All Sports Trophy - 2012-13

[1972Shocker]

In our fall sports we are picked 3rd in VB, 3rd in WCC and 4th in MCC. Last year we finished 3rd, 2nd and 4th in these sports respectively. So if we peform as predicted we will fall 1 spot behind our last year's early pace in the All Sports Trophy race.

The Shocks do not compete in Men's or Women's Soccer which is contested in the fall.

Based on preseason predictions for the fall sports the early AST race is shaping up as follows:

MSU (4 Sports) - 2.75
ILS (4 Sports) - 3.00
WSU (3 Sports) - 3.33
SIU (3 Sports) - 3.67
INS (4 Sports) - 4.20
BU (4 Sports) - 4.50
UNI (4 Sport) - 4.75
CU (5 Sports) - 5.40
DU (5 Sports) - 6.20
EU (5 Sports) - 7.80

Missouri State is the defending champion finishing the year at 2.62 in 13 sports to the Shocks 2.87 average in 15 sports. Football is not counted in the AST averages.

Creighton hurt by being picked last in both Men's and Women's XC.

Evansville picked in the bottom half in all 5 fall sports.

If the Shocks can finish 1 place higher in each sport it participates in it could lower its fall AST average by a full point to 2.33. Of course, the opposite is true as well. Last year our AST in our fall sports was 3.00.

[WuDrWu]

Not to toot my own horn (okay it's totally tooting my own horn) but I predicted 2.86 last February 29th and we finished 2.87. I gotta work on my rounding errors.


Of course, in the same post I said nobody else was as consistent and that barring a collapse we'd win again when quite obviously MSU was leading at the time.

[ShockerFever]

Any predictions for this year Doc?

MSU is gonna tumble in men's basketball and I think they'll be down a bit in baseball as well. Those are two areas where we should make up ground on them.

Softball was an absolute killer last year.

[WuDrWu]

Any predictions for this year Doc?

40 points for a 2.67 average. Lot's of runner up positions I think. The trophy will return to the three one six.

[1972Shocker]

Any predictions for this year Doc?

MSU is gonna tumble in men's basketball and I think they'll be down a bit in baseball as well. Those are two areas where we should make up ground on them.

Softball was an absolute killer last year.

The two sports where we have the most room for improvement are Women's Golf who finished 6th (after being picked 2nd) and Softball where we finished 9th.

I think we will improve on that 6th place finish in women's golf if we play up to our potential in the MVC Championship which we obviously did not do last year.

Coming into the year I was somewhat optimistic that we might pick up 2 or 3 spots in the softball standings. However, now I'm not so sure. If the roster as shown on goShockers.com is accurate we have two of our top young players in Sydney Steuver and Rachel Milnark that aren't returning this year. Steuver's loss in particular will be felt. Also the JUCO pitcher recruited out of Lake Land Iowa CC apparently has decided to give up softball and is not on the roster.

Our other challenge will be to do as well in our other 10 winter and spring sports. Last year we averaged a 1.9 in those 10 sports. With 4 firsts (MBB, Men's Golf, Women's Tennis and Women's Outdoor T&F), 3 seconds (Women's Indoor T&F, Men's Outdoor T&F and Men's Tennis) and 3 thirds (Men's Indoor T&F, Women's Basketball and Baseball). That is a pretty high bar to duplicate, but not impossible.

[1972Shocker]

MSU is gonna tumble in men's basketball and I think they'll be down a bit in baseball as well. Those are two areas where we should make up ground on them.

MSU was only 5th in Men's basketball last year. With the Gulley injury and the loss of Weems and Patterson they could tumble to 8th (or maybe worse) in men's basketball.

Not sure about baseball. They have Valley Pitcher of the Year Nick Petree back with his micoscopic 1.01 ERA. That's a nice piece of the puzzle to have in the era of 3-game MVC series. No guarantee the Shocks will be greatly improved over last year either.

[1972Shocker]

The book is closed on the fall sports (Volleyball, Men's & Women's X-Country and Men's & Women's Soccer) as far as the All-Sports scoring is concerned.

I have the standings at this point calculated as follows:

1. WSU 2.67
2. SIU 2.83
3. ILS 3.38
4. UNI 4.00
5. INS 4.70
6. DU 5.30
7. EU 5.40
8. CU 5.60
9. BU 6.13
10. MSU 6.88 (Defending AST Champion off to a poor start)

The winter sports season includes Men's & Women's Basketball, Men's & Women's Indoor Track & Field and Women's Swimming & Diving.

8 championships are determined in the spring including Baseball, Softball, Men's & Women's Golf, Men's & Women's Tennis, and Men's & Women's Outdoor T&F.

I see the Shocks hanging around 3.00 for the year and that is with a 10th place finish plugged in for the softball team. That should put us right in the thick of the race for the 2012-13 AST. I see our primary competition this year coming from Illinois State, although there is a long way to go.

[1972Shocker]

The book is now closed on the winter sports (Men's & Women's Basketball, Men's & Women's Track & Field and Women's Swimming & Diving) as far as the All-Sports scoring is concerned.

I have the standings at this point calculated as follows:

1. WSU 2.07 (14.5/7)
2. ILS 3.72 (33.5/9)
3. UNI 4.22 (38.0/9)
4. CU 4.36 (30.5/7)
5. INS 4.50 (36.0/8)
6. SIU 5.00 (40.0/8)
7. EU 5.25 (42.0/8)
8. MSU 6.06 (48.5/8)
9. DU 6.28 (56.5/9)
10. BU 6.50 (45.50/7)

The spring sports season is the big one in terms of numbers of sports (8) and includes Baseball, Softball, Men's & Women's Golf, Men's & Women's Tennis, and Men's & Women's Outdoor T&F.

Shocks looking very good after a strong winter with a 1st (Women's Indoor T&F), a tie for 1st (Women's Basketball) and two 2nds (Men's Basketball and Men's Indoor T&F).

I think the Shocks are capable of finishing 1st or 2nd in 5 or 6 spring sports including baseball, both outdoor track squads, both tennis squads and men's golf. Perhaps baseball is the most iffy of these but that is where the baseball team was picked in the preseason.

Softball finished 9th last year and were picked 8th this year. They do seem to be playing a little better this year but time will tell if they can improve on that 8th place prediction.

Women's golf finished 6th last year and I'm not quite sure what's going on this year. Two of their top 4 golfers from last year Sr. Gretchen Huhnerkoch and So. Daniela Rugeles did not play much in the fall and did not play in the 1st spring tournament. Not sure if they are injured or just not playing well enough to beat out other players. Both are still listed on the roster. In their 1st tournament of the spring the Shocks were led by 2 freshman, Megan Schuetz and Bryce Schroeder followed by 2 seniors Hollie Weatherburn and Hannah Martin. So not really sure what to expect out of the this team.

Assuming we avoid injuries to key athletes the Shocks look like they are in great shape to return the All-Sports Trophy to its rightful place in he House of Wu this year. Illinois State looks to be the storngest challenger but at this point it would be very difficult for the Redbirds to catch us unless he Shocks significantly underperfom expectations.

Best case I have the Shocks finishing at 2.38 which would break the previous record of 2.47 held by Illinois State. My worst case for the Shocks would be 3.10 which still might be good enough to bring home the trophy.

[ShockTalk]

Very good post @1972Shocker:. However, let's not count on the baseball program to nail it down. It is Valley baseball, but how do your numbers come out with a 4th place finish.

Yeah, I'm very proud of our basketball team, but I'm still grouchy over not sending sCUm off in the proper style.

[1972Shocker]

Very good post @1972Shocker. However, let's not count on the baseball program to nail it down. It is Valley baseball, but how do your numbers come out with a 4th place finish.

Not really counting on the baseball team as much as Men's Golf, Both Tennis Teams and Both Track Teams.

I plugged the baseball team into 5th place (with ILS 2nd), the Softball team into 9th and Women's Golf into 6th, where those two teams finished last year and the Shocks still come out on top at 2.77 vs 3.47 for ILS.

As I said we would have to have a signficant underperformance from a number of teams or an unbelievably good performance by ILS for the Redbirds or anyone else to catch us. I think the Shocks would have to average around a 5th place finish in all remaining 8 sports for ILS to have a shot at catching us. I don't want to sound over-confident but I really don't see anything close to that happening.

Now if ILS goes crazy and finishes 1st in all 8 spring sports then the Shocks better be pretty close behind. If ILS did do this (unlikely) and if the Shocks averaged finish in all 8 of these sports was 3rd then ILS would edge us 2.44 to 2.57. So, yes there is a chance (very slim chance).

My expectations are that WSU and ILS will finish the spring sports pretty much evenly in average finish. I expect MSU to also score well in the spring but they only participate in 5 sports and I just don't think they can make up the deficit they currently find themselves in. In fact, I project MSU for around a 6th place finish.

[1972Shocker]

The first two championships of the Spring season (for purposes of All-Sport Trophy points) will be settled this weekend.

The Men's Tennis team looks to have 2nd place wrapped up with a 4-1 conference record. Drake will finish in 1st place at 5-0 if they beat Bradley today (1-3) which they should.

The Lady Shocks Tennis team is 6-0 and the are playing at SIU, also 6-0, today to determine the Valley regular season champion.

So at worst, the Shocks will pick up two more top 2 finishes. These finishes are pretty much in line with expectations.

The Valley women's golf championship also starts today and runs through Tuesday. The Shocker women, who apparently were hurt by the injury bug this year, are picked to finish 5th. They finished 6th last year.

[WuDrWu]

Well SIU had a bit of a surprise if they thought the championship was in doubt.

Final

WSU 7 SIU 0

Colin Foster getting it done, yet again. Congrats to the ladies on yet another Valley Title.

And kudos to Coach Foster (and his wife) for continuing to dominate the Valley year after year. Well done Coach!

[RoyalShock]

Well SIU had a bit of a surprise if they thought the championship was in doubt.

Final

WSU 7 SIU 0

Colin Foster getting it done, yet again. Congrats to the ladies on yet another Valley Title.

And kudos to Coach Foster (and his wife) for continuing to dominate the Valley year after year. Well done Coach!

Especially with a team that, IIRC, lost a lot from last season and struggled early.

[WuDrWu]

Decent day from the women's golf team. They stand 2nd, 1 shot out of 1st (also only 11 shots out of 7th) after the first day. The course looks tough and perhaps brutal conditions because the scores were high.


Hannah Martin really showed some grit. After doubling the 9th, then going bogey, bogey, par, triple (on a par 5) she finished birdie, birdie, birdie to shoot 6 over 78 and leads all Shockers and sits tied for 3rd, 2 back of the leader.

[1972Shocker]

OK. 4 of the 8 spring sports (Men's and Women's tennis and Men's and Women's golf) are in the books and the Shocks have recorded 2 more 1st place finishes (Women's Tennis and Men's Golf) and 2 more 2nd place finishes (Men's Tennis and Women's Golf).

We have baseball, softball and men's and women's track and field to go.

At this point baseball is impossible to call. The Shocks could finish anywhere from 1st to 4th, maybe worse if they totally collapse. For now I have them tying for 3rd and hoping for better.

The softball team looks pretty much locked into 8th or 9th place. A recent sweep of the Shocks by MSU really hurt the Ladies. For now I'm assuming an 8th place tie for AST point purposes.

The track teams have done well in recent years and that should continue this spring but nothing is a sure thing.

At this point, the Shocks have a great shot at breaking the record All Sports Trophy average of 2.47 set by Illinois State 16 years ago in the 1996-97 season.

Go Shocks!