Sycamores,
Thank you for your continued support this past year. We experienced some wonderful successes and challenging moments this year, a year that can be characterized as progress with some growing pains.
Our progress came in the form of some teams making big strides to become contenders for MVC Championships while others experienced growing pains due to attrition, youth and some did not meet their expectations.
Overall, we finished seventh in the MVC All-Sports Cup after a fourth-place finish last year. That is not a result we expected nor is it a result we are content with having. Our coaches and staff remain undeterred to win our first MVC All-Sports Cup and compete in the NCAA Tournament. There are no excuses for that but I know the foundations for success have been laid across the board here and our future is bright.
Despite the All-Sports Cup finish in the conference rankings, we performed admirably in front of our peers on the national stage placing 129th out of 295, after scoring over 120 points and recording our best finish in the Learfield Director’s Cup standings in six years thanks to a couple of great postseason performances by baseball and track and field. As the season concluded, Indiana State placed second in the Valley in the Learfield Director’s Cup showcasing the Sycamores ability to make an impact on a national level in the postseason.
We have plenty to be proud of in the Wabash Valley:
· We went far beyond our goals for the Elevate Campaign by raising over $865,000, over $265,000 more than projected and we did so two months earlier than our targeted date. That is a tribute to your investment into Indiana State providing resources that have paid and will pay immediate and future dividends.
· Baseball claimed its first MVC Tournament title since 1995 and advanced to the Nashville Regional final, eliminating Ohio State and challenging No. 2 Vanderbilt.
· Track and Field made its mark on the national stage as Erin Reese claimed All-America First Team honors at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, finishing as the national runner-up in the (outdoor) hammer throw. She was named the Most Outstanding Female of the MVC Indoor and Outdoor Championships and, joined by Cassaundra Roper at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, led the Sycamores to a 32
nd-place finish.
· Football made an incredible turnaround from 0-11 to 7-4 and one of the first teams out of the FCS Playoffs. Curt Mallory was named Coach of the Year, QB Ryan Boyle named Newcomer of the Year and Jonas Griffin named Third Team All-America.
· New Swimming and Diving coach Josh Christensen, starting just one week before the season started, quickly hired a staff and guided the Sycamores to a third-place finish in the Valley, the highest in the program’s short history and up one spot from last year.
· Women’s Golf made great strides by finishing fourth at the MVC Championships. Thilda Staubo and Sierra Hargens were named All-MVC and All-Valley Scholar-Athletes while Staubo was named the MVC’s Golfer of the Year.
· Our department as a whole increased its GPA to 3.299 with 38 percent of our student-athletes getting named to the Dean’s List (3.5+ GPA).
· The Athletic Department’s APR reached an overall score of 985, our highest mark ever.
There is no better time to be a Sycamore. I believe in our coaches’ ability to maximize the talent on their teams, to recruit championship-caliber student-athletes and to create a culture of winning in the Wabash Valley. The expectations are high for all those within the athletic department and our goal is to continue to build upon the foundations of success we have already laid so that our programs will reach new heights.
I hope you all enjoy a peaceful and relaxing summer.
March On!
