Zionsville swimming coach Scott Kubly remembers last year’s sectional — the way his boys team was down big to Avon after the diving events, yet was able to storm back late and win by nine points.

“The way the guys won the sectional last year was just phenomenal,” Kubly said.

Needless to say, winning sectionals again — which would be the team’s fourth in a row — is on the 24th-ranked Eagles’ list of goals this season. But it’s not the only one.

In fact, winning that title is not even a necessity.

“The goal is to win sectional, but if we can’t win it, then obviously we want to have a good showing and have enough kids to qualify for state,” Kubly said. “Even if we don’t win sectional, I still think we could be a top-15 team at the state meet. Maybe even top 10. It just really kind of depends on how they’re swimming at that particular point in time.”

Last year at state, only one swimmer scored. That swimmer is back, though: junior Ian Boggs , a “pretty versatile” competitor who took 13th in the 500 freestyle and could return to that event this year, as well as the 200 freestyle and breaststroke.

Boggs also swam on Zionsville’s 400-free relay (18th at state) and 200-free relay (30th) teams. The former group also featured the graduated Chris Mattson , along with junior Nick Torrance (a possible distance swimmer) and sophomore Peter Lyon (“another one of those swimmers that are pretty versatile,” Kubly said). The latter relay squad featured Boggs, Mattson, Torrance and junior Andrew Cardosi .

Cardosi also competed at state in the 100 free, and Lyon in the butterfly.

Returning from Zionsville’s sectional roster are seniors Jared Hall and Thomas Wimmer .

Put together, then, the Eagles again expect to be solid. In addition to high playoff hopes, Kubly also said the team is aiming for a top-five finish in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference — a league that features No. 3 Fishers, No. 4 Hamilton Southeastern, No. 14 Westfield, No. 15 Noblesville and No. 17 Brownsburg.

“If we can do that, that would be a huge accomplishment,” Kubly said, “because that HCC is just a tremendous swimming conference on both the boys and the girls’ side.”

But in the end, sectionals and state are the focus.

“A really big goal for us,” Kubly said, “is to get more guys to score at the state meet.”