For the 14th time in the LEARFIELD Directors' Cup history, Grand Valley State University (GVSU) will take home the hardware after compiling 1013.00 total points in 13 total sports.
The University of Tampa, winners of two national championships, placed at No. 14 with a total of 573.00 total points. This marks the second straight top-15 finish for the Spartans, who were No. 12 in 2018-19. NACDA did not award a Director's Cup in 2019-20 and 2020-21 due to the impact of Covid-19 on college athletics programs.
UT received 100 points apiece from its national championship men's lacrosse and volleyball teams. Following are points awarded to the other Spartan postseason teams: women's swimming (69), baseball (64), men's soccer (50), softball (50), women's golf (37), men's track (27), women's cross country (26), women's basketball (25), women's lacrosse (25)
The Lakers took home three national championships – men's cross country, women's soccer and men's indoor track and field – along with three runner-up finishes (women's cross country, women's indoor track and field and women's outdoor track and field).
Finishing second for just the second time in school history is West Texas A&M with 862.25 points. The Lady Buffs captured the women's outdoor track and field title, while the men's squad took home second. West Texas A&M is the lone school in the top-5 to score in all four countable sports (women's volleyball and basketball; men's basketball and baseball).
In third is Indianapolis with 844.50 total points. This is the Greyhounds highest finish in the Cup standings; they have finished in the top-5, five previous times. Indianapolis scored in the top-10 in 10 of its 11 sports scored, including a national championship in women's lacrosse and a runner-up finish in women's swimming.
Fourth place goes to Queens (NC) with 747.50 total points, marking the fifth straight time that Royals have finished in the top-10 and second straight time for a fourth place finish. The Royals won both the men's and women's swimming & diving championships and scored in 12 total sports.
Rounding out the top-5 is Azusa Pacific with 719.00 total points, its highest finishing since reclassifying as NCAA Division II. While in the NAIA, the Cougars took home eight straight LEARFIELD Directors' Cups. Azusa Pacific scored in 13 of 15 sports with its highest showing in women's indoor track and field.
CONFERENCE
At the conference level, the NSIC (Augustana and Minnesota State) and RMAC (Colorado School of Mines and Colorado Mesa) both have two institutions ranked in the top-10. Tampa was second among Sunshine State Conference schools, as Nova Southeastern was No. 12 with 604.5 points.
Joining the Sharks and Spartans from the SSC were No. 26 Embry-Riddle, No. 39 Barry, No. 52 Florida Southern, No. 61 Saint Leo, No. 83 Lynn, No. 120 Rollins, No. 131 Florida Tech, No. 188 Palm Beach Atlantic and No. 213 Eckerd.
NEXT UP
The Division II LEARFIELD Directors' Cup will start up again after the fall 2022 NAIA Championships.
SCORING REMINDER
Overall, 15 sports are counted in the final DII standings, four of which must be women's volleyball and basketball and men's basketball and baseball. The next highest (11 max.) sports scored for each institution, regardless of gender, are used in the standings.
The LEARFIELD Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in NCAA Championships.
Please note, standings published midseason are unofficial. Official standings will be published upon the completion of the spring season. Complete standings and the scoring structure can be found on NACDA's website at www.directorscup.org. In addition, please visit www.thedirectorscup.com and follow us on Twitter @ldirectorscup.
Original source can be found here.
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