Rochester to host boys sectional for first time since 2002

Bremen, Culver among girls sectional hosts; Knox, West Central among boys sectional hosts

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Rochester will host a boys basketball sectional for the first time since 2002, the IHSAA revealed Thursday.

Rochester will host Class 2A, Sectional 36 from Feb. 28-March 4. Lewis Cass, North Miami, Pioneer, Wabash and Winamac are the other five teams.

Winamac won that 2002 sectional at Rochester, beating Wabash, North Miami and Manchester. Prior to 2002, Rochester had not hosted a sectional since 1955, when Francesville beat Akron in the final.

This will be Rob Malchow’s 15th season as Rochester coach and the first time he will coach the host team at the sectional.

Other boys basketball sectional host sites in the RTC area include Knox in Class 3A and Triton and West Central in Class 1A. Tippecanoe Valley will travel to Knox for a five-team sectional. Argos and Culver will travel to Triton and attempt to dethrone the host Trojans, who have won two straight sectional titles. West Central will host a six-team sectional that includes Caston and defending sectional champion North White.

Area regional sites include South Bend Washington (3A), North Judson (2A) and Triton (1A). Each regional site will host two regional games on March 11.

The four northern regional champions will be put in a blind draw to determine semistate matchups. The IHSAA announced that Michigan City, Elkhart, Logansport and Lafayette Jeff will host semistates on March 18. Each site will host one particular class.

The state finals are set for Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on March 25.

Girls basketball

The IHSAA announced that Bremen will host Class 3A, Sectional 18. That is the sectional covering both Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley. Culver Academy is a reigning sectional champion that will also be going to Bremen along with the host Lady Lions, John Glenn and Knox.

In addition, Lewis Cass will host Class 2A, Sectional 36. Pioneer will travel there from Jan. 31-Feb. 4 along with reigning sectional champion North Miami, Wabash, Winamac and the host Lady Kings.

Class 1A sectional sites include Culver and Tri-County. Culver hosted a sectional last year, which was won by Argos. In addition to the Lady Dragons and Lady Cavaliers, other teams include Marquette Catholic, Oregon-Davis, Trinity Greenlawn, Triton and Westville.

Regional sites include Jimtown (3A), Winamac (2A) and Caston (1A).

The four semistate sites are LaPorte, Huntington North, Logansport and Frankfort.

Swimming

Warsaw will again host all area teams for the girls sectional from Feb. 2-4 and the boys sectional from Feb. 16-18.

Mishawaka will host the girls diving regional on Feb. 7, and Penn will host the boys diving regional on Feb. 21.

Girls state finals are Feb. 10-11, and boys state finals are Feb. 24-25 at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis.

Wrestling

Peru is listed as both a sectional and regional host venue. Two years ago, both events were at Maconaquah. Last year, the sectional was at Peru, and the regional was at Maconaquah.

Peru last hosted both a sectional and a regional in 2020.

Rochester is the defending sectional, regional and semistate champion, and Caston is also part of this sectional.

All other sectional, regional and semistate sites remain: Tippecanoe Valley and Culver will go to the Plymouth sectional, which feeds into the Penn regional and East Chicago semistate. Pioneer will go to the Twin Lakes sectional, which feeds into the Logansport regional and East Chicago semistate.

The Peru regional feeds into the Fort Wayne semistate at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.