Prep lacrosse finally unified as KHSAA takes over and keeps rivalries burning
Kentucky high school lacrosse finally has its Super Bowl.
Make that Super Bowls — because after years of competition as a club sport in geographically separate leagues outside the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s jurisdiction, both boys and girls lacrosse have finally unified under the KHSAA umbrella.
“It’s a testament that the sport is becoming more popular,” Henry Clay boys coach Ben Ternosky said Wednesday after his No. 12 Blue Devils knocked off No. 10 Sayre 10-6 to cap a senior night celebration. “It is the fastest growing sport, but people don’t know that until it actually happens in their state. And I’m glad the KHSAA and enough programs, boys and girls, have a team, and we hope that they continue to grow.”
This year, 40 boys teams and 37 girls teams are spread across eight regions. Those regions center around Bowling Green, Louisville, Lexington and Covington — places where lacrosse had already taken root.
Henry Clay’s boys lacrosse program was wildly successful as a club team over the last dozen years, winning seven club state championships from 2013 to 2021 under the various entities that ran lacrosse outside the Louisville area.
Lexington Catholic won back-to-back club titles in 2022 and 2023. Woodford County claimed last year’s final Commonwealth Lacrosse League (CLL) title.
Henry Clay (9-2), No. 5 Frederick Douglass (9-3) and Sayre (8-4) are the top three teams in boys lacrosse’s new KHSAA 7th Region. No. 4 Woodford County (6-2) and No. 9 Lexington Catholic (7-4) top the 8th Region.
On the girls’ side, Sayre won two of the last three CLL club titles. Lexington Catholic (2023) and Henry Clay (2021) also claimed club crowns.
Wednesday, girls No. 6 Sayre defeated the No. 9 Blue Devils 13-9 as part of a girls-boys doubleheader at Henry Clay.
Sayre girls coach Anna Cook said the transition from lacrosse as a club sport to KHSAA sanctioning has been seamless.
“No complaints,” Cook said. “And it’s been pretty smooth sailing and this group of seniors. They are leaders and I’m really proud to have this season with them.”
Sayre (10-4) and Henry Clay (9-5) are 1-2 in the girls 7th Region’s standings. No. 10 Paul Laurence Dunbar (9-4) and No. 19 Lexington Christian (9-1) top the 8th Region.
Separate leagues no longer
Over all of those years of Lexington teams celebrating club titles, the Louisville area had its own boys and girls lacrosse leagues and its own champions.
Think of it like professional football’s NFC and AFC if the teams in those conference divisions never met to crown a Super Bowl winner. That’s what Kentucky high school lacrosse has been until now.
Boys and girls teams from Louisville would often play teams from the other leagues during the regular season. And the outcome of many of those games could be lopsided because, like volleyball, Louisville-area schools have been playing lacrosse for a lot longer in leagues that have been much more competitive.
According to the latest statewide boys rankings by Laxnumbers.com, the Louisville area has the three top boys teams — No. 1 St. Xavier, No. 2 Trinity and No. 3 South Oldham. St. X plays most of its regular season against teams in Indiana and Ohio because the competition is tougher there.
As an example of the gap between Louisville and the rest of the state, Woodford County, the highest ranked of the old CLL teams, lost to Trinity 16-7 on April 15.
“The St. X’s, the Trinitys, they’re really good. But we’ve got to approach them like any other team,” said Henry Clay sophomore Max Thayer. “We can’t be scared. We’ve just got to be ready to play.”
The same gap exists in girls lacrosse. The old Kentucky Scholastic Lacrosse League teams hold the top five spots in the latest Laxnumbers.com rankings — 1. Kentucky Country Day, 2. Eastern, 3. Sacred Heart, 4. Louisville Collegiate and No. 5 Notre Dame.
“They are the real deal. I think we’re a good deal too, though. But it will be tough,” Sayre’s Cook said. “I do know there are a lot of those teams that we have the ability to beat and to upset.”
Sayre held its own in an 18-14 loss to Collegiate on April 18 and Cook said KHSAA sanctioning has made it easier for the Spartans to schedule Louisville-area teams in the regular season. That will only help her team get better, she said.
“Now you can tell both cities are like, ‘We have to make sure that we know what the competition looks like.’ So, it’s been great getting to play those higher-level games,” Cook said. “I feel like we feel pressure earlier in the season.”
Sayre’s top scorer, senior Anna Mullikin, said she preferred the old club alignment, but looked forward to seeing how Sayre improves in the years to come with the team now having to battle against Louisville teams year in and year out.
“I’m excited to have some really tough competition,” Mullikin said. “I know in a couple of years each team will get better every single year. … I think we will get up to that level.”
Long-held school rivalries preserved
Perhaps the best part of the KHSAA’s new format is that it largely preserves the lacrosse rivalries that had formed over the years as a club sport and keeps intact rivalries that already exist in other sports like baseball, basketball, soccer, softball and volleyball.
Lacrosse’s 7th Region has Henry Clay, Frederick Douglass, Sayre, Scott County and Bryan Station, all 42nd District rivals in other sports. Great Crossing rounds out the 7th’s six teams.
Lacrosse’s 8th Region includes Lafayette, Lexington Catholic, Lexington Christian, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Tates Creek, all 43rd District rivals in other sports. Woodford County rounds out the 8th.
On Tuesday, Frederick Douglass visits Henry Clay in a boys game that has region tournament seeding and pride on the line.
“I think we’ve played seven times in five years including the postseason,” Henry Clay’s Ternosky said. “They’ve all been one-goal games. So, it’s probably going to be a one-goal game next Tuesday.”
Ternosky believes the Henry Clay-Douglass rivalry is fueled by the friendships some of the players formed over the years as middle schoolers when they went to Edythe J. Hayes together.
Some students wearing Douglass gear took in Wednesday’s Henry Clay game from the far-side bleachers. The small group’s biggest cheers could be heard when Sayre scored.
“Oh, it will be heated, but it’s fun,” Henry Clay’s Thayer said. “It’s the best game of the season for both teams. … It’s our friends, we all talk (trash) to each other. We’re all really looking forward to it.”
Sayre’s girls team and Henry Clay have that same kind of rivalry. Wednesday’s game remained close with each team taking turns in front until the Spartans scored two quick goals for a 10-8 lead going into the fourth.
“It’s always intense,” Cook said. “I mean, you love a rivalry game, you hate a rivalry game, but I know that there’s, it’s always going to be intense, and we’re always going to both go to our full abilities.”
Lacrosse’s response to KHSAA oversight
Abby Jackson, a former Bryan Station athletic director who is now the KHSAA’s deputy commissioner overseeing lacrosse, said there were a few bumps early in getting teams on board with scheduling and things like reporting rosters, scores and statistics. But as the season got underway, it’s gone well.
“The lacrosse people are excited to have standings published on our website and they’ve been really good about getting their stuff in because they want that,” Jackson said.
Jackson acknowledged the KHSAA hasn’t seen many schools outside lacrosse’s base inquire about forming teams. Some of that could be attributed to the costs involved for equipment, coaches and officials.
“I think after we get through one year, we’ll have a better idea of the direction it’s heading,” Jackson said. “It’s a hard sport, and there’s just not a ton of people familiar with it in our state.”
Greg Schuler, a lacrosse referee and the former commissioner of the old Commonwealth Lacrosse League, couldn’t think of any issues in this first season.
“I’m not sure there’s any real difference for us as far as play goes,” Schuler said. “The biggest thing to me is that these kids are going to be acknowledged in their school as being in a full varsity sport. They’re going to be acknowledged for their success, and I think that’s a huge thing.”
Lacrosse’s postseason begins with region tournaments May 9. The state tournaments begin May 14 with first- and second-round games bracketed according to an east-west rotation schedule that mirrors the KHSAA format for other sports. The state semifinals and finals will be May 19 and 21 at Shelby County and Collins high schools.
This story was originally published April 25, 2025 at 6:40 AM.
