ST. LOUIS -- Indiana State capped a highly successful athletic season with a fourth place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference All Sports Trophy race as announced today (May 23) by the league office. 

On the strength of eight Top 4 finishes inside Missouri Valley Conference play this season among 14 league sponsored sports, the Sycamores earned their highest rank since the 2013-14 campaign when ISU tied a school-record with a second place mark. Indiana State's high water mark of 2nd place has occurred twice since 1993 in 1999-00 & 2013-14. The Sycamores return to the league's Top 5 this year for the first time since the 2014-15 campaign.

"I am proud of what our student athletes and coaches achieved this year," Director of Athletics Sherard Clinkscales said. "They embrace the high expectations of this department, despite some inherent challenges. We are gaining momentum and are bound and determined to bring home our first MVC All Sports Trophy."
 
Sycamore highlights this year include a second place finish for the Women's Track and Field program in both the indoor and outdoor championships as well as a 2nd place finish in men's track indoors and third at the outdoor meet. Indiana State hosted the 2018 Missouri Valley Conference Track & Field Championship at the Gibson Track and Field Complex. The men's cross country team tied Bradley for first place at the MVC Cross Country Championship and received the runner-up trophy after an extensive tie breaking process. The Sycamore women finished fourth in that meet back in October of 2017.

The Sycamore baseball team recently finished in a tie for third in the MVC standings and are the No. 4 seed at this week's MVC Baseball Championship which is being held in Dallas. ISU Baseball has now posted a winning overall record in each of the last 10 seasons.

It was a historic season for the women's swimming and diving program as they finished in fourth place at the league championship in the program's second year of existence. Matt Leach was named the Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year, becoming just the third Indiana State head coach of a female sport to earn that honor without taking the league's championship. The volleyball program took a big step forward in 2017 under the direction of first-year head coach Lindsay Allman as they finished in a tie for fifth place but earned the program's first-ever victory in the MVC Tournament with a win over Drake and a trip to the tournament's semifinal round.

The softball program experienced success in their first season under head coach Mike Perniciaro as they finished fifth and earned a victory over Bradley in the MVC Tournament opener. The basketball program was sixth in the league standings and were the only team to defeat NCAA Final Four participant Loyola on their home court this season. The women's basketball program notched a fifth place finish in the league race. The women's golf team battled wind, snow and rain at the MVC Women's Golf Championship en route to a seventh place finish. The women's soccer team was eighth. Sycamore Football competes in the Missouri Valley Football Conference and does not factor in these standings.

Missouri State claimed the MVC All Sports Trophy with five championships and a aggregate score of 7.895 points. Southern Illinois was second (6.931) while Illinois State was third (6.859). The Sycamores were on the Redbirds' heels with a score of 6.495 while Northern Iowa was fifth with a score of 6.421 and Drake was sixth at 6.218. The league only publicly released the Top 6 finishers in the MVC All Sports Trophy race.

In 2016-17, the MVC introduced a new point system to determine the league's all-sports champion. The All-Sports Trophy is based on a school's average finish in each of the sponsored championships by the Missouri Valley Conference. Teams are awarded 10 points for first, nine for second, eight for third, etc., and the total accumulated points are divided by the number of sports in which a particular school competes. For sports not sponsored by every MVC school, the points decrease by number of competing schools (i.e., in a sport where eight teams compete, 10/8 = 1.25, so point totals decrease by 1.25; 1st = 10, 2nd = 8.75, 3rd = 7.5, etc.) 

Finishes in baseball, basketball, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball are based on regular-season competition. All other sports are determined by finish at the championship tournament or championship meet. 

The 2017-18 campaign is not over for the Sycamores as the baseball team competes this week at the MVC Baseball Championship while nine track and field student-athletes have qualified for the NCAA Regionals this weekend in Tampa, Fla.