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The Shocks will be going for their 5th consecutive MVC All Sports Trophy this year. It would also be their 11th All Sports Trophy in the past 14 years.
Thought I would take a quick early look at how the Shocks might fare this year.
Only 3 sports for the Shocks in the Fall. Volleyball and Men's and Women's Cross Country. Men's and Women's Soccer is also contested in the fall.
Volleyball is the favorite to repeat as Valley Champions although the top half of the Valley looks to be very competitive. The Shocks did pick up a big road win over MSU last weekend and have another big road match at UNI this Saturday.
The Shocker Men's XC team has been picked 2nd in the pre-season poll with Bradley the unanimous pick to win the Men's side. Illinois State men's team is close behind the Shocks in the pre-season voting. The Shocker Women's XC team is picked to win the Valley this year as they received 6 first place votes, followed by Bradley with 3 votes and Illinois State with 1.
The Shocker Men's team have not won a Valley XC Championship since 1987. The Shocker women also won in 1987 but, unlike the men, they have won 10 championships since then. However, the Shocker women last brought home the Valley title in 2010.
In any case, if the Shocks can live up to their pre-season billings it will be a very good fall but this is far from a slam dunk.
The winter season will bring us basketball and indoor track & field.
Men's Basketball: Shocks should be competing for the top spot once again. Whether they will be picked to win it remains to be seen as some voters may believe the loss of Fred and Ron will be too much to totally overcome.
Women's Basketball: The Shocks weakest sport last year with a 7th place finish. We new it would be rebuilding year but I was thinking they could still finish 5th. It didn't happen. However, a lot of the teams ahead of them will be facing rebuilding this year so that could change drastically. Drake should and will most likely be the pre-season favorite this year. I expect the Shocks to improve significantly on their 7th place from a year ago. A top 3 finish is certainly possible IMHO. Might even be in the race for the Valley title this year. Hopefully, I am not being overly optimistic.
Indoor Track & Field: The Shocker men and women track teams finished 1st and 2nd, respectively, at the Valley Indoor Championships last year. I see no reason the Shocks can't match that performance again this year. Of course with track & field injuries can play a very key role. So I wish the Shocks good health throughout the upcoming XC and T&F seasons.
In terms of the number of championships contested the season is back-end loaded especially for the Shocks who compete in 8 of their 15 Valley championships in the Spring.
Baseball: Finished 5th last year. Who knows what this year will bring. New pitching coach in the fold for the 1st time in 38 years. Some key returners had some solid summer league perfromances with Alec Bohm chief among them. The key though will be the pitching. The Shocks must make significant strides on lowering the team ERA.
Softball: The Shocks edged out Drake for the Valley title last season. However, they lost very good players in Cacy Williams ( a 2-time Valley POY and the Shocks career HR and RBI leader in her 3 seasons), Brittany Fortner (3-Time 1st Team All-Conference and Valley career leader in doubles) and Liz Broyles (1st Team All-Valley her senior year). Like baseball pitching is key. The Shocks have their top 2 pitchers returning in Katie Malone and Jenni Brooks. However, Katie has some back issues and Jenni and surgery for compartment syndrome in her right forearm and apparently they are also looking at the possibility of other issues. My understanding is Jenni will not pitch this fall. Not sure about Katie. Ashlynne Neil graduated and Kelsey Sterneker has left the program. Right now, as I understand it, the Shocks have Fr. LHP Bailey Klitzke out of Apache Junction, Arizona as their only healthy pitcher at this point. Predicting where the Shocks will land in this year's softball race is very difficult.
Outdoor Track & Field: Shockers won both the men's and women's titles last season and no reason to believe they won't be serous contenders again this year.
Golf: The Shocker women won their 3rd straight Valley championship last year but the men finished 2nd to SIU after being picked as the pre-meet favorite. I am not real sure about the gold teams but I am a little bit suspect of our depth on both teams and they could fall back a bit but I don't think they will see a precipitous decline, if any.
Tennis: No reason to believe the Shocker women won't continue their total domination of Valley women's tennis. The Lady Shocks have won 79 consecutive Valley dual matches. In recent years the Shocks and Drake have usually been at the top of the Valley when the dust clears. This year will probably be no exception and the two teams don't particularly like each other. The Shocks did graduate two of their mainstays in Tin Ostojic (who was injured at the end of last year) and Sergio de Vilchez. But I think they will solid again this year. The Shocker men do have a new, relatively young head coach in Danny Bryan.
Looks to me like the Shocks will be the odds-on favorite to bring home another All Sports Trophy. We'll see.
Thought I would take a quick early look at how the Shocks might fare this year.
Only 3 sports for the Shocks in the Fall. Volleyball and Men's and Women's Cross Country. Men's and Women's Soccer is also contested in the fall.
Volleyball is the favorite to repeat as Valley Champions although the top half of the Valley looks to be very competitive. The Shocks did pick up a big road win over MSU last weekend and have another big road match at UNI this Saturday.
The Shocker Men's XC team has been picked 2nd in the pre-season poll with Bradley the unanimous pick to win the Men's side. Illinois State men's team is close behind the Shocks in the pre-season voting. The Shocker Women's XC team is picked to win the Valley this year as they received 6 first place votes, followed by Bradley with 3 votes and Illinois State with 1.
The Shocker Men's team have not won a Valley XC Championship since 1987. The Shocker women also won in 1987 but, unlike the men, they have won 10 championships since then. However, the Shocker women last brought home the Valley title in 2010.
In any case, if the Shocks can live up to their pre-season billings it will be a very good fall but this is far from a slam dunk.
The winter season will bring us basketball and indoor track & field.
Men's Basketball: Shocks should be competing for the top spot once again. Whether they will be picked to win it remains to be seen as some voters may believe the loss of Fred and Ron will be too much to totally overcome.
Women's Basketball: The Shocks weakest sport last year with a 7th place finish. We new it would be rebuilding year but I was thinking they could still finish 5th. It didn't happen. However, a lot of the teams ahead of them will be facing rebuilding this year so that could change drastically. Drake should and will most likely be the pre-season favorite this year. I expect the Shocks to improve significantly on their 7th place from a year ago. A top 3 finish is certainly possible IMHO. Might even be in the race for the Valley title this year. Hopefully, I am not being overly optimistic.
Indoor Track & Field: The Shocker men and women track teams finished 1st and 2nd, respectively, at the Valley Indoor Championships last year. I see no reason the Shocks can't match that performance again this year. Of course with track & field injuries can play a very key role. So I wish the Shocks good health throughout the upcoming XC and T&F seasons.
In terms of the number of championships contested the season is back-end loaded especially for the Shocks who compete in 8 of their 15 Valley championships in the Spring.
Baseball: Finished 5th last year. Who knows what this year will bring. New pitching coach in the fold for the 1st time in 38 years. Some key returners had some solid summer league perfromances with Alec Bohm chief among them. The key though will be the pitching. The Shocks must make significant strides on lowering the team ERA.
Softball: The Shocks edged out Drake for the Valley title last season. However, they lost very good players in Cacy Williams ( a 2-time Valley POY and the Shocks career HR and RBI leader in her 3 seasons), Brittany Fortner (3-Time 1st Team All-Conference and Valley career leader in doubles) and Liz Broyles (1st Team All-Valley her senior year). Like baseball pitching is key. The Shocks have their top 2 pitchers returning in Katie Malone and Jenni Brooks. However, Katie has some back issues and Jenni and surgery for compartment syndrome in her right forearm and apparently they are also looking at the possibility of other issues. My understanding is Jenni will not pitch this fall. Not sure about Katie. Ashlynne Neil graduated and Kelsey Sterneker has left the program. Right now, as I understand it, the Shocks have Fr. LHP Bailey Klitzke out of Apache Junction, Arizona as their only healthy pitcher at this point. Predicting where the Shocks will land in this year's softball race is very difficult.
Outdoor Track & Field: Shockers won both the men's and women's titles last season and no reason to believe they won't be serous contenders again this year.
Golf: The Shocker women won their 3rd straight Valley championship last year but the men finished 2nd to SIU after being picked as the pre-meet favorite. I am not real sure about the gold teams but I am a little bit suspect of our depth on both teams and they could fall back a bit but I don't think they will see a precipitous decline, if any.
Tennis: No reason to believe the Shocker women won't continue their total domination of Valley women's tennis. The Lady Shocks have won 79 consecutive Valley dual matches. In recent years the Shocks and Drake have usually been at the top of the Valley when the dust clears. This year will probably be no exception and the two teams don't particularly like each other. The Shocks did graduate two of their mainstays in Tin Ostojic (who was injured at the end of last year) and Sergio de Vilchez. But I think they will solid again this year. The Shocker men do have a new, relatively young head coach in Danny Bryan.
Looks to me like the Shocks will be the odds-on favorite to bring home another All Sports Trophy. We'll see.
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