TERRE HAUTE —
It started in State College, Pa., and ended in Eugene, Ore. Few Indiana State athletic seasons have spanned the nation in as many sports as 2011-12 did for the Sycamores’ athletic teams. And from coast-to-coast there was glory and heartbreak alike.
ISU finished fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference’s All-Sports Trophy standings, its best placing since 2006. That was one spot short of ISU’s best-ever MVC effort — the Sycamores finished fourth in 2001 and 2005.
It was my eighth season covering ISU athletics and was one of the most compelling of all. Now that it’s in the history books, here’s a look back at the highs and lows.
• Athlete of the year — As far as individual efforts were concerned, there were a wealth of ISU athletes to choose from.
Catcher Jeremy Lucas was MVC Player of the Year for the baseball team. Track and field had an abundance of choices.
Felisha Johnson finished fifth nationally in the women’s shot put and Brandon Pounds was sixth in the hammer throw. Greggmar Swift, Stacia Weatherford and Mary Thiesen also competed in the NCAA Championships. Not to be left out is Major Clay, who capped an outstanding career by winning the MVC high jump title four years running.
But running back Shakir Bell reached individual prominence no ISU athlete has ever had in football. Bell led the nation as he rushed for 1,670 yards and finished runner-up for the Walter Payton Award, the FCS version of the Heisman. No ISU football player has come close to that kind of national prominence in any era.
• Coach of the year — There are several candidates. Rick Heller led ISU’s baseball team to glory and was MVC Coach of the Year. Volleyball coach Traci Dahl returned the Sycamores to the MVC Tournament for the first time since 2004. Several other coaches brought home winning seasons.
But men’s cross country and track coach John McNichols gets the nod. McNichols’ teams won their third-straight MVC cross country championship and second consecutive men’s outdoor track crown.
McNichols’ teams accomplished their goals in a trying year for McNichols himself. He missed part of the men’s track season after he had a benign tumor removed, but returned in short order and led the Sycamores to the kind of prominence that’s become expected of them.
• Team of the year — You always have to give a shout-out to ISU’s men’s track and field and cross country teams in this space. They both defended MVC titles and have been long-established as ISU’s most consistent winning program.
But I give the nod to baseball. ISU was picked fourth in the MVC by the league’s coaches and lower by national publications. But the 41-19 Sycamores surprised everyone but themselves with their first-ever MVC regular season championship and an at-large bid to the NCAA baseball tournament.
• Disappointment of the year — The men’s basketball team never got on script in 2011-12. Though its 18-15 record gave ISU its third consecutive winning season, more was expected from a team picked to finish third in the MVC.
Point guard Jake Odum gamely played through painful plantar fasciitis all season, but few of the rest of the Sycamores lived up to potential. Internal dissension and questionable effort gripped the players at times, especially in the first half of the MVC season. In a year in which ISU was expected to turn it on, the Sycamores turned it on and off, and paid the price for it with an 8-10 MVC finish.
• Biggest victory — Each of ISU’s signature team sports had important victories — football won at Western Kentucky, men’s basketball won at Vanderbilt and the baseball team defeated several NCAA Tournament teams.
If I had to pick just one, I’d go with ISU’s 44-16 football victory at WKU on Sept. 17. Football Championship Subdivision teams just don’t beat Football Bowl Subdivision teams that often, and for ISU, it’s exceedingly rare. And the Sycamores didn’t just beat the Hilltoppers, they hammered them. WKU went on to have a 7-5 season and contended for the Sun Belt Conference championship.
• Worst loss — ISU’s men’s basketball team’s fall-from-ahead 67-60 loss to Robert Morris in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament on March 13 at Hulman Center was just one of several times you walked out of an arena shaking your head in bewilderment as to how the Sycamores were beaten by an inferior team and why its effort came and went. An argument could be made for listless losses to MVC bottom-feeders Bradley and Southern Illinois too.
• Game of the year — Game of the year and biggest victory are two different things. Think pure excitement and/or weirdness. (I only count games I covered)
ISU was unusually bereft of weird or out-of-left field games this season. The choice for me is ISU’s 61-55 men’s basketball win over Vanderbilt on Dec. 17. ISU was down eight with 6:31 to go, but finished the game on a 16-2 run on Vandy’s home court to seal the upset.
• Weirdest moment — The postgame, profanity-laced handshake/confrontation between Evansville women’s basketball coach Oties Epps and the ISU coaching staff after ISU’s 73-54 win on Dec. 30 at Hulman Center wins hands down.
•Team that needs to make progress in 2012-13 — ISU’s women’s basketball team has been in neutral for several years now. Since 2008, ISU is 76-76 overall, 42-48 in conference play and hasn’t finished higher than fifth in that span.
Tickets sold at Hulman Center are high by national women’s basketball standards, but anyone who regularly attends the games knows that no-shows are significantly up. There’s been little buzz, and if the women’s basketball can’t make progress and move up in the MVC, the program risks becoming an afterthought to ISU fans.
• Things to look forward to — Many outside and inside observers think 2012-13 might be a rebuilding season for many of ISU’s teams. Important seniors and contributors were lost by nearly every team.
The rebuilding could play out, but there’s certainly gold to be mined too. Football returns Bell and all-world defensive end Ben Obaseki. ISU’s baseball team was not hit in the MLB Draft as hard as one might have thought and it returns a solid nucleus. Men’s basketball has a bunch of new faces, but also has more athleticism than its had in several years. If they gel early, I think they can be better than people might think.
Todd Golden is sports editor of the Tribune-Star. He can be reached at (812) 231-4272 or todd.golden@tribstar.com. Follow Golden on Twitter @TribStarTodd.
College
FROM THE PRESS BOX: Looking back and forward at ISU athletics
- College
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DeNato proves IU can pitch too
Joey DeNato dispelled the notion that College World Series newcomer Indiana is all about offense.
The junior left-hander threw a four-hitter and the Hoosiers looked mighty comfortable at TD Ameritrade Park while beating Louisville 2-0 on Saturday night. -
Etherington, Moore happy to be with ISU basketball
Not even two weeks into their college experience, Indiana State freshmen men’s basketball players Alex Etherington and Demetrius Moore stood sentinel as 115 kids ran around them collecting basketballs and getting autographs at the Greg Lansing Basketball Camp on Thursday.
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ISU's Johnson invited to World University Games
Indiana State senior Felisha Johnson will be traveling the world this summer after being named to represent the United States in the women’s shot put at the World University Games in Kazan, Russia.
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FROM THE PRESS BOX: Close, but no cigar, theme for ISU sports in 2012-13
When I covered my first event of Indiana State’s 2012-13 season — ISU’s opening football game at Indiana — I was the first one in the press box at IU’s Memorial Stadium. I’m never the first one in the press box.
Maybe the prospect of ISU’s season had me so pumped that I decided to get it started close to three hours early? (Or more truthfully, maybe I was over-vigilent about predicted traffic horrors on the Indiana 46 bypass that never came to pass.) -
Q&A: ISU football coach Mike Sanford ready for fall
It’s hard to believe, but Mike Sanford has already been Indiana State’s football coach for six months.
Time flies, but Sanford’s task of preparing for his first season in charge of the Sycamores comes with few breaks. -
Rex streak ends at 7
The Terre Haute Rex table setters — Kyle Kempf and Tyler Wampler — had three of the team’s eight hits Friday at Bob Warn Field, but the Rex offense found itself in a big early deficit for the first time this season.
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Manaea’s selection puts ISU in spotlight
Once the stress and hang-wringing over where Indiana State pitcher Sean Manaea might get drafted was over, the angst subsided and was replaced with a happier emotion. Pride.
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ISU’s Hope places 13th in NCAA pole vault
Indiana State senior Nicole Hope concluded her final competition of the 2013 outdoor season on Friday as she tied for 13th in the women’s pole vault at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
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Metro roundup: Former Sycamores take talents to CFL
Former Indiana State players Johnny Towalid and Justin Hilton were signed by teams in the Canadian Football League this week.
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Exit Minnesota, enter Oregon State on 2016 football schedule
When the Big Ten Conference implemented a nine-game football schedule starting in 2016 and discouraged members from playing Football Championship Subdivision teams, there was one game on Indiana State’s future schedule that was likely on borrowed time.
ISU’s scheduled game at Minnesota in 2016. -
METRO ROUNDUP: Swift reaches finals of NCAA Championships in 110-meter hurdles
Indiana State junior Greggmar Swift will be among the top eight in the NCAA in the 110-meter hurdles after qualifying for Saturday’s finals on Thursday.
Swift ran a time of 13.51 seconds to take third in his heat. He’ll run in either lane 1 or lane 8 on Saturday.
“I got out pretty good and then I hurdled three or four when I got bumped and it threw me off my rhythm,” said Swift, a native of Barbados. “I tried to get back my rhythm … but I held on for the third place.” -
ISU's Manaea selected 34th overall by Royals
Indiana State pitcher Sean Manaea selected 34th overall by the Kansas City Royals.
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Sycamores ready for more NCAA track success
Five of the six Indiana State athletes in Eugene, Ore., already have had some memorable track and field careers for the Sycamores.
But they’ll go ahead and try to add to their list of accomplishments in the NCAA outdoor championships this weekend.
Dustin Betz has been a scorer and key piece of eight Missouri Valley Conference championship teams between track and cross country. He’ll compete today in the 3,000-meter steeplechase as the Sycamores’ second best in the event behind Jordan Fife. -
Mike Lucas joins ISU football staff
What traits do head football coaches seek out when they hire position coaches?
Indiana State football coach Mike Sanford provided insight into that question as he hired former Southeast Louisiana head coach Mike Lucas to his staff Tuesday. Lucas will be the Sycamores’ defensive line coach.
“You have to look at your staff and see what you need. I felt like in this particular case, I wanted an experienced defensive line coach. I feel like we have a mixture of experience and youth and I want to keep that going,” Sanford said. -
TODD GOLDEN: MVC Tourney can be ISU success story if work is done
Prior to last week’s Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament at Illinois State’s Duffy Bass Field, fear and loathing prevailed in some corners of the conference.
It seemed that Missouri State, Creighton, and most notably, Wichita State, had a monopoly on the season-ending tournament since the Coolidge Administration. (It had actually been since 1998.) How could the tournament make it without playing in one of the three aforementioned universities’ big venues? - COLLEGE REPORT: Wabash College All-American relay team has TH flavor
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Six Sycamores heading to NCAA Track and Field championships
Three Indiana State seniors and a freshman punched their tickets Friday to the NCAA outdoor track and field championships in two weeks at Eugene, Ore. Two more got the job done Saturday on the campus of UNC Greensoboro in the East Preliminary.
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Sycamores bow out of MVC Tournament
Indiana State’s baseball was out of pitching, and after a loss to Wichita State on Thursday, the Sycamores were out of second-chances too at the Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament. What the Sycamores weren’t out of was heart, guts and clutch performances from some unlikely sources. But in the end, Friday’s elimination game rematch against the Shockers was a sampling of ISU’s season overall — the Sycamores were out of luck.
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Metro Sports: Chalk up No. 5 for Liz Evans
Senior Liz Evans capped the top career in Rose-Hulman athletics history with her fifth national championship and eighth All-American award at Wisconsin-La Crosse on Friday.
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Four Indiana State athletes advance to NCAA outdoor track and field championships
Three Indiana State seniors and a freshman have punched their tickets to the NCAA outdoor track and field championships in two weeks at Eugene, Ore., with their Friday efforts in the 2013 NCAA East Preliminary at Aggie Stadium on the campus of North Carolina A&T.
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Wichita State shuts out ISU to force elimination-game rematch
Indiana State starting pitcher Greg Kuhlman did his best.
Actually, he did far better than he ever has previously in an ISU uniform, but while Kuhlman’s gutty pitching effort spoke volumes, ISU’s bats remained ominously silent. -
Indiana State baseball now one win from MVC Championship
Indiana State’s Wednesday morning wish list probably read something like this: a dominant complete game effort from starting pitcher Devin Moore, near-immaculate defense to support him, and a steady diet of clutch situational hitting from lineup spots one to nine.
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Terre Haute's Mascari running 10,000 meters for chance to get to Hayward Field
Indiana State freshman and Terre Haute North graduate John Mascari is among the enormous group of Sycamores competing this weekend at the NCAA East Preliminary. The top 48 NCAA track and field competitors in each event on this half of the United States are narrowed down to 12 who will compete at the NCAA meet at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
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Manaea's shoulder causing him latest pain
Indiana State pitcher Sean Manaea has battled through so many aches and pains during the 2013 season that it can be hard to discern the serious pain from the pain he pitches through.
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ISU's Negele answers call in big way in wake of Manaea injury
When Indiana State starting pitcher Sean Manaea slumped on the mound in obvious pain after he took his warm-up pitches, red flags raised for ISU’s Missouri Valley Conference tournament hopes.
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ISU baseball hoping Manaea can get its MVC Tournament moving in right direction
Indiana State’s baseball team has been waiting all season for its stars to align.
But this is the 2013 Sycamores, after all, and after a season in which seemingly little has gone right, it appears its stars will remain crossed at the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. -
ISU track sending record 22 to postseason
On the heels of their thrilling double victory at the 2013 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships both the Indiana State men and women moved up in the national rankings which were released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
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ISU's athletic treasure trove
Think of every championship that Indiana State has won in each of its sports, past and present. Think of every tournament — postseason or regular season — which the Sycamores have claimed as their own.
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Ort sets ISU RBI record in 16-7 win
Robby Ort celebrated his Indiana State baseball Senior Day on Saturday by becoming the Sycamores’ all-time leader in RBIs as ISU ended its regular season with a 16-7 win over Bradley at Bob Warn Field.
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Bradley ends 16-game MVC losing streak against ISU
Momentum was the only thing riding on Indiana State’s baseball game against Bradley on Friday. With a five-game winning streak going, ISU wanted to keep the good vibes going into next week’s Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.
ISU couldn’t do it. - More College Headlines
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