WINCHESTER — George Rogers Clark High School celebrated a feat nearly a century in the making Sunday, as hundreds lined the streets for a parade honoring the Cardinals boys and girls basketball teams — the first Kentucky school since Ashland in 1928 to win both state titles in the same year. The double championship carries added weight in Kentucky, one of the few states that crowns a single basketball champion across public and private schools. GRC, the only public high school in Clark County, beat private-school powers in both finals at Rupp Arena. Winchester Mayor JoEllen Reed and Clark County Judge-Executive Chris Pace presented a joint city-county proclamation honoring the teams. U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., sent an aide to deliver a congressional proclamation. Rocky Adkins, senior advisor to Gov. Andy Beshear, presented a proclamation on behalf of the governor. State Rep. Ryan Dotson, R-Winchester, and state Sen. Greg Elkins, R-Winchester, also honored the teams with legislative citations. Clark County Public Schools Superintendent Dustin Howard addressed the crowd. Howard used his remarks to highlight district academic gains, citing rising enrollment in dual credit and Advanced Placement courses at the high school level. He also announced that all 4-year-olds in the district would be eligible to enroll in preschool through Clark County Public Schools, which he said would make CCPS the first district in Kentucky to open eligibility to every 4-year-old. Howard did not specify whether the program would be free or what share of families were expected to enroll. “I think every kid should be educated, and it’s good for the community,” Howard said. Howard has been a vocal advocate for universal pre-K. In February, he joined 92 other Kentucky superintendents in a letter to the General Assembly urging funding for statewide “Pre-K for All” in the 2026-2027 budget session. Clark County Public Schools Superintendent Dustin Howard speaks from the podium on Sunday during the parade in downtown Winchester celebrating George Rogers Clark’s boys and girls basketball state championships. (Paul Oliva / Lexington Times) Girls win program’s first title The Lady Cardinals (33-2) defeated Assumption 48-43 on March 14 to claim the program’s first girls state championship, avenging a 65-60 loss to Sacred Heart in last year’s final and ending a stretch in which GRC had been eliminated by the eventual champion in each of the previous four Sweet 16 tournaments. Senior guard Teigh Yeast, a Robert Morris University signee, was named tournament MVP after scoring 12 points with four steals in the title game. Eighth-grader Eliyah Strode led the Lady Cardinals with 15 points, nine rebounds and four blocks, and junior Kennedy Stamper added 10 points. Stamper and Strode joined Yeast on the all-tournament team. Assumption (27-6), which had handed GRC its only regular-season loss in a triple-overtime thriller Jan. 8, led 15-8 after the first quarter and 21-19 at halftime before a 6-0 Yeast-led run to open the fourth quarter gave GRC a lead it never surrendered. Coach Robbie Graham said afterward the win broke through years of heartbreak for the program. “We’ve danced all around this thing, and now we’ve kind of kicked that wall in,” he said. Members of the George Rogers Clark Lady Cardinals carry gift bags down Main Street in Winchester on Sunday as fans line the sidewalks during a parade celebrating the team’s first-ever KHSAA girls basketball state championship. (Paul Oliva / Lexington Times) Boys cap the sweep in overtime One week later, the GRC boys completed the historic double with a 58-50 overtime win over St. Xavier on March 21, claiming the program’s third state title and second under head coach Josh Cook, who also led the Cardinals to the 2022 championship. Senior guard Malachi Ashford was named tournament MVP after scoring a game-high 18 points with four rebounds, three assists and two steals in the final. Junior guard JaMylyn Johnson added 15 points, sophomore Ryder Akins scored 10 with five rebounds, and junior wing Montez Gay finished with nine points and eight rebounds. Senior Amari Bartelson and Gay joined Ashford on the all-tournament team. St. Xavier, seeking its first state title in 64 years, led for more than 24 minutes of regulation before an estimated crowd of nearly 12,000. It was the first Sweet 16 final to require overtime since Covington Catholic defeated Scott County in 2014. GRC’s tournament run included wins over Johnson Central (75-60), Marshall County (63-59) and North Oldham (53-45) before the championship. Ashford said the girls’ title a week earlier set the tone for the boys. “Once they won the tournament, we saw them,” he said. “They were coming to school telling us, ‘Now it’s our turn; we got to get it done.'” Winchester Mayor JoEllen Reed, center, and George Rogers Clark radio broadcaster Joel Bennett, right, congratulate senior Matthew Pasley on Sunday during a parade celebrating GRC’s state championship sweep. (Paul Oliva / Lexington Times) A historic pairing The last Kentucky school to win boys and girls state basketball titles in the same year was Ashland High School in 1928. Before Saturday, GRC had appeared in four girls state championship games without a win. The boys program’s previous titles came in 1951, when the school was known as Clark County High, and in 2022. Cook, addressing the crowd near the end of the ceremony, gestured toward the championship trophies and drew the loudest ovation of the afternoon with a promise: “We got room for a couple more.” Along the parade route, residents packed sidewalks in red and black, waving handmade signs and cheering as the teams passed. For a town of roughly 19,000, the turnout reflected the depth of local pride in a program and a school that, for one weekend in March, put Winchester at the top of Kentucky basketball. A parade-goer shares a moment with the George Rogers Clark Cardinal mascot, left, while perched alongside two macaws on Sunday in downtown Winchester during a celebration of the school’s boys and girls basketball state championships. (Paul Oliva / Lexington Times) The post George Rogers Clark honored with parade after first boys-girls state title sweep since 1928 appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less