Last Look Back: Ball State Athletics' Year In Review

From January to December, the Ball State Cardinals continued an annual display of successes on and off their fields of play in the 2024 calendar year. Notable achievements included an All-America campaign by track star Jenelle Rogers, Mid-American Conference championship appearances by baseball, softball and women's volleyball teams, a record-setting season by the Cardinals' women's basketball program and regular season or conference tournament titles by gymnastics, men's volleyball and men's golf teams.

Academically, Ball State student-athletes continued an unprecedented string of accomplishment while garnering record GPAs and rankings recognized by the NCAA and the MAC.

The 2024 calendar opened with a 10-game MAC win streak by the women's basketball team which extended its overall streak to a program-record 14 straight victories. Brady Sallee's program received votes in national polls and entered the MAC Tournament as the league's No. 2 seed. The Cardinals appeared in the WBIT postseason tourney to mark the third straight year Ball State qualified for a national postseason tournament. At 28-6 overall, Ball State a program record for total wins.

Also in March, the Cardinals' gymnastics team captured a share of the MAC regular season championship and hosted the MAC Championships at Worthen Arena. The Cardinals finished second out of seven teams at the event, with sophomore Zoe Middleton becoming just the second gymnast in program history to capture the all-around title. She earned three additional medals on beam, floor and vault, and was the only athlete to record three scores of 9.900 or higher. Ball State advanced to NCAA regional competition for the second consecutive year.

Another regular season title was earned at the start of April when the men's volleyball squad finished atop the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association with a 13-3 league mark. The nationally ranked Cardinals hosted the MIVA Tournament but missed an appearance in the NCAA Tournament when they were upset in the MIVA semifinals, finishing 21-10 overall.

In late April, the men's golf program won its first MAC title since 1986 and coach Mike Fleck was named the 2024 MAC Coach of the Year! The Cardinals' strong club placed three golfers on All-MAC golf teams and advanced to an NCAA regional appearance at Chapel Hill, N.C. Reaching the NCAA regional wasn't enough though, as junior transfer Braxton Kuntz scorched the first round with an 8-under par 62 that was a course record and the lowest score in the first round of any NCAA regional since at least 1998. Kuntz' 62 was six strokes better than Ball State's previous record in NCAA championship competition and it was tied as the lowest round ever recorded by a Cardinals golfer.

Days later, after reaching the MAC Softball Championship as the No. 6 seed, Ball State got hot. Blistering hot, to the tune of four upsets in five games to reach the MAC title game against top-seeded Miami. In succession, the Cardinals got past Central Michigan, Toledo and Ohio – all in the same day – to reach the title game for the first time since 2015. Ball State's late surge capped a successful campaign for first-year coach Helen Pena.

One week later, the Ball State baseball program reached the championship game of the MAC Baseball Tournament for the third consecutive season, and finished with at least 30 wins for the 18th straight year. After opening MAC play sluggish at 1-7, the Cardinals went 17-5 the rest of the way to earn the tournament's No. 3 seed. Ball State finished 35-23-1.

The spring sports season ended with yet another All-America performance by track athlete Rogers who finished fourth in the heptathlon at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. It earned her third All-America distinction over the past two indoor and outdoor seasons. Beyond her success in NCAA competition, Rogers represented the United States in international competition by earning a fifth-place finish in the Thorpe Cup, an annual dual meet conducted between the U.S. and Germany.

Ball State capped the 2023-24 athletic calendar by finishing in the top three among MAC schools in annual LEARFIELD Director's Cup standings for the third consecutive year. For the second time in those same three years, and the fourth time in program history, Ball State also was named the winner of the 2023-24 Mid-American Conference Institutional Academic Achievement Award. For this annual award, the Cardinals posted an overall athletic grade point average (GPA) of 3.447 for the 2023-24 academic year based on 433 students in 18 sports. In addition, Ball State's 992 score in the NCAA's Academic Progress Rating (APR) was the highest among MAC schools.

Opening the 2024-25 athletic calendar, Ball State celebrated another first by hosting the MAC Championship cross country meet in November, christening a new course on the north edge of campus.

Later that month, the women's volleyball team advanced to the MAC championship match for the third time in four seasons. The Cardinals were led by MAC Freshman of the Year and AVCA Midwest Region Freshman of the Year Carson Tyler. The first player in program history to earn the AVCA's top regional honor for a freshman, Tyler helped the Cardinals to a 22-10 overall record and was joined on the All-MAC first team by teammates Aayinde Smith and Madison Buckley.

On the gridiron, the Cardinals' 100th season was highlighted by the naming of an All-Century Team and a slew of postseason All-America honors by Tanner Koziol, who broke Ball State receiving records by a tight end. In December, Director of Athletics Jeff Mitchell unveiled the "U Era," naming Mike Uremovich as the 19th head coach in program history.

In the classroom, Cardinal student-athletes continued their academic prowess in the recently completed Fall semester of 2024, boasting a 3.43 overall GPA among 466 student-athletes to record the seventh consecutive semester above a 3.4 GPA. Every Ball State sports team had an overall term GPA of 3.0 or better in Fall 2024 – led by women's golf (3.927) and soccer (3.901). Eighty-one percent of Ball State student-athletes had a term GPA of 3.0 or better; 58 percent had a term GPA of 3.5 or better.

Last Look Back: Ball State Athletics' Year In Review

Players Mentioned

Madison Buckley

Tanner Koziol

Braxton Kuntz

Zoe Middleton

Aayinde Smith

Carson Tyler

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