SELMA — Whether on the basketball court or the baseball diamond, Nate Luce did one thing very well in his four years at Wapahani.
Win.
During his eight varsity seasons (four in each sport), Luce helped Wapahani bring home more hardware than any athlete in school history: five sectional trophies, each of them followed by a regional title, and one semi-state trophy, earned during the Raiders’ first-ever run to the IHSAA 2A boys basketball state championship in 2024. This season, Luce put a bow on his Wapahani career by doing something he had not done in the three years prior — winning regional titles in both sports in the same year.
With his legacy firmly cemented as the winningest Wapahani Raider ever, Nate Luce has earned one final honor for his high school career — The 2024-25 Star Press Male Athlete of the Year. He is the staff pick after Blackford’s Amarian Leggett won the Fan Vote portion of the award.
“It’s been amazing,” Luce said in a phone interview with The Star Press. “That’s kind of how we grew up, though, we grew up to win and have fun. It’s been so much fun, I’ll never have it back and I just wish I could, but it’s been amazing.”
Luce put up some impressive numbers during his senior seasons. For basketball, he averaged 15.3 points, 4 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game while shooting 46% from the field and 46% from 3-point range. He also led the state — regardless of class — with 118 total 3-pointers made. During baseball season, he hit .330 as the leadoff hitter and was second on the team in runs scored (30) and hits (29). Luce made his biggest impact as a pitcher, compiling an 8-3 record with a 1.33 ERA. Luce received all-conference honors from the Mid-Eastern Conference and was named first-team all-area by The Star Press in both sports.
Luce was at his best when the lights shined brightest — the postseason. In March, he scored a game-high 17 points against Western Boone to lead Wapahani to a come-from-behind victory in the 2A boys basketball regional round. In June, Luce pitched the Raiders to victories in the sectional championship, regional championship and semi-state semifinal, throwing three complete games and giving up zero earned runs (one unearned) on 13 hits and 10 walks with 19 strikeouts.
However, Luce’s true impact at Wapahani can’t be measured in statistics or trophies. Over his four years, Luce established a standard with his positive attitude and strong work ethic, setting an example for every teammate, coach and fan who crossed his path.
“Nate is the beauty of a positive attitude,” said Matt Luce, former Wapahani basketball coach and Nate’s father. “It’s not about his shooting, his defense, his rebounding, his ball-handling. It’s about showing up every day, making others around you better and smiling. When you do that every day and come to work, come to practice, come to school and make others around you better, you’re going to win.”
Maintaining that positive attitude isn’t always easy. Any athlete will tell you that sports comes with the occasional struggles, and Nate Luce is no different. Whenever he experienced those struggles, Luce refocused his energy and always reminded his teammates of the most important aspect of high school sports.
“Having fun is definitely the most important part for me,” Luce said. “I was struggling a little bit in baseball this year, then I just started having a lot more fun, and that’s when everything switched around, not even for me but for the team. We started playing a lot better, hitting the ball a lot better.”
After playing four years worth of two sports and winning as many games as he has, Luce has no shortage of memories to look back on as highlights. When asked about his favorite memories, he highlighted the 2024 2A state championship game as the top moment from his basketball career.
“(The state championship) was everything we had worked for, and we had known that at that point and wanted it so bad,” Luce said. “I remember me and Camden (Bell) were shooting around and were just like ‘Dude, we’re going to state. This is crazy.'”
As for his baseball career, Luce pointed to the team’s 2025 sectional championship victory as his favorite moment because of the adversity the baseball team had faced the year before.
“Sectionals was so cool, especially coming back from last year,” Luce said. “We had a really tough year, we were really young. At that final moment, when we won, it was like no matter what happens after this, we finally made a mark.”
With his illustrious Wapahani career at an end, Luce has signed to continue his basketball career at Marian University, where he will reunite with a former Raider teammate in Aidan Franks. Luce plans to study nursing and hopes to become a nurse anesthetist (CRNA) for his future career.
Whatever the future holds for Nate Luce, he will face it as a winner. Nobody is more sure of that than his dad.
“Nate won on the court and on the field,” Matt Luce said. “But most importantly, Nate’s going to win in life.”
Contact Cade Hampton via email at cbhampton@muncie.gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Raider Legend: Wapahani’s Nate Luce is the 2024-25 Star Press Male Athlete of the Year
Reporting by Cade Hampton, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
