The REPORTER
The 2023-24 IHSAA sports year is about to begin, as fall sports officially starts on Monday with girls golf.
The fall season is always an eventful one, especially in Hamilton County. Flashback to last season: Noblesville picked up three state championships in one day, as girls cross country won its first-ever state title, then the girls and boys soccer team scored a rare sweep of state championships later that afternoon.
Carmel is looking to defend its girls golf state championship, and the Greyhounds boys cross country team will try for another state trophy. Hamilton Southeastern powered its way to a first-ever volleyball state title, and the Royals football team won a regional championship.
This year will see a few significant changes in the post-season. The biggest change comes in cross country, as the tournament has been reduced from four weeks to three weeks. The boys tennis tournament has been realigned, with some local teams moving to new sectionals. And girls golf, after the addition of a sixth regional last season, will see a slight adjustment to that sport’s advancement policy.
Girls golf
Since girls golf tees off on Monday, let’s start with that sport. The sectionals involving Hamilton County teams will not change from last year. Guerin Catholic will host Sectional 13 at Pebble Brook Golf Club in Noblesville, a nine-team site. The other teams participating are Brebeuf Jesuit, Cardinal Ritter, Carmel, Lebanon, Pike, Speedway, University and Westfield.
Noblesville High School will again host Sectional 16, at the Millers’ home course of Harbour Trees Golf Club. This sectional will feature 11 teams; Noblesville joins Alexandria, Anderson, Elwood, Fishers, Frankton, Hamilton Heights, Hamilton Southeastern, Lapel, Pendleton Heights and Tipton.
Both sectionals are slated to take place on Monday, Sept. 18. As always, the top three teams and top three individuals not on an advancing team will move to the regional round on Saturday, Sept. 23, and that round will feature the slight change.
Teams advancing from Pebble Brook will play at the Lafayette Jefferson regional at Battleground Golf Club, while the qualifying golfers from Harbour Trees will participate in the Lapel regional at Edgewood Golf Club. Again, the top three teams from each regional will move on to the state meet.
This year, the top three individuals at each regional will also advance. That is a change from last year, where only the top two individuals moved on. A study took place to see if having three individual advancers would work. During the June 22 IHSAA executive committee meeting, assistant commissioner Chris Kaufman “indicated that the IHSAA, the Indiana High School Golf Coaches Association and Prairie View Golf Club, the host of the state finals, are receptive to and could accommodate an additional advancing individual player from each regional to the state finals for a total of 108 total golfers.”
With that, a motion was made to change the format, and it was approved 17-0. As a result, a third individual player will advance along with the top two. The state meet at Prairie View will take place on Friday, Sept. 29 and Saturday, Sept. 30.
Boys tennis
While there is no format change for the boys tennis tournament, there will be shuffling among the sectional sites. These were approved at the May 2 IHSAA executive committee meeting.
Sectional 31 will consist of Anderson, Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern and Pendleton Heights. The site was not known as of press time. Carmel will host Sectional 35, welcoming Guerin Catholic, University and Zionsville to the Todd Witsken Tennis Center. Noblesville will host Sectional 56, along with Hamilton Heights, Lapel and Westfield. All sectionals take place the week of Sept. 26.
In the regional round, scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 3 and Wednesday, Oct. 4, the Sectional 31 winner will play at Mount Vernon for the Regional 8 title. The Sectional 35 champion heads to Zionsville for the Regional 9 championship. Noblesville will also host Regional 14, which is where the Sectional 56 champion will play.
All three regional winners will travel to different semi-states on Saturday, Oct. 7: The Mount Vernon regional champion goes to Center Grove, the Zionsville champion heads to Culver Academies, and the Noblesville champion heads to Homestead. The semi-states will again crown two champions at each site.
The state quarterfinals will be played at Carmel and Center Grove on Friday, Oct. 13, with the semifinals and state championship matches returning to North Central on Saturday, Oct. 14 after the Panthers completed construction at the Barbara Wynne Tennis Center.
Flag football
Flag football sectionals are scheduled for Sept. 30. Carmel, Fishers, Hamilton Heights and Noblesville will play in Sectional 5, with the site to be announced. Westfield will debut a flag football team this year, it is not known as of press time which sectional it will compete in.
Boys and girls soccer
The soccer post-season begins with sectionals for both boys and girls during the week of Oct. 2.
In Class 3A boys, Noblesville hosts Sectional 8, joining with Anderson, Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern, Muncie Central and Pendleton Heights. Zionsville hosts Sectional 10, welcoming Carmel, Crispus Attucks, Herron, North Central, Shortridge and Westfield.
Guerin Catholic hosts Class 2A Sectional 27, with Brebeuf Jesuit, Cardinal Ritter, Hamilton Heights, Heritage Christian and Tri-West also playing there. The two Class 1A soccer schools play at different sites: Sheridan goes to Sectional 39 at Anderson Prep Academy, along with Liberty Christian, Muncie Burris, Taylor and Tri-Central. Meanwhile, University plays in Sectional 40 at Park Tudor, joining International, Metropolitan, Scecina and Tindley.
In girls Class 3A sectionals, Hamilton Southeastern will be the host of Sectional 8 this year. The Royals welcome the same teams as the boys: Anderson, Fishers, Muncie Central, Noblesville and Pendleton Heights. Carmel hosts Sectional 10, welcoming Arsenal Tech, Crispus Attucks, North Central, Westfield and Zionsville.
The Class 2A county schools head in different directions. Hamilton Heights will play in Sectional 24 at Yorktown, along with Centerville, Delta, Jay County and New Castle. Guerin Catholic travels to Sectional 26 at Speedway, joining Bishop Chatard, Brebeuf Jesuit, Indianapolis Washington and Lebanon.
Sheridan will host Class 1A Sectional 37, welcoming Eastern, Rossville, Taylor, Tipton and Tri-Central. University heads to Cardinal Ritter for Sectional 42, along with Covenant Christian, International, Riverside and Traders Point Christian.
In the regional semifinal games, the winner of even-numbered sectionals will play a midweek game (boys on Wednesday, Oct. 11, girls on Thursday, Oct. 12) at the winner of the odd-numbered sectional right above it. That breaks down as follows:
Sectional 8 plays at Sectional 7
Sectional 10 plays at Sectional 9
Sectional 24 plays at Sectional 23
Sectional 26 plays at Sectional 25
Sectional 28 plays at Sectional 27
Sectional 38 plays at Sectional 37
Sectional 40 plays at Sectional 39
Sectional 42 plays at Sectional 41
As for the Saturday, Oct. 14 regional championships, the feeder regionals are as follows:
Boys: Noblesville at Kokomo, Zionsville at Carmel, Guerin Catholic at Bishop Chatard, Anderson Prep and Park Tudor at Taylor.
Girls: Hamilton Southeastern at Kokomo, Carmel at Carmel, Yorktown at Norwell, Speedway at Bishop Chatard, Sheridan at Taylor, Cardinal Ritter at Knightstown.
The semi-states will take place on Saturday, Oct. 21, with the classes and genders divided among four sites: Kokomo, Chesterton, Evansville North and a site to be determined (Seymour was to host, but construction is preventing that this year). The state finals are set for Friday, Oct. 27 and Saturday, Oct. 28 at IUPUI’s Michael Carroll Stadium.
Volleyball
Carmel will host Class 4A Sectional 8 this year, with the usual slate of teams: Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern, Noblesville, Westfield and Zionsville. Guerin Catholic and Hamilton Heights both play in Class 3A Sectional 27 at Bishop Chatard, along with Heritage Christian, Herron and Shortridge. Sheridan hosts Class 2A Sectional 43, welcoming Cascade, Covenant Christian, Park Tudor and University. Sectionals take place on Thursday, Oct. 12 and Saturday, Oct. 14.
In the regional round, set for Saturday, Oct. 21, the Carmel winner plays in Regional 2 at Homestead; the Spartans are the new host after a few years at Noblesville. The Bishop Chatard champion heads to Monrovia for Regional 7 action, while the Sheridan winner will compete in Regional 11 at Cascade.
The Homestead champion plays in the 4A North semi-state at either Huntington North or Frankfort, while the 3A Monrovia and 2A Cascade winners play in the South semi-state, at either Columbus East and Jasper. All semi-states take place on Saturday, Oct. 28, with the winners heading to Ball State University for the state finals on Saturday, Nov. 4.
Cross country
With the tournament being truncated to three weeks, cross country sectionals will now take place on Saturday, Oct. 14. With the realignment, there will be 25 sectional sites.
Noblesville will host Sectional 16, one of 16 schools at this site. The other teams at the sectional will be Anderson, Anderson Prep Academy, Fishers, Guerin Catholic, Hamilton Heights, Hamilton Southeastern, Lapel, Lebanon, Liberty Christian, Pendleton Heights, Shenandoah, Sheridan, Tipton, Tri-Central and Westfield.
Carmel and University will compete at Sectional 13, another 16-team site that will be hosted by North Central. The other schools competing will be Bishop Chatard, Crispus Attucks, Heritage Christian, Herron, Indiana School for the Deaf, Indianapolis Washington, International, Park Tudor, Riverside, Shortridge, Tindley, Western Boone and Zionsville.
The advancing teams and individuals from North Central will compete in the Brownsburg regional, while the Noblesville advancers travel to the Shelbyville regional. Both take place on Saturday, Oct. 21.
The state finals will again be at Terre Haute’s LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, on Saturday, Oct. 28. The top five teams and top 15 individuals not on an advancing team will move from the sectional to the regional, then also from the regional to state.
Football
The draw for the football tournament is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 8. Hamilton County teams will compete in the following sectionals:
In Class 6A, Sectional 3 consists of Fishers, Fort Wayne Northrop, Hamilton Southeastern and Homestead. Sectional 4 features Carmel, Noblesville, Westfield and Zionsville.
Guerin Catholic and Hamilton Heights will compete in Class 3A Sectional 28, along with Bishop Chatard, Maconaquah, Northwestern, Oak Hill, Peru and Tippecanoe Valley. Sheridan will play in Class 1A Sectional 45, joining Anderson Prep Academy, Hagerstown, Indiana School for the Deaf, Monroe Central, Tindley, Union City and Wes-Del.
Sectionals begin the week of Oct. 20 for the 3A and 1A schools, and on Oct. 27 for the 6A schools.