Takeaways from IHSAA girls track and field sectional at Mt. Vernon
MOUNT VERNON — New week, same results for Castle girls track and field, who left sectionals victorious with an impressive 165 points at the IHSAA sectional meet at Mt. Vernon Tuesday, May 19. It came just one week after the Knights’ win at the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference meet.
But it took a little while for the sectional to even get started. The event was delayed one hour due to weather concerns as rain swept through the area with the possibility of thunderstorms following. Family members still came to the stadium prepared with their umbrellas.
When athletes were not taking cover, they stayed sharp with their variety of warmup routines.
Eventually, clear skies appeared in Mount Vernon. Before you knew it, field events began.
Castle heads into regionals unsatisfied
“It feels like it’s an annual tradition in the spring with the delays,” Castle coach Jake Bennett said. “But the kids are so resilient; I think it’s more us coaches that get a little neurotic about things. They just want to know when to be there, what to do and they show up and perform.”
Bennett said his group’s mentality is championship-like: regardless of the circumstances, they come prepared. It was on full display as the Knights were winners of four competitions and earned key points with standout performances in several others. It’s a tight-knit group, pushing their talent to an entirely different level on meet days.
To an extent, every team is supportive of each other at track and field meets. But the way the Castle girls did so throughout the night was that of a culture that is strong, secure and successful. This was the Knights’ fourth sectional win in five years.
“First and foremost, it’s the athletes,” Bennett said. “We’re fortunate to have the type of athletes from the type of families that we do. Second to that would be our coaching staff, they really care.”
To top it all off, they made sectional history — again. After setting the sectional record in the 4x400 meter relay in 2003 with a time of 4:02.14, Castle’s team of Bella Cunningham, Sophia Mominee, Jalyn Zaccardelli and Brooklyn Lutz surpassed it 23 years later Tuesday with a time of 4:01.26.
It was a special way to finish an event that ended close to 9:30 p.m. CT. The team gathered near the 50-yard line of the Mt. Vernon football field when athletic director Leigh Ann Latshaw handed them the trophy.
Celebrations began, pictures were taken, but still, you could see that this was a Castle team with more on its mind. The focus started shifting to regionals this upcoming Tuesday, May 26 at Central.
Also setting a sectional record was De’Janay Layne of North in the 100 and 200-meter. In the 100-meter, Layne surpassed the previous record of 12.05 set in 2023 with a time of 12.01. Then, in the 200-meter, she surpassed her own record time of 24.64 set in 2024 with a time of 24.56.
Here is the full list of winners from Sectional 32 on May 19, including top three finishers from each competition that will advance to regionals.
Girls track Sectional 32 at Mt. Vernon results
Team: Castle 165, Mt. Vernon 81, North 79, Mater Dei 74, Memorial 64, Reitz 57, Harrison 37, North Posey 33, Central 16, Evansville Christian 12, Signature 2
100: De’Janay Layne, North, 12. 01; Bella Cunningham, Castle, 12.74; Lyla Detalente, Castle, 13.12
200: De’Janay Layne, North, 24.56; Kennedie Granderson, Harrison, 26.46; Maggie Aldrich, Mt. Vernon, 26.62
400: Iana Tecson, North, 58.74; Brooklyn Lutz, Castle, 59.20; Morgan Wannemuehler, 1:01.45
800: Ruth Dickason, Mater Dei, 2:18.01; Madelyn Schaefer, Memorial, 2:30.72; Carter Seibert, North, 2:32.54
1,600: Averi Mullins, Castle, 5:32.62; Isabel Land, Castle, 5:34.96; Marissa Niemeier, Mater Dei, 5:37.91
3,200: Rowen Englebright, North Posey, 11:50.49; Molly Yunker, Castle, 11:54.91; Alexa Adler, Mater Dei, 12:02.08
100 hurdles: Aislynn Maldonado, Castle, 15.64; Stella Hall, Mt. Vernon, 15.66; Leah Heldman, Mater Dei, 16.70
300 hurdles: Stella Hall, Mt. Vernon, 47.18; Chloe Shulz, Castle, 48.50; Aislynn Maldonado, Castle, 49.08
4x100: Castle (Lyla Detalente, Bella Cunningham, Aislynn Maldonado and Jalyn Zacccardelli), 49.23; Harrison (Sajaya Calhoun, Kazmie Holman, Takaydea Booker and Kennedie Granderson), 49.81; Mt. Vernon (Maggie Aldrich, Mariyah Buchanan, Stella Hall and Jaylan York), 51.13
4x400: Castle (Bella Cunningham, Sophia Mominee, Jalyn Zaccardelli and Brooklyn Lutz), 4:01.26; North (Zhaeyana Cooper, De’Janay Layne, Carter Seibert and Iana Tecson), 4:02.13; Mater Dei (Harper Atherton, Ruth Dickason, Leah Heldman and Morgan Wannemuehler), 4:13.97
4x800: Reitz (Saila Stroud, Cali Powers, Piper Powers and Tatum Traylor), 10:18.79; Castle (Isabel Land, Melanie Russell, Molly Yunker and Adelynn Childers), 10:19.99; Mt. Vernon (Madelyn Abel, Jaycee Campbell, Madison Cooper and Victoria Poling), 11:12.67
High Jump: Leah Heldman, Mater Dei, 5-5; Jalyn Zaccardelli, Castle, 5-3; Hallie Peter, Evansville Christian, 5-3
Long Jump: Jaylan York, Mt. Vernon, 17-0.5; Audrey Holt, Memorial, 16-8.5; Elliott Kendall, Memorial, 16-6.5
Pole Vault: Hadley Giesman, Reitz, 9-0; Annika Melchiors, Castle, 8-0; Alyssa Coomes, North, 8-0
Discus: Attalia Wolf, Mt. Vernon, 104-10; Paxtyn Gibbs, North Posey, 99-6; Madeline Bedel, North, 99-5
Shot Put: Jenna Herr, Memorial, 37-2; Megan Cleveland, Castle, 34-5.5; Izabell Grantz, Castle, 33-11.5
Markos Tsegaye is a sports reporter for the Courier & Press. He can be reached at mtsegaye@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @10_Markos_
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: IHSAA girls track and field sectional at Mt Vernon results, records
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