the Cincinnati area's most prestigious high school award, given annually since the 1986-87 school year.

        The other finalists were Audra Falk (CHCA), Chelsea Homan (Anderson), Michelle Munoz (Mason), Tami Ransom (Ursuline) and Lindsay Zinn (Lakota East), and Marcus Blanks (Moeller), Mike Ferris (Colerain), Gino Guidugli (Highlands) and Danny Horace (Western Hills).

        The 2000 inductees into Buddy LaRosa's Sports Hall of Fame were Andrea Farley (Indian Hill 1989), Leo Groeschen (Newport Catholic 1946), JoAnn Osterkamp Henderson (Seton 1980), LaSalle Thompson (Withrow 1979) and Barb Volker Young (Seton 1985).

        Rose Koch (Mercy volleyball coach 1977-87) and Paul ""Hans'' Frey (Elder basketball coach 1969-91) were inducted into the Hank Zureick Memorial Coaches Hall of Fame.

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