BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
It’s not uncommon for Culver and North Judson to be football sectionals rivals, but it is for them to be volleyball, girls basketball and boys basketball sectionals as well.
And Culver will also be a football sectional rival with another powerhouse – LaVille.
Those were among the revelations of the new IHSAA sectional alignments for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years that were released Tuesday.
With the implementation of the new 20-25-25-30 plan combined with the addition of Argos and Oregon-Davis to the Hoosier North, Culver now finds itself one of five teams in the same conference and sectional for volleyball, girls basketball and boys basketball.
Culver has not won a boys soccer sectional since 1994, a football sectional since 2009, a girls basketball sectional since 2011, a volleyball sectional since 2011 and a boys basketball sectional since 2014.
Culver principal Brett Berndt was on the Class 1A basketball and volleyball realignment committee. Berndt was the Culver boys basketball coach from 2001-08 before leaving and pursuing a career in school administration. He was also a girls basketball associate coach from 2021-23.
Football
Culver remains in Class 1A, Sectional 41 along with Bowman Academy, North Judson, North Newton, South Central (Union Mills) and South Newton.
The two new teams are LaVille and West Central, and they replace Pioneer and Triton.
North Judson is a three-time defending regional champion while LaVille won a sectional title last year in Class 2A before being bumped down due to a decline in enrollment.
Volleyball
Culver is in a seven-team group in Class 1A, Sectional 51 that also consists of Argos, Elkhart Christian, North Judson, Oregon-Davis, South Central (Union Mills) and Triton.
South Central has won three consecutive sectionals in Class 2A before being moved down.
Culver went 15-15 last season.
Girls basketball, boys basketball
Culver will be in a girls basketball sectional and a boys basketball sectional with the same teams as its volleyball sectional but with Trinity Greenlawn added to make it an eight-team sectional.
Marquette Catholic, who knocked Culver out of the girls basketball sectional last year during their run to the state title game, was moved to Sectional 49. In addition, none of the new Sectional 51 teams will be defending a sectional title.
In boys basketball, Elkhart Christian won a Class 1A regional this winter while North Judson won a Class 2A regional. Triton returns four starters from a team that won 17 games last year, two of which came against the Cavaliers.
Girls soccer
While Culver will adjust without Giselle Villegas, who will continue her athletic and academic careers at Indiana University South Bend after scoring 49 goals as a senior last fall, they will not have to worry about defending sectional champion Trinity Greenlawn or Bremen.
That is because both of those schools were moved to a different Class 1A sectional.
Instead, Culver will be in Class 1A, Sectional 36 along with Argos, LaVille, Rochester and newcomers Manchester and Oregon-Davis.
Boys soccer
Coach Adam Neace will begin his second season again trying to dethrone an Argos team that has won 12 sectional titles in the last 13 years in Class 1A, Sectional 36.
Caston, North Miami and Winamac also return to the sectional while Lakeland Christian, who went 9-8-1 last season, replaces North White.
Culver sectional lineup (2024-25 and 2025-26)
Class 1A, Sectional 36 (girls soccer)
Argos, CULVER, LaVille, Manchester, Oregon-Davis, Rochester
Class 1A, Sectional 36 (boys soccer)
Argos, Caston, CULVER, Lakeland Christian, North Miami, Winamac
Class 1A, Sectional 51 (volleyball)
Argos, CULVER, Elkhart Christian, North Judson, Oregon-Davis, South Central (Union Mills), Triton
Class 1A, Sectional 51 (girls basketball, boys basketball)
Argos, CULVER, Elkhart Christian, North Judson, Oregon-Davis, South Central (Union Mills), Trinity Greenlawn, Triton
Class 1A, Sectional 41 (football)
Bowman Academy, CULVER, LaVille, North Judson, North Newton, South Central (Union Mills), South Newton, West Central
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