ST. LOUIS, MO. -- Missouri State is the 2011-12 Missouri Valley Conference all-sports champion. It marks the fourth title all-time for MSU, but its first all-sports championship since 2002-03. Missouri State finished second in the all-sports trophy race in 2010-11.

 Wichita State, meanwhile, finished a very close second. The Shockers have won six of the past nine MVC all-sports awards and have a league best 18 all-time.

 Missouri State earned five first-place team titles in 2011-12, and for the second-straight year finished in the Top 5 of 12 of the 13 sports it sponsors. Only twice since 1992-93 (merger of MVC men’s and women’s sports) has an institution had more than five team titles. Missouri State (5) and Wichita State (4) combined for nine of the league’s championships, but eight different institutions won at least one league championship this year.

 Either Illinois State, Missouri State or Wichita State, meanwhile, has earned the league’s all-sports championship trophy every year since 1995. Illinois State won five of six all-sports championships from 1996-2001, while Missouri State claimed the league’s trophy in 2001-02 and 2002-03. Illinois State, meanwhile, continued its phenomenal streak by finishing in the Top 5 of the all-sports trophy race for a 30th-straight year. The Redbirds were third in 2011-12. (The top-five MVC institutions are listed at right.)

 Missouri State had an aggregate score of 2.615 and earned team titles in men’s soccer (co regular-season championship with Creighton), women’s swimming & diving, women’s basketball, women’s indoor track & field, and women’s golf. The Bears finished second in four others sports. Wichita State placed second in the all-sports trophy rankings with a score of 2.867 and had team titles in men’s basketball, men’s golf, women’s tennis and women’s outdoor track & field. WSU finished fourth or better in 13 (of 15) sports.

 Illinois State finished third in the all-sports race with a score of 3.353. ISU, which has 12 all-sports crowns have finished first, second, or third in 22 of the past 22 years. ISU had titles in women’s cross country and women’s soccer.

 With a score of 4.567, UNI finished fourth in the all-sports trophy standings, taking team titles in volleyball and softball. The Panthers have now finished in the Top 5 in six-straight years. Indiana State, meanwhile, took fifth with an aggregate score of 4.923. The Sycamores had team titles in men’s cross country and baseball, while finishing in the Top 5 of the MVC all-sports trophy standings for the first time since the 2005-06 campaign.

 Missouri State’s aggregate score of 2.615 is the second best all time (since 1992-93 when the women’s and men’s sports began competing under the same umbrella and the current point system was put in place). Counting MSU and WSU this year, a school has had an aggregate point total better than 3.0 (average finish of each sponsored sport) seven times since 1993-94. Illinois State’s 2.47 score in 1996-97 is the league standard.

 The All-Sports Trophy is based on a school’s average finish in each of the sponsored championships by the Missouri Valley Conference. Teams are awarded one point for first, two for second, three for third, etc., and the total accumulated points are divided by the number of sports in which a particular school competes. Finishes in baseball, basketball, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball are based on regular-season competition. All other sports are determined by finish at the championship tournament or championship meet.