April 8, 2010

TO THE SYCAMORE FAITHFUL:

Spring is here again. What a great time of the year. The ping of the bats at baseball and softball practices and games, fill the air with a whole new excitement of the season. Both are off to good starts under the leadership of coaches Brenda Coldren and Rick Heller. Things are looking good for both teams as we kick off the new seasons.

Baseball is playing on the all new Bob Warn Field at Sycamore Stadium. It is a beautiful new addition to our athletics facilities and a terrific place to watch quality college baseball. It will be a dynamic asset to the program for many years to come. The new Prospect League, Terre Haute REX, will compete on the field in the summer time. It will be great to have top notch college baseball in Terre Haute through the summer.

Softball continues to play at Price Field and major upgrades to the facility are planned. New grandstands and spectator areas are being constructed and prepared for installation. The new field is approved on the master plan and will be a terrific addition to the Riverfront Development project. This will be one of our strategic fund raising efforts for the next few years as we develop the master plan and move forward.

Women's Basketball ended the year strong, finishing tied for seventh place in the Missouri Valley Conference. They won the first game of the MVC tournament and then lost to an outstanding Illinois State team in the second round. Taylor Whitley was named to the All Freshman team. Kelsey Luna was Second team all-league and was, for the second straight year, named the Scholar Athlete of the Year. Kelsey also received several other outstanding academic and athletics awards. She was named ESPN the Magazine First Team Academic All-American. Kelsey also finished the year number one in the nation in free throw percentage. We will miss Kelsey Luna, Laurence Rivest and Sara Paul, and wish them well after they graduate and pursue their goals.

It was a pleasure, at a well attended press conference on April 6, 2010, to introduce the new Head Women's Basketball coach at Indiana State Teri Moren. The press conference was well attended by close to one hundred people including, media, community members, students, faculty, staff administration, alumni, family and friends. Coach Moren joins the Sycamore family from Georgia Tech, where she was the Associate Head Coach and has been an integral piece in their formula for success as they have appeared in three straight NCAA Tournaments. Prior to that she was the Head Coach at the University of Indianapolis, where she had a very successful tenure. She has been an assistant coach at Northwestern, Butler and Purdue. Coach Moren played at Purdue, and won a Big Ten Title and participated in the NCAA Tournament. Coach Moren is from Seymour, Indiana where she was a standout.

Men's Basketball, under the leadership of third year Head Coach Kevin McKenna, had a great year finishing with a winning record for the first time in nine years. We finished tied for fifth place in the MVC and were able to avoid the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament play-in game for the first time in nine years. Our success qualified us for participation in post season play in the CBI Tournament where we played at St. Louis University in the first round. I was very proud of this team this year. The young men on the team banded together and faced much adversity through injury. At one time we had our three leading scorers injured and out of the picture all at one time. We still managed to win a few games during that period and continue our success. The coaches and student athletes did a remarkable job this year. The coaching staff is very excited about the eligibility of our red shirts and our incoming recruits. It should be a fun year next year.

Indoor track had a great season qualifying a total of 5 (4 women and 1 man) student athletes for the NCAA Championship. Congratulations to Kiley Hudson for another outstanding season. Kiley won the NCAA Championship in women's pole vault. She is a three- time National Champion (2 indoor titles and 1 outdoor title so far). Several others had outstanding performances, as both Lauren Martin and Erica Moore earned All-America honors, and elevated our team to 17th place in team results at the National Indoor Championships. Coaches John McNichols and John Gartland do a great job with our very large track programs.

Football, under the leadership of second year Head Coach Trent Miles, and Soccer, under the leadership of first year Head Coach Erica True, has begun their spring workouts. They are both enjoying their new locker rooms and new turf field. Both programs look very good and are excited about the upcoming seasons.

Volleyball, under the leadership of second year Head Coach, Traci Dahl, is excited about their incoming recruits and the efforts that the young ladies on the team are showing during the spring in preparation for the fall season.

Golf is off to an outstanding start. They are winning tournaments and individual titles. Coach Mike Whitson has built this program from scratch into a terrific contender and we are very optimistic about our chances to compete for an MVC Championship.

It has been another good year to this point with several championships still ahead of us. Our coaches, administrative team, student athletes and alums are eager to see our programs continue to develop and grow into an MVC power. Thank you to all of our supporters for being a significant part of the Sycamore Faithful.

I will see you at the games.

GO SYCAMORES

Ron Prettyman
Athletics Director
Indiana State University