Valley, Culver to host girls basketball sectionals

North Miami to host boys hoops sectional

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Tippecanoe Valley and Culver are among area sites that will host girls basketball sectional sectionals from Feb. 2-6, according to the minutes from the IHSAA Executive Committee meeting Aug. 25.

Valley will host Class 3A, Sectional 20 on Rita Price Simpson Court for the second straight year. Valley lost to Fairfield in the sectional final last February.

Culver will host Class 1A, Sectional 51 at John R. Nelson Gymnasium. Elkhart Christian is 44-11 over the last two years and is the two-time defending regional champion. Prior to 2025, Elkhart Christian had never won so much as a sectional.

Culver has not won a sectional since 2011. Meanwhile, Argos is seeking its sixth sectional title. Four of its previous five occurred at Culver (2016, 2017, 2022, 2023).

Other area girls basketball sectional sites include Lewis Cass for Class 2A, Sectional 38; LaVille for Class 2A, Sectional 34; West Central for Class 1A, Sectional 50; and Daleville for Class 1A, Sectional 55.

As for boys basketball sectional sites, Rochester will travel to new rival Maconaquah for Class 2A, Sectional 38 from March 2-6. Coincidentally, Rochester will also travel to Maconaquah for its regular season finale on Feb. 26, four days prior to the start of the sectional.

Maconaquah is not the only sectional venue in Miami County as North Miami will host Class 1A, Sectional 55. North Miami snapped a 15-year sectional game win drought last year before losing to Southwood in the sectional final.

Meanwhile, Valley will travel to Wawasee for Class 3A, Sectional 20; Caston and Pioneer will travel to Tri-County for Class 1A, Sectional 50; Argos and Culver will travel to North Judson for Class 1A, Sectional 51; and Winamac will travel to Jimtown for Class 2A, Sectional 34.

Girls wrestling site changes

In other winter sports postseason site news, the girls wrestling sectional site that will host Caston, North Miami and Pioneer has not yet been determined. Hamilton Heights hosted last year, and Western hosted in the 2024-25 school year.

Also, Rochester girls wrestlers advancing to the regional will travel to Huntington North for their regional on Jan. 16.

The IHSAA already changed the dates of the girls wrestling state tournament to avoid conflicts with the New Year’s holiday. Sectionals were moved to Jan. 9 with regionals on Jan. 16 and the state finals on Jan. 22 at Corteva Coliseum at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis.

Rochester to host boys wrestling regional

The boys wrestling regional will return to Rochester Feb. 6. The regional features qualifiers from the Plymouth and Mishawaka sectionals. Penn hosted the regional last year.

The top four in each weight class advance to the East Chicago semistate.

Swimming state increases to 40 in each event

The IHSAA also announced a change in the format of the swimming state finals. Now, 40 swimmers and relay teams will advance to the state finals in each event instead of 32. Each of the 20 sectional champions statewide will advance as well as the next 20 fastest times.

In order to accommodate the extra swimmers, the preliminaries for the state finals will start at 1 p.m. on Feb. 12 and Feb. 26 for girls and boys, respectively. Previously, the state prelims started at 6 p.m.

The IHSAA also announced that area divers who advance will travel to the Valparaiso diving regionals on Feb. 9 (girls) and Feb. 23 (boys).

Girls basketball (Feb. 2-6)

Class 3A, Sectional 20 at TIPPECANOE VALLEY: Columbia City, Fairfield, NorthWood, VALLEY, Wawasee, West Noble

Class 2A, Sectional 38 at Lewis Cass: Eastern (Greentown), Lewis Cass, Maconaquah, Oak Hill, Peru, ROCHESTER

Class 1A, Sectional 50 at West Central: CASTON, DeMotte Christian, North Newton, North White, PIONEER, South Newton, Tri-County, West Central

Class 1A, Sectional 51 at CULVER: ARGOS, CULVER, Elkhart Christian, North Judson, Oregon-Davis, Trinity Academy, Tri-Township, Triton

Class 1A, Sectional 55 at Daleville: Cowan, Daleville, Madison-Grant, NORTH MIAMI, Northfield, Southern Wells, Wes-Del, Southwood

Class 2A, Sectional 34 at LaVille: Bremen, South Bend Career Academy, Jimtown, Knox, LaVille, South Central (Union Mills), WINAMAC

Boys basketball (March 2-6)

Class 3A, Sectional 20 at Wawasee: Columbia City, Fairfield, NorthWood, VALLEY, Wawasee, West Noble

Class 2A, Sectional 38 at Maconaquah: Eastern (Greentown), Lewis Cass, Maconaquah, Oak Hill, Peru, ROCHESTER

Class 1A, Sectional 50 at Tri-County: CASTON, DeMotte Christian, North Newton, North White, PIONEER, South Newton, Tri-County, West Central

Class 1A, Sectional 51 at North Judson: ARGOS, CULVER, Elkhart Christian, North Judson, Oregon-Davis, Trinity Academy, Tri-Township, Triton

Class 1A, Sectional 55 at NORTH MIAMI: Cowan, Daleville, Madison-Grant, NORTH MIAMI, Northfield, Southern Wells, Wes-Del, Southwood

Class 2A, Sectional 34 at Jimtown: Bremen, South Bend Career Academy, Jimtown, Knox, LaVille, South Central (Union Mills), WINAMAC

Girls swimming (Feb. 4-6)

Sectional 4 at Warsaw: Columbia City, CULVER, Culver Academy, Lewis Cass, Logansport, Manchester, Oregon-Davis, PIONEER, Plymouth, ROCHESTER, VALLEY, Wabash, Warsaw

Boys swimming (Feb. 18-20)

Sectional 4 at Warsaw:  Columbia City, Culver, Culver Academy, Lewis Cass, Logansport, Manchester, PIONEER, Plymouth, ROCHESTER, VALLEY, Wabash, Warsaw

Girls wrestling (Jan. 9)

Sectional 5 at Columbia City: Carroll (Fort Wayne), Churubusco, Columbia City, Fort Wayne North Side, Fort Wayne Northrop, Fort Wayne Snider, Fort Wayne South Side, Fort Wayne Wayne, Homestead, Huntington North, New Haven, Norwell, ROCHESTER, Wabash, Whitko

Sectional 3 at Plymouth: Bremen, Elkhart, John Glenn, Jimtown, LaVille, Mishawaka, Mishawaka Marian, Northridge, Penn, Plymouth, South Bend Adams, South Bend Riley, South Bend St. Joe, South Bend Washington, VALLEY, Triton, Warsaw

Sectional 2 at Hobart: Boone Grove, Chesterton, CULVER, Culver Academy, Hebron, Hobart, Kankakee Valley, Knox, LaPorte, Michigan City, New Prairie, North Judson, Portage, Valparaiso, West Central, Wheeler, WINAMAC

Sectional 8 at site to be determined: CASTON, Hamilton Heights, Kokomo, Logansport, Maconaquah, Manchester, NORTH MIAMI, Northfield, Northwestern, Peru, PIONEER, Taylor, Tipton, Tri-Central, Western

Boys wrestling (Jan. 30)

Sectional 6 at Plymouth: Bremen, CASTON, CULVER, Culver Academy, North Judson, Plymouth, ROCHESTER, Triton, Warsaw, WINAMAC

Sectional 13 at Peru: Lewis Cass, Huntington North, Maconaquah, Manchester, NORTH MIAMI, Northfield, Peru, Southwood, VALLEY, Wabash

Sectional 7 at Twin Lakes: Benton Central, Frontier, Logansport, North White, PIONEER, Rensselaer, Tri-County, Twin Lakes, West Central