EVANSVILLE — No drama this time in the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference girls track & field championship.
After a scoring error resulted in the wrong champion being announced last year, there was zero doubt who was leaving with the trophy. Castle secured 155 team points to pull away from runner-up Jasper on Tuesday, May 12 at Central High School. It is the third straight SIAC title for the Knights.
Castle only took first place in the 4×100 relay – Lyla Detalente, Bella Cunningham, Asilynn Maldonado and Jalyn Zaccardelli produced a winning time of 49.30 seconds. It didn’t affect the overall result due to impressive depth throughout the roster.
“A true team effort,” Castle coach Jake Bennett said. “We had multiple scorers in 10-plus events. Across the board, people were contributing. Multiple second places. We have our top-level athletes, but those other girls stepping up (was huge). It was important for them to win this as a team, and they did that.”
The Knights earned second place in nine different events and third in six. Bella Cunningham was the runner-up in the 100 and 200. Other key contributors included Isabel Land, Brooklyn Lutz, Chloe Schulz, Molly Yunker, Izabell Grantz and Averi Mullins (two third-place finishes). Bennett contends there is still more to give or at least hopes so.
The postseason starts next week with the Mount Vernon Sectional. Castle won the SIAC championship last year but fell short to North in the opening round of the state tournament. Based on how the team has progressed, highlighted by this performance, the Knights will be the favorite.
“We are in good spot but also feel like we can improve,” Bennett said. “That’s where you want to be. We’re getting results but also have more to give. We’re excited to start the state tournament, continue to improve and get as many people up to Indianapolis as we possibly can.”
Who were the top individuals in the SIAC championship?
North senior De’Janay Layne continued her march toward more postseason success with a trio of blue ribbons. The former state champion swept the 100 and 200 before running a leg of the winning 4×400 relay. The Indiana State signee remains one of the top sprinters in Indiana and should be a contender for a high podium finish (or two) in June.
The other highlights belonged to Jasper. Madelyn Knies earned the double in the hurdles, while Samantha Hulse swept the shot put and discus. Katherine Woebkenberg broke the SIAC meet record by clearing 12 feet, 5 inches in the pole vault.
Who won the PAC girls track & field championship?
Gibson Southern repeated as PAC team champion with 115 points at Tell City High School. The Titans earned victories in three events: the 4×800 relay team (Sophie Wright, Corinne Stevens, Molly Spindler and Lucy Scherer), Paige Schnaus in the high jump and Ashlyn Hopf in the discus. Gibson Southern had four individual runners-up and five third-place finishes.
Forest Park was the runner-up at 89 points followed by Mount Vernon, Princeton and Heritage Hills.
The individual MVP of the meet was Boonville senior Ava Kelley. The Eastern Illinois signee guided the Pioneers to four victories: sweeping the 100 (a meet record 12.12 seconds) and 200 dashes, securing the long jump by nearly 16 inches and anchoring the 4×100 relay team (a meet record 49.75 seconds). Other notable standouts were Forest Park’s Riley Hinson (400 and pole vault champion), Mount Vernon’s Stella Hall (100 and 300 hurdles champion) and Princeton’s Mallory Watt (800 and 4×400 relay champion).
Below are the team results and top three finishers in each event from the SIAC and PAC championships.
SIAC girls track & field championship
Team: Castle 155, Jasper 136, North 80, Mater Dei 65, Memorial 59, Reitz 48, Central 30, Harrison 27, Vincennes Lincoln 19.
100: De’Janay Layne (North) 12.29; Bella Cunningham (Castle) 12.80; Lyla Detalente (Castle) 13.38
200: De’Janay Layne (North) 25.13; Bella Cunningham (Castle) 26.29; Audrey Holt (Memorial) 26.38
400: Iana Tecson (North) 59.63; Brooklyn Lutz (Castle) 1:00.55; Kate Werner (Jasper) 1:01.04
800: Ruth Dickason (Mater Dei) 2:23.78; Ella Clark (Jasper) 2:30.24; Emma Leonard (Jasper) 2:30.41
1,600: Molly Isaacs (Jasper) 5:31.49; Isabel Land (Castle) 5:33.07; Averi Mullins (Castle) 5:38.25
3,200: Lucy Bretz (Mater Dei) 11:56.69; Molly Yunker (Castle) 12:01.30; Averi Mullins (Castle) 12:37.64
100 hurdles: Madelyn Knies (Jasper) 15.58; Aislynn Maldonaldo (Castle) 15.78; Leah Heldman (Mater Dei) 16.99
300 hurdles: Madelyn Knies (Jasper) 46.86; Chloe Schulz (Castle) 48.67; Kierstyn Kaiser (Reitz) 50.18
4×100 relay: Castle (Detalente, Cunningham, Maldonado, Zaccardelli) 49.30; Harrison 49.71; Memorial 51.35
4×400 relay: North (Cooper, Seibert, Tecson, Layne) 4:08.12; Jasper 4:10.42; Castle 4:11.76
4×800 relay: Jasper (Buehler, El. Leonard, Em. Leonard, Clark) 10:03.47; Castle 10:15.44; Reitz 10:29.04
High jump: Leah Heldman (Mater Dei) 5-2; Maggie Aull (Jasper) 5-2; Kierstyn Kaiser (Reitz) 5-0
Pole vault: Katherine Woebkenberg (Jasper) 12-5; Molly Kramer (Jasper) 10-6; Annika Melchiors (Castle) 8-0
Long jump: Elliott Kendal (Memorial) 16-3.75; Lauren Story (Vincennes Lincoln) 15-4.75; Jada Ragland (Harrison) 15-3
Shot put: Samantha Hulse (Jasper) 38-5; Jenna Herr (Memorial) 36-9.50; Megan Cleveland (Castle) 35-8
Discus: Samantha Hulse (Jasper) 109-10; Izabell Grantz (Castle) 101-5; Madeline Bedel (North) 98-11
PAC girls track & field championship
Team: Gibson Southern 115, Forest Park 89, Mount Vernon 69, Princeton 65, Heritage Hills 59, Boonville 52, Southridge 43, Washington 38, North Posey 35, Tell City 34.5, Pike Central 12, South Spencer 11.5, Tecumseh 1.
100: Ava Kelley (Boonville) 12.12; Ellie Meunier (Forest Park) 12.67; Maggie Aldrich (Mount Vernon) 12.98
200: Ava Kelley (Boonville) 25.80; Maggie Aldrich (Mount Vernon) 26.75; Riley Hinson (Forest Park) 27.13
400: Riley Hinson (Forest Park) 1:00.96; Claire Walden (Princeton) 1:01.78; Adara Rainey (Washington) 1:03.79
800: Mallory Watt (Princeton) 2:19.33; Ellie Meunier (Forest Park) 2:27.07; Emma Aldridge (Heritage Hills) 2:30.30
1,600: Rowen Englebright (North Posey) 5:21.02; Eve Vinson (Heritage Hills) 5:22.67; Bekah Glomski (Princeton) 5:36.92
3,200: Maddie Graber (Southridge) 11:15.90; Rowen Englebright (North Posey) 11:56.41; Lucy Scherer (Gibson Southern) 12:09.98
100 hurdles: Stella Hall (Mount Vernon) 15.33; Kynlee Reeves (Gibson Southern) 15.46; Mya Hudson (Pike Central) 15.56
300 hurdles: Stella Hall (Mount Vernon) 47.07; Emma Fuhs (Gibson Southern) 48.61; Kylnee Reeves (Gibson Southern) 49.43
4×100 relay: Boonville (Squires, Luff, Shoup, Kelley) 49.75; Mount Vernon 51.30; Gibson Southern 51.37
4×400 relay: Princeton (Wright, Walden, Taylor, Watt) 4:09.87; Forest Park 4:16.43; Washington 4:19.00
4×800 relay: Gibson Southern (Wright, Stevens, Spindler, Scherer) 10:03.95; Heritage Hills 10:22.72; Washington 10:28.13
High jump: Paige Schnaus (Gibson Southern) 5-4; Addison Luff (Boonville) 5-2; Kynlee Reeves (Gibson Southern) 5-2
Pole vault: Riley Hinson (Forest Park) 11-0; Ayla Owens (Washington) 9-0; Hadley Denu (Southridge) 8-6
Long jump: Ava Kelley (Boonville) 17-2; Jaylan York (Mount Vernon) 15-8.50; Kate Boeglin (Southridge) 15-6.50
Shot put: Avery Hill (Forest Park) 33-5.50; Ashlyn Hopf (Gibson Southern) 33-3; Devyn Brent (Gibson Southern) 32-9
Discus: Ashlyn Hopf (Gibson Southern) 123-10; Makenna Cummings (Gibson Southern) 116-2; Attalia Wolf (Mount Vernon) 104-10
Kyle Sokeland is a sports reporter for the Courier & Press. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @kylesokeland or email at kyle.sokeland@courierpress.com.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Who won 2026 SIAC, PAC high school girls track & field championships
