The women's soccer team's appearance tomorrow in the Final Four of the NCAA Division II national tournament isn't the only thing Metro Athletics has to cheer about these days. For instance, the amount of money raised for student/athlete scholarships is up. Attendance at athletic events is up, too, particularly at the men's basketball games. Add to that the division's growing relationship with Kroenke Sports and its new Altitude TV channel, an overall 3.0 GPA for student-athletes and the continued success of many of the teams, and you begin to understand why Athletics Director Joan McDermott has lots to cheer about.

One year ago, Athletics faced a Board of Trustees with budget cuts and other changes on its mind, and like any competitive athlete, McDermott took on the challenge. She and her staff put together a five-year plan with five goals:

• to integrate more with the campus community
• to have greater community outreach
• to increase the percentage of in-state student-athletes
• to decrease the institutional funding devoted to Athletics
• to increase the academic success of Metro State's student-athletes

And while Athletics is well on its way to accomplishing all these goals, what appears to matter most to McDermott is that scholarships for student-athletes don't suffer in the process.

"You don't want the students to lose," said McDermott, "so my focus has been to replace the scholarship dollars that were cut."

In 2002-03, Metro kicked in $630,000 for scholarships and the division received $81,000 in Colorado Scholar Awards. This fiscal year (and through 2006-07), the college is annually contributing $430,000 and there are no more Colorado Scholars Awards. The net result? A 40 percent drop ($282,000) in scholarship funds that McDermott is determined to cover through administrative reorganization, budget reallocation and fund raising.

The division was able to reallocate $150,000 in a variety of cost-saving measures like moving to the Administration Building and no longer printing media guides for each sport. "The guides don't help us win, and in the end, if that's what we have to sacrifice for the students, then that's that," McDermott said.

Add another $100,000 in money raised so far this fiscal year—including $2,600 raised in Monday's THE FAN radioathon and auction—and Athletics has nearly made up the funding it lost.

While money was an issue for the Board, McDermott said an even bigger concern the trustees had was the number of nonresident athletes. "We proposed to the Board through President Kieft that we work toward a one-in-four ratio of out-of-state to in-state student-athletes," McDermott said.

Currently, 63 percent are in-state, but with 87 percent of the freshmen student-athletes classified as in-state, the division is getting closer to its goal.

"It's put a little more pressure on our coaches," McDermott admits. "Some of the best in-state student-athletes get heavily recruited by out-of-state colleges, and many of those kids want a traditional college experience with dorms and such."

But McDermott believes Metro State's reputation has improved so much that it's assisting the coaches in their recruiting efforts. As an example, she mentions Mandy Allen, the soccer team's goalkeeper. "Mandy is one of the best goalkeepers in the country and she chose Metro."

Through the efforts of McDermott, soccer Head Coach Danny Sanchez and all the Athletics staff, Allen, who is on an athletic scholarship, has only to worry about tomorrow's semifinal game against Nebraska-Omaha—not about her scholarship.

For more information about Mandy's and her teammates' 7 p.m. Final Four matchup at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas go to gometrostate.com.