Hometown Heroes: Which Greater Cincinnati athletes are excelling at the next level?

Greater Cincinnati has a long history of sending high school athletes to the next level, whether it'd be to some of the nation's top college programs or to professional leagues.

With no shortage of representation on the big stage, The Enquirer takes a look at some of high-profile athletes from the area making a name for themselves in the collegiate and professional ranks.

(Did we miss an athlete? Email Shelby Dermer at sdermer@enquirer.com)

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Carlik Jones

Jones, a 2016 Aiken High School graduate who led the Falcons to the Final Four as a senior, was named the 2022-23 Kia NBA G-League Most Valuable Player on Wednesday.

Playing for the Windy City Bulls, Jones led the G-League in scoring (26.1 points per game) to go with 7.0 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.7 steals. Jones, who played collegiately at Radford and Louisville, has appeared in 10 NBA games over the last two years as a member of the Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets and Chicago Bulls.

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Gabbie Marshall

Marshall, a 2019 Mount Notre Dame graduate, recently helped lead Iowa to the national championship basketball game.

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In the national title game April 2, Marshall scored 12 points − knocking down two 3-pointers and going 4-for-4 at the free-throw line − in a 102-85 loss to LSU.

Marissa Meyer

Meyer, who was a multi-sport athlete at Fairfield High School, is a finalist for the 2023 Sorensen Award, given annually to the nation's top women's collegiate rugby player.

Meyer helped lead Navy to a CRAA Division I Championship last fall and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

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Mason Parris

Parris, a three-time Indiana state wrestling champion at Lawrenceburg High School, won a national championship in March with Michigan. Parris was a four-time collegiate All-American with the Wolverines and was undefeated last season.

Last month, the heavyweight was named the winner of the Dan Hodge Trophy, given annually to the nation's best college wrestler.

Kellen Roddy

Roddy helped lead the St. Xavier AquaBombers to consecutive Division I state swimming championships and is now excelling at John Hopkins University. Roddy, a junior, won his second consecutive national title in the 1,650 freestyle, helped lead John Hopkins University to a top 5 finish in the NCAA Division III National Championships.

Roddy was named to the NCAA Division III Men's Swimming and Diving Academic All-America team. He is majoring in chemical and biomolecular engineering.

Jake Chisholm

Chisholm, who was a standout running back at Ryle High School before a collegiate career at the University of Dayton, will participate in the Cincinnati Bengals local pre-draft workout later this month.

Chisholm finished his college career as Dayton's all-time leader in all-purpose yards while also ranking top 3 in career rushing yards and total touchdowns.

Nicholas Northcut

Last September, the Cincinnati Reds traded outfielder Tommy Pham to the Boston Red Sox for a player to be named later. That player turned out to be minor-league infielder Nicholas Northcut, a Mason High School graduate.

Over a four-year career in the minors, Northcut has appeared in 300 games and has posted a .231 batting average with 50 home runs and 199 RBIs. The 23-year-old is currently with the Chatanooga Lookouts, the Reds' Double-A affiliate and is on the 7-day injured list. The Lookouts' 2023 season began on Thursday.

University of Cincinnati baseball

In Clifton, the UC Bearcats have a slew of Greater Cincinnati players on the roster.

Landyn Vidourek (Badin) is hitting .292 so far this spring with two homers, 14 RBIs and a team-high 22 runs scored. Cole Harting (Mason) has belted five homers and is hitting .244 with 19 RBIs. Chase Hopewell (Badin) has thrown the most innings for the Bearcats this season (33 ⅓ innings) over seven starts. He's 1-2 with a 3.78 ERA.

Northern Kentucky University baseball

Mason product Liam McFadden-Ackman, a junior infielder for NKU, hit two grand slams in one inning on Feb. 26 in a win over Western Michigan. McFadden-Ackman has six home runs, 27 RBIs and is hitting .305 this season.

John Odom (Beechwood) leads the Norse with a .365 batting average. He has four homers and 16 RBIs. Pitcher Clay Brock (CHCA) has made a team-high nine appearances on the mound (three starts). He has a 3-2 record with a 3.37 ERA.

Devin Taylor

Less than a year ago, Taylor was the home run leader in the Greater Catholic League-South with the La Salle Lancers.

Now a freshman outfielder at Indiana, Taylor has played in 21 games with the Hoosiers this season (17 starts) and is hitting .375 with 11 extra-base hits (five home runs) and 20 RBIs.

Eli Majick

Majick, a left-handed pitcher who was the GCL-South's Pitcher of the Year in 2019 at St. Xavier, has made nine appearances (four starts) on the mound for the University of Dayton this spring.

Majick is 2-1 with a 4.97 ERA over 29 innings with 23 strikeouts.

Ryan Galanie

Galanie was a first-team All-Ohio selection at Moeller in 2019 and has been ripping the cover off the ball this season at Wofford.

The senior infielder/outfielder leads Wofford with a .449 batting average in 27 games. He's tallied a team-high 48 hits, eight doubles, nine home runs, 31 runs scored and 32 RBIs.

Allie Cummins

Cummins, a graduate student at Miami University, is hitting .337 this season with 24 RBIs and leads the Mid-American Conference in home runs (11) over 31 games.

Cummins has been a first-team all-MAC selection each of the last two seasons and entered this season top 5 in Miami history in career batting average, runs scored, home runs, RBIs and walks.

Cummins was an All-Ohio selection at Lakota West who helped lead the Firebirds to the Division I state championship game in 2018.

Finley Payne

Payne, who put herself into the OHSAA record books during her time at CHCA, is off to a hot start in college.

The Harvard University freshman is hitting .367 with 14 RBIs and seven extra-base hits. Payne hit a home run in her first collegiate game in February against Winthrop.

Sydney Carter

Carter was an All-Ohio infielder for Mason who holds the school records for single-season hits and batting average.

Now at Butler University, Carter, a sophomore, is hitting .329 in 35 games this season with five doubles, a triple, 11 RBIs and 17 runs scored.

Belle Hummel

Hummel is one of several 2022 Lakota West graduates playing college ball after leading the Firebirds to a state championship last season.

Hummel, a freshman outfielder at Ohio University, has started all 34 games for the Bobcats this season. She is hitting .288 with 9 RBIs, 26 runs scored and leads the team in stolen bases (10).

Emily Young

Young, an Ursuline product who was twice named the Girls Greater Catholic League player of the year, is now a graduate student at Stanford.

Young has twice been named All-PAC 12 with Stanford and is hitting .268 so far this season with a homer, 16 RBIs and 14 runs scored.

K.K. Mathis

Mathis was the Ohio Gatorade Softball Player of the Year last season after leading Lakota West to a DI state title.

As a freshman infielder at James Madison University, Mathis is hitting .311 with five home runs, eight doubles and 26 RBIs.

Jena Rhoads

Rhoads is one of three area athletes playing softball at Northern Kentucky University. The freshman outfielder is hitting .277 this season with eight extra-base hits, 12 RBIs and 14 runs scored.

In three seasons at Wilmington, Rhoads had a career .522 batting average with 17 doubles, 12 triples, 10 homers and 61 RBIs.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Hometown Heroes: Which area athletes are excelling at the next level?