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Last Updated: Oct 16th, 2008 - 13:33:17 |
Metro dropped from No. 1 to No. 4 May 14 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference All Sports Competition Cup for the 2007-2008 school year. The cup, which evaluates a school's athletics programs' success during the season, put Kearney back on top for their 12th title in 13 years.
Adams State and Fort Lewis shared second and Metro had to settle with fourth after suffering many dissapointments throughout the sports year. Taking fourth a year after a women's soccer NCAA title and a score of RMAC Tournament Championships is a distressing sign for Metro's sports teams.
The problem with the past season of Metro sports is that many of the programs had good, if not better, seasons than 2006-2007. But only men's tennis won the RMAC Tournament, and no team breached the second round of the NCAA's.
When sports teams fail in the postseason, the usual culprit is a lack of senior leadership. But this year, the youngest team was the Conference Champion men's tennis team.
Men's soccer and women's basketball had large complements of starring senior players, but neither could make much of a splash in the postseason.
So why the Roadrunners' athletics teams ran out of steam in the playoffs carries a different answer for different teams.
Many of Metro's teams entered the year with recent coaching changes, but this wasn't the case for either soccer program. Men's head coach Ken Parsons was entering his fifth season and women's head coach Danny Sanchez was starting his sixth. Both teams also brought veteran talent to the field.
Men's soccer displayed five seniors in starting positions and looked to have the skills and leadership to blast through the RMAC. They did just that in the regular season, posting a 16-1-3 record on the way to hosting the conference tournament.
In the tournament, the team unraveled. The Roadrunners' defense, which had put together a streak of four straight shutouts in October, collapsed. School of Mines upset Metro 3-2 at Auraria Field, and then the Runners' fell 8-1 to Midwestern State in the NCAA Tournament.
Women's soccer didn't fall as hard in the postseason, but they fell nearly as fast after also taking the regular season RMAC championship.
The women's defense can't be blamed for their playoff collapses as Zollner shut down the goal. Instead, the scoring duo of Becca Mays and Katie Kilbey faltered in the RMAC Tournament as Fort Lewis grabbed the 2-0 upset.
Unlike the men, the women rebounded from their early RMAC Tournament exit and shutout West Texas A&M 1-0 in the NCAA Tournament first round. But the success didn't last, and Metro lost to Incarnate Word in a shootout for a second round exit from the NCAA Tournament, just one season after they won it all.
The soccer programs began the postseason choking, but basketball soon followed suit.
The men and women both had good regular seasons on Auraria Courts. The women took their defensive prowess to the top of the RMAC regular season standings, and the men rebounded from a shaky start to take third place in the RMAC East Division.
Metro's basketball teams had more obvious reasons for their collapses in the postseason: new coaches.
Men's head coach Brannon Hays struggled through his second season as head coach, and new addittion Lawrence Billings took too long to establish himself at center, so when Metro lost to regular season champs Colorado Christian in the first round, their weaknesses seen during the regular season continued.
The women had less of an excuse to lose in the tournament as they came in not as underdogs, but favorites. The women made it past the first round of the RMAC Tournament, but they lost by two to Nebraska Kearney, after a clutch shooter failed to sink shots for the Roadrunners.
If Metro basketball can use new coaching as an excuse, baseball appeared poised to use new coaching as the reason the Roadrunners had stormed to their best regular season in history.
But Metro finished its regular season and postseason with an eight-game losing streak. Their 38-17 regular season record couldn't notch them even one win in the playoffs, the pitching collapsed as the new additions, which spurred the team's success, also contributed to their downfall.
The drop from No. 1 to No.4 is due to Metro's postseason failures in the past year, another reminder that the results that matter happen after the regular season ends.
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