I came up with this for a sticky select (seems to work okay) but am curious if there is a simpler way. There will never be any more than 3 date options
<select name="date_cats" style="font-size:smaller">
<option value="Select Date Type" >Select Date Type</option>
<option value="Date Sold" <?php if(isset($_POST['date_cats'])&& $_POST['date_cats']=="Date Sold") echo 'selected="selected"'; ?> >Date Sold</option>
<option value="Date Added" <?php if(isset($_POST['date_cats'])&& $_POST['date_cats']=="Date Added") echo 'selected="selected"'; ?> >Date Added</option>
<option value="Date Created"<?php if(isset($_POST['date_cats'])&& $_POST['date_cats']=="Date Created") echo 'selected="selected"'; ?> >Date Created</option>
</select>