The baseball team made it to the College World Series for the first time in eight years. The men’s track team, led by Olympic hopeful sprinter Walter Dix, captured its third consecutive NCAA Outdoor title.

What else? Well, the women’s soccer team advanced to the NCAA title game for the first time, and the women’s basketball team squeaked into the NCAA Tournament for the fourth consecutive season and nearly made it back to the Sweet 16.

Those are some of the highlights from Florida State’s 2007-08 athletic season, which officially came to a close when the baseball team was eliminated by Miami in the CWS.

Despite an academic cheating scandal involving more than 20 football players and 30 other student-athletes stealing most of the headlines last fall and winter, FSU began to move out from under that dark cloud by an impressive showing in the spring sports and in the classroom by many of its athletes.

As a result, the Seminoles finished 15th in the final U.S. Sports Academy Directors’ Cup standings, announced Thursday. The finish matched FSU’s best showing ever in the standings, accomplished first in 2007.

As for individual accolades, FSU catcher Buster Posey earned National Player of the Year from Collegiate Baseball, soccer midfielder Mami Yamaguchi became the first athlete in FSU history to receive the MAC Hermann Trophy as the top women’s soccer player in the nation, and Dix repeated as national champ in the 200 meters.

What’s holding the Noles back from moving up the standings?

The football team finished 7-6 – losing to Kentucky in the Music City Bowl – and the men’s basketball team failed to make it to the NCAA Tournament for the 10th consecutive year.

If those two headliner sports can somehow improve, then FSU could crack the Top 10 or higher.