The growth continues, as does the success. Cathedral High School girls track and field turned in another memorable season in 2026, with one of the state of Indiana’s top girls high school track and field programs continuing to develop and register impressive postseason performances. “This was a good season,” John O’Hara said. The Irish in O’Hara’s seventh season as coach had a solid postseason, with three events qualifying for the Indiana High School Athletic Association state meet. Junior Cecelia Melloh and senior Piper Swart qualified for the state meet in the pole vault, with the 4x400-meter relay team – junior Mary Leppert, senior Ava Grace Winters, senior Brooklyn Bolin and sophomore Lyla Cochrane – also qualifying. “It was amazing,” O’Hara said. “You show up to practice every day and a lot of times showing up to practice is not fun. It’s hard work, but they have smiles on their faces. The girls show up to the boys’ meets, the boys show up to the girls’ meets. They do a great job of working well together and I couldn't be prouder of them.” Key to the Irish in 2026: A strong senior class that included athletes such as Swart, Makenna Carpenter, Bolin and Winters who O’Hara called great leaders. “They worked really, really hard,” O’Hara said. “This was a great training group and that stems from stuff we started doing about 10 years ago. We’re really proud to have all these girls competing at a high level.” The Irish advanced to the regional meet in eight events: Melloh (pole vault), Brooklyn Bolin (400 meters), Swart (pole vault), Leppert (400 meters), freshman SaRiya Smith (high jump) and all three relay teams. “We had a little bit of an injury/sickness bug that set us back, but we got back in the groove a little bit,” O’Hara said. “We relied on five or six seniors to be really strong.” Melloh finished second in the pole vault at regional with a vault of 11-0 and Swart finished third at 10-9. The 4x400 relay finished third in 3:57.8. Bolin finished ninth in the 400 at regional in 59.80, with Leppert finishing 12th in the 400 in 1:01.36. The 4x100 relay – senior Arynn Garrard, Winters, junior Maura McCormick and freshman Eliseyah Jefferson – finished seventh in 49.57, with the 4x800 relay – Leppert, senior Adalyn Bolin, senior Camille Spencer and junior Lorelei Zenil – finishing 13th in 10:21.16. Smith finished 16th in the high jump at 4-10. The Irish began the postseason with fourth-place finish in the Section 21 meet at Lawrence Central with 76.5 points, with North Central winning the sectional with 138 points. Melloh won the section title with a vault of 11-3, with the following Irish athletes placing: Brooklyn Bolin (400 meters, fifth, 1:00.32), Leppert (400 meters, sixth, 1:01.40), freshman Ella Johnson (800 meters, 10th, 2:41.18), sophomore Abigail Craver (800 meters, 11th, 2:43.96), Adalyn Bolin (1600 meters, eighth, 5:40.38), freshman Claire Farrell (1600 meters, 12th, 6:04.06), Spencer (3200 meters, fourth, 12:08.49), Zenil (3200 meters, sixth, 12:10.92), junior Ruth Pappas (100 meter hurdles, fifth, 17.33), freshman Maggie Scott (100 meter hurdles, seventh, 18:21), Pappas (300 meter hurdles, fifth, 50.74), Scott (300 meter hurdles, 10th, 54.06), Smith (high jump, fourth, 4-10), Garrard (high jump, sixth, 4-6), junior Ryan Moore (long jump, eighth, 15-5.75), Swart (pole vault, second, 10-6), senior Tatum Triggs (discuss, fourth, 97-11), Triggs (shot put, sixth, 31-8). The 4x100-meter relay team – Garrard, Winters, McCormick and sophomore Lyla Cochrane – finished third in 49.42. The 4x400 meter relay team – Leppert, Winters, Brooklyn Bolin and Cochrane – finished third in 4:03.21. The 4x800 meter relay team – Craver, Adalyn Bolin, Spencer and Zenil – finished fifth in 10:35.01. The Irish finished second at the City Meet at Marian University with 121 points behind Bishop Chatard (181 points). Carpenter won the pole vault with a vault of 10-0, with Triggs winning the discus with a throw of 103-10. The 4x100 relay team won with a time of 50.23. “That’s always kind of a marquee track meet for us, to try to get that title,” O’Hara said of the city meet. Melloh gave up her spot in the City meet to allow Carpenter an opportunity. Carpenter, a three-time All-State pole vaulter, underwent a foot procedure in the fall and wasn’t 100 percent throughout much of the spring and didn’t qualify for the postseason. “She was able to cap off her career winning the city title,” O’Hara said of Carpenter. Also participating in the sectional meet for the Irish: Sophomore Jazzyln Young (100 meters), Jefferson (100 meters) and sophomore Aanas Gladney (200 meters). “We’re going to return a lot of good athletes, freshmen to juniors,” O’Hara said. “The girls keep growing. We’re up to 60-to-65 girls. We’re pretty pumped about it. We’ve hit good cultural groove and training program and we’re still competing at a really high level against really big schools.”