Zionsville wins boys golf state title for first time in 20 years
Zionsville boys golf coach Adam Wood talks about leading the Eagles to their first team state championship in 20 years.
CARMEL — When Zionsville’s Andrew Wall sunk his final putt of the IHSAA boys golf state finals to put him at par after two days of the best high school golf Indiana has to offer, he had no idea his shot clinched the Eagles’ first state championship since in 20 years.
“I thought maybe we’d get third or maybe we’d get fourth,” Wall said. “I was just thinking, ‘You know what? I think I want to shoot 74, I don’t really want to shoot 75.'”
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The senior’s 74 was good for a fifth place tie for individuals and was part of the Eagles’ overall +24 score. Westfield placed second at +29, with Hamilton Southeastern (+30), Noblesville (+35) and Center Grove (+37) rounding out the top five at Carmel’s Prairie View Golf Club.
“We knew it was gonna be a long grind out there,” Wall said. “We’ve all played two-day tournaments before, it just comes down to, ‘You gotta hit the shots,’ and we just did that.”
This was Zionsville’s third team state championship in program history. Wednesday’s win was the Eagles’ first boys golf state title of any kind since Adam Wood, now in his first year as Zionsville head coach, won the individual title in 2013.
“It makes it all worth it,” Wood said.
Wood said the Eagles try to play a specific, stress-free brand of golf. If he had to put it into words, here’s how Wood would describe Zionsville’s approach:
“No weakness, no fear. Be able to process every shot the same, accept what happens next.
“Credit to the five players; I didn’t hit a shot. They earned this.”
Wall’s score led the Eagles, and sophomore Max Steiner finished in the top 10 with a +4 as well. Rounding out Zionsville’s quintet was senior Gavin Poole (+7), freshman Brycen Tisch (+13) and senior Bryce Conlee (+23).
Wall admitted keeping focus for a combined 36 holes and nearly 16 combined hours through two days was difficult, but that’s when he relies on a black, rubber bracelet around his right wrist. Reading “What’s important now?” in white letters, Wall thinks about what his mental coach, Gary Sailes, has taught him about keeping things in perspective.
Immediately after he hit his final putt, maybe Wall was trying to keep things in perspective, because he didn’t know what that putt meant quite yet. But the euphoric feeling that comes with winning a state championship, one that had Wall at a loss for words, didn’t sink in until he asked his teammates sitting beside the green if they had taken the state crown. All this while holding hole 18’s flag, waiting for his opponents to finish.
“Right then and there I was like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe we just did that,'” he said. ” … It’s been a battle, we’ve been trying to get over the hump for years now, and to be the one to do it, it couldn’t be any more special.”
Westfield finishes 2nd place for third straight year
Westfield won three state titles in four years from 2013-16 but have not won since. In fact, the Shamrocks came runner-up to Guerin Catholic in the event in each of the past two seasons.
This year was more of the same, as Westfield once again placed second, five strokes behind Zionsville with a +29. And despite this repeated silver finish, coach Josh Bryant said he isn’t frustrated.
“You can go back and think about this shot or that shot, but they’re young people, and I think both teams — and (Hamilton) Southeastern played awesome today,” he said.
Led by junior IU commit Jake Cesare, who tied for second overall individually with a -1 score, the Shamrocks will return all five team members next season. Not only does he believe this gives Westfield a chance to improve heading into next season, but he thinks these three straight runner-up finishes will serve as a motivator.
“If you keep knocking on the door, at some point, the door is going to open,” Bryant said.
Contact Kyle Smedley with comments via email at KSmedley@Gannett.com or via X @KyleSmedley_.