Jasper girls win fourth straight sectional track title
Jasper held off 10 other schools at Perry Central for its fourth straight sectional crown, with Knies, Leonard and Clark driving the early scoring.
Jasper’s girls track and field program kept its sectional run alive Tuesday at Perry Central High School, winning a fourth straight title and extending one of Dubois County’s steadiest dynasties. The Wildcats were one of 11 schools in Sectional 30 at Leopold, where first-, second- and third-place finishers in each event, along with 3 Participant Standard qualifiers, moved on to regionals under Indiana High School Athletic Association rules.
The first scoring push came in the running events. Jasper High School Athletics’ live updates showed Madelyn Knies winning the 300-meter hurdles, while Emma Leonard won the 800 meters and Ella Clark finished third in the same race. Those results put Jasper in position early, with several running and field events still ahead and the Wildcats already establishing the kind of balance that has powered their sectional streak.
That depth matters because Jasper did not just win once and back into this championship. At Perry Central in 2025, the Wildcats won the sectional with 144 points, far ahead of Tell City’s 94.5, Southridge’s 88 and Forest Park’s 81.5. That margin gave a clear preview of how much separation Jasper has built from the rest of the field at a meet that now sits in the middle of a sustained run.
Dean Jerger has coached the Jasper girls program through the streak, with Erin Spellmeyer-Jochum listed as an assistant coach. The repeated success at Perry Central has turned the sectional into more than a one-night result for Jasper; it has become a marker of how the program keeps reloading from year to year, while also building athletes capable of moving deeper into the postseason.
The Wildcats still have a larger benchmark in view. The Indiana High School Athletic Association’s girls track and field records list Lake Central with the state mark for consecutive sectional championships at 25, set from 1992 through 2016. Jasper’s four straight titles are nowhere near that number yet, but they keep the Wildcats on a path that suggests the program’s staying power is real, and that the next step will come at regional competition rather than only at home in Dubois County.
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