Senior sendoffs fill the sports section. Tritons are attending their respective end-of-the-year banquets. Those of us who usually don’t study are beginning to think about it (while the others are continuing to run through the motions at Geisel). The year is almost over.

Now that all the UCSD sporting events have come to an end, there should be a few things said about Triton athletics. Of the 23 UCSD intercollegiate athletic teams, 14 finished their seasons ranked in the top 25 national standings. The Tritons’ string of finishing amongst the top Division II athletic programs in the Sears Director’s Cup standings will come to an end as this year’s final tally won’t do justice because of the changes in point distribution. But the water polo and tennis teams showed the few that were watching that the Tritons can put together teams that will give Division I opponents a run for their scholarship money.

I was already convinced that UCSD was on the road to bigger and better things coming into this year, and now I’m about as sure of it as I am that the Spurs will have their way with the Nets. Although this year’s freshman class won’t even witness the Tritons reaching the end of the road, the path should lead the Tritons into a DI conference (assuming that the athletics department gets the extra cash that I think it will from boosters and Chancellor Robert C. Dynes).

It’s hard to get excited about an athletics program that competes against teams from fine cities like Dominguez Hills and Bakersfield, Calif., but the performance of some of this year’s Tritons and their future is worth cheering for.

Bandwagoners are one of a few things in sports that I can’t stand, but I wouldn’t mind if people jumped on it here at UCSD. There needs to be a reason to climb into the wagon that SoCal fans know so well (I wonder how many of the people at Edison Field and the Pond were Angels and Ducks fans two seasons ago), and the reason to get on with the Tritons should be coming.