CINCINNATI — Five outstanding All-American athletes – in swimming, running, wrestling, football and basketball – are the latest electees into the Buddy LaRosa’s High School Sports Hall of Fame.
The 2025 class also includes a legendary baseball coach and two celebrated high school teams.
The 2025 LaRosa’s Sports Hall of Fame class includes:
Cory Chitwood, Ryle High School, Class of 2007, Swimming
Annie Heffernan, St. Ursula Academy, Class of 2017, Cross Country and Track
Megan McCabe, Wyoming High School, Class of 1997, Basketball and Track
Austin Myers, Campbell County High School, Class of 2015, Wrestling
Patrick Towles, Highlands High School, Class of 2012, Football
Coach Bill Krumpelbeck, Covington Catholic High School, 1977-2025, Baseball
Roger Bacon 1994-95 Girls Basketball Team
Holmes High School 1977-78 Boys Basketball Team
The latest additions to the LaRosa’s High School Sports Hall of Fame will be officially inducted in ceremonies in summer 2026.
The hall of fame is in its 51st year of recognizing outstanding local high school athletes and coaches. The hall of fame has honored 313 athletes and coaches and 18 top teams since its founding in 1975.
LaRosa’s Hall of Fame provided information about the 2025 class:
Cory Chitwood
Ryle High School
Class of 2007
Three-time Kentucky state swimming champion and a collegiate All-American
Cory Chitwood joins LaRosa’s Hall of Famer Nate Dusing from Covington Catholic as the two finest swimmers in Northern Kentucky history.
At Ryle High School, Cory won three state titles during his career. As a senior at the Kentucky state championships, he won the 100-yard backstroke in 48.60 seconds, almost four seconds faster than the second-place finisher. He then went on to capture the 200-yard individual medley in 1:50.41 by more than six seconds. He was ranked No. 1 in the nation in the 200-meter backstroke, No. 2 in the 100-meter backstroke, No. 6 in the 400-meter IM and No. 7 in the 200-meter IM.
He continued his remarkable career in college at the University of Arizona, where he was a three-time NCAA champion in the 200 backstroke and a 14-time collegiate All-American. He was a member of the U.S. National team and finished 10th in the 200-Meter backstroke (2:00.03) in the 2012 Olympic Trials.
Chitwood lives in Unionville, Ind., with his wife, Beth and children, Jolene and Maverick. He is the associate head coach of the men’s and women’s swimming teams at Indiana University.
Annie Heffernan
St. Ursula Academy
Class of 2015
Five-time Ohio state champ in cross country and track and a collegiate All-American
Annie Heffernan was a three-time All-American in Track by USA Track and Field. Annie collected five state championships in her career. She is one of only 26 LaRosa’s Hall of Famers to be inducted on the first ballot.
Heffernan won the Division I cross country championship as a junior (18:13.90). As a senior, she won both the regional track 1600-meter run in a record time of 4:50.30, then followed up with the 3200-meter run regional title in 10:47.12. At the state meet, she turned in state title performances in the 1600 in 4:48.39 and in the 3200 in 10:38.04.
Amazingly, her sophomore record time in winning the 3200-meter (10:14.91) also set the Ohio high school state record and the Jesse Owens Stadium records – all three records still stand. It is Ohio’s longest-running state track meet record.
She continued her running career on scholarship at the University of Notre Dame where she won six letters and was an NCAA Division I track All-American.
Heffernan lives in Boston where she is a Neurosurgery Research Associate at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Megan McCabe
Wyoming High School
Class of 1997
Basketball superstar led the Wyoming girls’ team to the 1997 Ohio state championship and set seven school records
One of the most dynamic female athletes in Wyoming High School history, Megan McCabe earned eight varsity letters during her outstanding career for the Cowboys.
Basketball was her dominant sport and she played a significant role in Wyoming’s only state girls basketball title. With 16 seconds left in the 1996 Ohio Division III state championship game, McCabe grabbed the defensive rebound, then drove the length of the floor, and hit a jump shot to send the game into overtime. She proceeded to score all eight points in overtime to lead the Cowboys to a 35-29 victory over Upper Sandusky and a final 25-2 record.
She set the school’s high jump record and was a two-time state qualifier in that event. She also played one season of softball.
McCabe signed a scholarship with The Ohio State University, and she earned a varsity letter in 1999 after a redshirt freshman season.
McCabe and her wife, Heather Grunkemeyer live in Columbus. They have two sons Ethan and Brady Grunkemeyer. Ethan was the starting quarterback at Penn State University this past season.
Megan is Co-Owner of M2 Marketing, a web development and graphic design firm.
Austin Myers
Campbell County High School
Class of 2015
All-American Wrestler and four-time Northern Kentucky champion arguably the best high school wrestler in Kentucky history
Austin Meyers wrestled for four years in the heavyweight class without a loss.
As a senior, he finished an incredible 60-0 season with an overpowering 15-4 victory in the Kentucky 220-pound state championship.
He is the only wrestler in Kentucky history to be selected an All-American three straight years. He concluded his career with a staggering 189-0 record.
Austin Myers, also an Academic All-American, is only one of 26 athletes inducted into the LaRosa’s High School Hall Fame in his first year of eligibility. He signed a scholarship at the University of West Virginia and later transferred to the University of Missouri, where he became an NCAA qualifier in the heavyweight division.
Myers lives in Northern Kentucky, where he is an Environmental Health Safety Specialist at Givaudin Fragrances. He is also the assistant wrestling coach to his brother, Stephen, at Campbell County High School.
Patrick Towles
Highlands High School
Class of 2012
Mr. Kentucky Football and high school All-American quarterback who led Highlands to three straight state championships
In three seasons as Highlands’ starting quarterback, Patrick Towles led the Bluebirds to three consecutive Kentucky state championships and an amazing 38-1 record.
As a senior, he completed 181 of 279 pass attempts (.648) for 3,820 yards (currently ranks in Top 20 in Kentucky history) and 42 touchdowns. He rushed for a team-leading 589 yards and scored 15 touchdowns.
Towles played four seasons on scholarship at the University of Kentucky, then transferred to Boston College for a fifth year.
Towles is the Director of Development at Christ the King Church on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Coach Bill Krumpelbeck
Covington Catholic High School
1977-2025
Legendary Baseball coach with more than 1,100 wins in 48 years at Covington Catholic High School
After 48 seasons at the helm of the Colonels’ baseball program, Bill amassed a staggering 1149-485 career – the second most victories in Kentucky baseball history. He won 22 district and nine region titles during his career.
His greatest season and fondest memory was of the 2002 state championship team, which finished with a 40-3 record, the most wins by a high school team in the nation that year.
Krumpelbeck taught biology at CovCath for 46 years before retiring from teaching. He continued coaching baseball, and his last two teams posted records of 21-12 and 31-6.
Currently, Bill and his wife, Carol, live in Harrison and have two daughters, Fawn and Amy, and five grandchildren.
Roger Bacon High School
Girls basketball 1994-95
Coach Tom Singleton
The 1995 Division II state champions went an undefeated 28-0 on the season
The Spartans marched through the entire season with an exceptional “inside-outside” combination of “Twin Towers” Jenny and Sarah Mueller, and the outside force of Katie Kelsey and Anne Schaefer.
When unbeaten Elida met up with Roger Bacon in the state finals, it was prepared to stop the inside twins. Schaefer had other ideas as she poured in a tournament-record nine straight three-point goals to break the game wide open in the first 10 minutes of play. She wound up with a career-high 27 points. Kelsey added three more three-pointers to set another state tournament record of a total of 12 three-pointers in a championship game.
Stacy Sollmann had six assists in the game, many setting up Schaefer’s 3s and Katie Ward came off the bench to add six points and five assists. When the dust settled, the Spartans came away with a 64-48 victory and the school’s first girls’ state championship. The team finished 28-0 to go along with its 26-2 record in 1993-94 for a combined mark of 54-2.
Holmes High School
Boys basketball 1977-78
Coach Reynolds Flynn
Team Record: 34-2
Many Northern Kentucky sports historians believe the 1977-78 Holmes boys basketball team to be the best team in Ninth Region history – “The Team Denied The State Championship.”
Never had the Ninth Region won the Kentucky State championship, but this Holmes team had the makings of setting the record straight. Powered by LaRosa’s Hall of Famers Doug Schloemer and Dicky Beal, the Bulldogs dominated every team it faced during the season – except Shelby County. Schloemer, a senior, went on to win Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball that season; Beal, a sophomore, went on to be named the Ted Sanford Award winner in 1980.
But it’s the team that everyone will remember as it was denied the state title.
It appeared Holmes would avenge its only regular season loss to Shelby County in the state championship game when Beal scored a go-ahead goal with four seconds left in regulation. However, a timeout was called with two seconds left. Shelby County tossed in a three-quarters-court pass to Charles Hurt, whose bank shot sent the game into the first overtime game in Sweet Sixteen history.
In the first 30 seconds of the overtime game, Hurt “swatted” a Schloemer shot with his hand clearly through the cylinder for a “blocked shot”. Not only did it deny a field goal, but what should have been a technical foul – a made free throw and ball possession would have resulted in a potential five-point play.
Shelby County went on to register a 68-66 victory and the state title.
Schloemer, who scored 25 points in that game, graduated as Holmes’ all-time leading scorer and rebounder. He and John Wimzie were named First Team All-Tournament. Wimzie and co-captain Mark Moeves were both named as Honorable Mention all-state selections. Other team members included: Tony Malik, Phil Davis, Todd Riley, Maurice Green and David Derkson.
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