Jasper sweeps Dubois/Pike Invitational, boys and girls win team titles

Jasper High School turned its home stadium into a showcase for the Wildcats' track program, as both the boys and girls won team titles at the Dubois/Pike Invitational at Jerry Brewer Alumni Stadium.

The boys scored 166 points to beat Forest Park's 140, with Pike Central taking third at 22, Northeast Dubois fourth at 12 and Southridge fifth at 11. Jasper High School Athletics posted the next day that both the boys' and girls' track and field teams had taken first place in the meet, a result that added another bright mark for a program that has made the Dubois/Pike Invitational a familiar spring stage.

The invitational was held at Jasper High School, 401 W. 5th Street, and brought together five area schools from Dubois and Pike counties: Jasper, Forest Park, Northeast Dubois, Pike Central and Southridge. For Jasper, the sweep carried the kind of local resonance that goes beyond one night on the track. It put the Wildcats in front of a county-and-area field at home and reinforced the visibility of a program that regularly draws attention when the postseason approaches.

Kevin Schipp leads the Jasper boys, while Dean Jerger is the girls' head coach and Erin Spellmeyer-Jochum serves as assistant coach. Their teams were in the middle of a busy stretch, with Heritage Hills and Gibson Southern already on the schedule earlier that week and postseason meets still ahead in May. That schedule makes the invitational more than a one-off win; it is part of the run-up that often reveals how well a team is positioned for the rest of the spring.

The sweep also fit a pattern. Jasper had done the same thing at the 2023 Dubois/Pike Invitational, when the boys won with 178 points and the girls scored 138.5 to take first. That boys meet included 12 event wins out of 17 and a record-setting 800 meters from Will Smith in 1:58.62, a reminder that Jasper has used this meet as a springboard for bigger goals and local bragging rights.

For Jasper, winning both team titles at home did more than fill out a scoreboard. It kept the Wildcats front and center in Dubois County track and field, with a program that continues to turn early-season meets into evidence of depth, coaching and momentum.