Sycamore Family,

It has certainly been an exciting spring semester so far for Indiana State University and Sycamore Athletics. Between conference championships and our student athletes' success in the classroom, it is a great time to be a Sycamore!

This past January, university leadership and the Indiana State Foundation were able to travel down to Florida to visit with alumni and supporters of our great university. This was an awesome opportunity for me to interact with many Sycamore donors and fans. As an entire university we look forward to hosting numerous events across the country to interact with more alumni and fans. To that point, we have partnered with the Indiana Pacers to host our Indiana State University Night on March 20^th. In addition to the game, the Indiana State University Alumni Association will also be hosting a pregame event located at O'Reilly's Irish Pub & Restaurant, from 5:00-6:30pm. Click here to purchase your tickets to the game.

Over the past few weeks, we have had a lot of exciting accomplishments for Sycamore Athletics. Our women's swimming & diving program was able to capture their first ever Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Championship. In addition, the swimming and diving team was able to earn numerous awards as Head Coach Josh Christensen was named MVC Head Coach of the Year, Diving Coach Teresa Hall was named Co-Diving of the Year, and Jecza Lopez was named Diver of the Year. We are very proud of this program and the future is bright!

We also secured another MVC title as our women's Track & Field program claimed their ninth Indoor Track and Field title and the 48th conference championship for the Sycamore Track and Field/Cross Country program. Indiana State finished second on the men's side, the program's fifth straight top-two finish. Casey Hood Jr. will represent the Sycamores in the 60m dash March 14-15 at the Virginia Beach Sports Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He joins JaVaughn Moore as the only Sycamores to qualify for the indoor national championships in the men's 60m and becomes the 32nd athlete in program history to qualify for the NCAA Indoor National Championships.

Indiana State Track & Field will be hosting three outdoor meets this spring at the Gibson Track & Field Complex. Alumni Weekend for our Track & Field program is scheduled for the Gibson Invitational, set for April 17-19. That will be a special weekend as we will dedicate the track in honor of Coach John McNichols on April 19^th during the meet. Click here to learn more about the fundraising efforts to enhance the John McNichols Memorial Track at the Gibson Track & Field Complex.

President Godard and I took in our first Arch Madness as Sycamores. It was great to see so many Indiana State fans in attendance. One of our proud moments this season was averaging almost 5,000 fans per game inside the Hulman Center, which ranked us 3^rd overall in the MVC in attendance per game. Please continue supporting our men's basketball team by renewing your season tickets today by logging into your Ticketmaster account.  We are very excited about the future of the program under Head Coach Matthew Graves.

On the women's basketball program front, they are set to start their conference tournament today at 9:30 (ET) in Evansville as they take on Northern Iowa. We are looking forward to seeing all of you there as well cheering on our women.

Since I began my tenure here at Indiana State, one of the strongest partnerships is with the Indiana State Foundation. Together, we recently announced the Investor Society, our philanthropic leadership giving society. Philanthropic support is a major reason athletics programs across the country are successful. The Investor Society will be vital for our future success and sustainability moving forward. Please consider becoming a member of the Investor Society today by visiting our website. The Investor Society brochure dives into all the different aspects of this program including where we are compared to our peers.

Mark your calendars! Give to Blue Day 2025 will be held on Wednesday, April 9. Indiana State University's 7th annual day of giving is a fundraising and engagement opportunity for Sycamores all around the world to come together to joyfully give and boldly support Indiana State students. This is a great opportunity to support all our athletic programs and to make a gift to support current and future Sycamores.

Another strong partnership is with Crossroad of Champions. The growth that we have seen over the course of the last few months has been exciting and energizing. In this ever-changing world of intercollegiate athletics, it is more critical than ever that we grow this area to support our student athletes and programs. We want our programs to be successful and it will require all of us to elevate Sycamore Athletics. Please consider being a member of Crossroad of Champions for as little as $10 per month. A huge thank you to our Crossroad of Champions board of directors as they have been great to work with on this endeavor.

As we look forward to another busy weekend on campus, both baseball and softball are competing at home. Softball begins conference play vs. Valpo and baseball finishes their last non-conference weekend series vs. Pacific. Hope to see you at Price Field or Bob Warn Field over the weekend! Click here for the softball and baseball schedule.

I'd ask you to continue to do what you can to support Sycamore Athletics and our student athletes by attending athletic events, purchasing season tickets, joining the Varsity Club, become a corporate partner and getting others to do the same.

It is a great time to be a Sycamore!

Thank you and MARCH ON!
 

 
Nathan Christensen
Director of Athletics
Indiana State University