YEAR IN REVIEW: Top-5 moments from Zionsville in 2023-24 | Sports

Boone County athletic teams had plenty to be proud of during the past 12 months.

All three Boone County public high schools made their marks both within their conferences and state wide as well during the past year.

Now it is time to look back at some of the top moments from each school.

Today we will look at Zionsville’s year. We will look at Lebanon and Western Boone later in the week.

The lists were comprised after discussions with athletic directors and coaches, and some tough choices had to be made, but here is the list.

5. Wrestlers win sectional and regional, Penola wins Mental Attitude Award

The Zionsville wrestling team was able to pick up some accolades this year.

The Eagles won their fifth-straight sectional title, winning six weight classes and sending all 14 of their wrestlers to the regional.

The next week they captured their fifth regional title in school history, sending nine wrestlers to the semi-state.

“It was a great team effort,” Zionsville head coach Doug Welch said. “It is great for these guys and they should be proud of what they accomplished, but now it is time to move on. We have bigger goals. The regional is a great step, but it is just step two in the state series and now we move on to step three.”

The Eagles eventually sent three wrestlers to state – Sully Frazier, Tommy Frazier and Luke Penola.

Sully Frazier fell in the opening round in a tough match. Tommy Frazier placed fifth at 120 pounds.

‘”I just extremely grateful for my coaches, for my teammate and all the amazing people around me,” Frazier said at state. “Really that’s the big thing, I extremely grateful.”

Luke Penola placed seventh at 190 pounds, capping a strong career as an Eagle.

He was later named the Mental Attitude Award winner for wrestling, the first Eagle wrestler to be honored with the award.

“It’s really cool to be recognized there,” Penola said. “There’s a lot of guys who deserve this, and I am super thankful. I thank God, I thank my parents and everybody. This wasn’t the result I wanted this weekend, but it’s cool to end it like that.”

4. Haan, Maguire earn Indiana All-Star recognition

The Zionsville girls basketball team had another strong season, finishing the year 16-7, the fourth-straight season they won at least 15 games.

At the end of their year, there were a couple of special accolades, with senior Emma Haan being named an Indiana All-Star, the fifth Lady Eagle to earn the recognition.

“It has always been a goal of mine, and I have been working toward that all season,” Haan said. “To get the call, it was a big relief and I’m excited to represent our school and put myself in the history books.”

Haan averaged a team-best 15.6 points in her senior season, adding 3.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists. She is also the best 3-point shooter in Zionsville history, setting the single season mark with 68 and the career mark with 152.

She made 43% of her shots from behind the arc this past season.

To make the experience even better for Haan, head coach Andy Maguire coached the All-Stars.

“It was always a goal to coach in the game when you look at long term things when I first started coaching,” Maguire said. “But it is really something you never know if you will have a chance to do. We have had a lot of talent come through our program, we have had some success, and I have been blessed with amazing assistant coaches. That all has a lot to do with it and has helped me become a better coach.”

Maguire stepped as Lady Eagles coach in the spring ending four decades of coaching, amassing more than 300 career victories.

But he and Haan went out as winners, sweeping Kentucky in the annual series.

“We knew we hadn’t (swept them) in a while, so it was really special for us to sweep them,” Haan said. “And of course, for Coach (Andy) Maguire – we didn’t want him to go out on a ‘L,’ so I was super excited we came back and won.”

3. Omema Anyanwu claims state title in 400-meter dash

In her three years as a member of the high school track team, Omema Anyanwu has left her mark at the school.

She added to her legacy this spring, winning the state title in the 400-meter dash at the IHSAA State Finals.

“It’s such an amazing feeling, and honestly, I give all glory to God right now,” Anyanwu said after the race. “I am extremely thankful for my coaches, family, friends – everyone who helped me to get here. I have been praying, hoping, practicing. After last year I really wanted to come back and get that first place.”

It was the second state title for Anyanwu, who was also part of the winning 4×100 team in 2022.

This one was a little more special.

Anyanwu placed fourth in the event last year, and came into the race seeded second.

She was behind as the race came into the final stretch, but was able to dig deep and get the win, becoming the first individual champion for Zionsville since Ella Robinson in 2019.

“It was the best feeling ever,” Anyanwu said of seeing she won on the board. “I really wanted to kick it at the end. It was really close, I didn’t even know I won until I saw the board. I knew I was behind coming around the last turn, so I just had to kick as hard as I could.”

Along with Anyanwu, the Lady Eagles got a podium finish from Katy Green in the 800-meter run, placing ninth in 2:33.33.

The 4×800 team of Mackinsey Heagy, Audrey Magnusen, Abby McClure and Anwesha Mishra also qualified for State.

“I could not be more proud of this team,” Zionsville coach Camryn Bader said. “Last year we only had two athletes here, and this year we brought three, had two on the podium and a state champion. It’s just super exciting and I am happy for the whole group.”

2. Mattice wins two events, Mental Attitude Award

Walker Mattice was close as a junior to capturing an individual state title.

This year, in his last year as an Eagle, he made sure he was able to finish the job.

Mattice won the state title in the 100- and 200-yard freestyles, helping the Eagles place fourth as a team.

“It’s been a great meet,” Mattice said. “I performed well obviously, but the whole team swam well and I think we kind of exceeded expectations we had coming in. Honestly we had low hopes coming into the year with what we lost to graduation, but they all stepped up well throughout the year and trained hard. It showed we are still a top program.”

Mattice’s two titles gave the Eagles’ 19 all-time, the 13th most in state history.

Mattice was in control throughout in the 200-free, taking a 0.7 lead halfway through and then putting it away from there.

In the 100-free, he trailed by 0.19 at the 50, but took the lead in the back half of the race to claim the title.

After the meet, Mattice was named the Mental Attitude Award winner.

“It’s such a big honor and I really wasn’t expecting it,” Mattice said. “It really makes everything pay off, not just the swimming, but the community service I’ve done over the last couple of years and the work in the classroom.”

The Eagles placing fourth was the fifth-straight year they finished in the top-5 in the state.

“We knew coming into the meet that we could finish anywhere from second to fourth or fifth,” Zionsville head coach Scott Kubly said. “We told the guys that it was up to them to show how hard they have worked all year long and this is kind of icing on the cake for the season.”

1. Golf team wins state title

The last official sporting event for the county was the best.

The Zionsville boys golf team capped the high school sports season by winning the state championship.

It was the third title for the boys golf program in history, and first in 20 years.

“We had some strong programs over the years, but to win the big one is difficult,” head coach Adam Wood said. “It was something I was hoping we would be in position to do, and that’s what we worked so hard for. The guys did all the legwork. They hit phenomenal shot after phenomenal shot and the credit is to these five guys who pulled it off.”

Wood became the first in state history to coach a team to a state title after winning an individual title.

The Eagles had been solid all year long, claiming six regular season titles and being competitive in others against the top teams in the state.

They were runner-up in the sectional and regional, but played consistently solid golf.

They led by three strokes after the first day of the State Finals, then after falling behind early on the front-nine on day 2, took control of the tournament at the turn and held on from there.

Wood said that no matter what any other team was doing on the course, the Eagles just had to stick to their game plan.

“When we step up to a shot, and we evaluate it and pick our target, it matters very little what the other teams are doing,” Wood said. “It goes back to controlling what you can control. You can’t play defense in golf. Having that mentality coming into today – and I’m sure we aren’t the only program to have that – and combining that with the amount to skill we have, it was enough.”

Zionsville got all-state efforts from senior Andrew Wall and sophomore Max Steiner.

Seniors Gavin Poole and Bryce Conlee, along with freshman Brycen Tisch rounded out the squad, which is now etched as one of the best in program history.

“We had really talented players, and we knew we had the right personality mix and we had the right focus,” Wood said. “Nothing is guaranteed in golf, but we knew we had a strong chance if we controlled what we could.”