Columbus North’s Maddi Rutan and Cooper Horn are The Republic Female and Male Athletes of the Year. They are pictured in the studio at The Republic in Columbus, Ind., Monday, June 26, 2023.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Cooper Horn and Maddi Rutan had been standouts in one sport at Columbus North, but as their high school years progressed, they decided to broaden their horizons.
Horn, a four-year starter in basketball, picked up football his junior and senior years. Rutan, a star softball player, also played soccer as a senior.
The recent North graduates are this year’s The Republic Male and Female Athletes of the Year. The award is open to Bartholomew County seniors.
“I definitely wish I’d have played (football) all four years,” Horn said. “But the last two years of football were super fun. I met a lot of good people. There’s a lot of friends on those two teams that kind of pushed me to play, so just being around my friends more those last two years was really exciting. If I was around them all four years, that would have been even better.”
If Horn had played football all four years, it’s hard to imagine what he might have done. Last fall, he set single-season school records with 71 receptions for 1,471 yards and 20 touchdowns. He ranked among the state’s leaders in receiving yards.
While Horn enjoyed plenty of individual success in football, it was in his original sport of basketball where he enjoyed the most team success. With Horn leading the Bull Dogs in scoring (17.4), rebounding (4.0), steals (2.6) and blocks (0.6), they captured their first sectional title in 10 years.
“The seniors this year were guys that I’d played with since fifth grade,” Horn said. “We’ve always dreamed of winning the sectional and going even farther in the tournament, and obviously, our first three years, we couldn’t get that done. But to do it as seniors, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way, being together for seven or eight years, just playing basketball on the same court and finally seeing the result in the sectional was amazing.”
Horn was named both The Republic Football Player of the Year and Boys Basketball Player of the Year as a senior.
“It was definitely an exciting career,” Horn said. “Both football and basketball were just exceptional, and I made a lot of good friends and met a lot of good people along the way, which made it a lot more exciting.”
Meanwhile, Rutan also had a record-setting career. A two-way standout as a hitter and pitcher, she finished with North’s single-season and career records in home runs and strikeouts, despite seeing her freshman season canceled because of the COVID pandemic.
“I wish I’d have had my freshman year, but things happen,” Rutan said. “I made good friends, and I’ll just always cherish those memories going into college. I’ve learned a lot from coaches and players along the way. It was fun and a learning experience.”
After leading the Bull Dogs to sectional and regional titles as a sophomore, Rutan considered playing soccer as a junior. She didn’t play that year, but jumped at the chance to play soccer as a senior.
“I had a couple of friends who played soccer and I thought thought it was a cool, fun experience,” Rutan said. “It definitely kept me in shape. The coach tried to get me the year before, but I was just scared that I’d get hurt or something. But I was thinking, you can get hurt in any sport. You can get hurt walking. So I just decided to play it. The girls helped me, and the coaches helped me just become a better player, a better athlete and a better person. So I just thought it was an amazing experience, and I wish I’d played all four years.”
Rutan hadn’t played soccer since she was 8 years old, but became a regular player in the team’s rotation as a forward and even started a few games.
“It was definitely funny to watch me play that sport,” Rutan said. “But I thought it was really fun making good friends along the way and just being able to play a sport that meant so much to you as a young kid and just trying to help out the North team as much as I could was really fun and a good experience. I actually have breathing problems, so being able to have that endurance running up and down the field really helped me understand how to stay in shape and also breathe while I’m playing sports.”
This spring, Rutan led the Bull Dogs with a .551 average, 13 doubles, eight home runs and 42 RBIs and went 19-1 with a 1.47 ERA and 239 strikeouts. She was one of five finalists for the Indiana Miss Softball award.
Rutan is headed to play softball at Eastern Kentucky, where she will major in criminal justice and possibly conservation and wildlife.
“I’m looking forward to it a lot,” Rutan said. “I think it’s going to be an amazing experience, and it’s going to push me in so many different ways as a person and as a player. I think it’s just an awesome opportunity to be able to go play D-I and just to have people there to support me.”
Horn is headed to DePauw, where he will play basketball and major in finance. He had been offered spots on the football team at Butler and University of Indianapolis.
“It was definitely a tough decision,” Horn said. “I just felt like I loved basketball more, and football was just something that came along these last two years. I debated over playing football, but I just felt like I didn’t love it enough to go play at that high of a level, so I decided just to do something that I love that I know I’ll follow for the next four years. I’ll meet new people and make a lot of good friends and just have really good experiences on the basketball court.”
The Republic Athletes of the Year (open to Bartholomew County seniors):
Male
2016: Rhett Myers, Columbus East
2017: Mitchell Burton, Columbus North
2018: Brigham Kleinhenz, Columbus North
2019: Trenton Kelley, Columbus North
2020: Eric Stiles, Columbus East
2021: Blake Huffman, Columbus North
2022: Reese Kilbarger-Stumpff and Tucker Smith, Columbus North
2023: Cooper Horn, Columbus North
Female
2016: Katrina May, Columbus North
2017: Cortney VanLiew, Columbus East
2018: Adi Minor, Columbus East
2019: Megna Chari, Columbus East
2020: Olivia Morlok, Columbus North
2021: Mackenzie Barnett, Columbus North
2022: Emily Moore, Columbus North
2023: Maddi Rutan, Columbus North
