Tampa No. 19 in Directors' Cup Fall Standings
Men's soccer, volleyball and women's cross country each contributed to UT's top-20 showing.
CLEVELAND – The final Learfield Directors' Cup fall standings for NCAA Division II has been released, with the University of Tampa sitting at No. 19.
Grand Valley State is the top-ranked D2 school. Washington – St. Louis is in first place in the D3 standings. Hastings sits atop the final fall NAIA standings, while Stanford leads the Division I rankings prior to the Bowl Games and the FCS Championship.
Grand Valley State leads DII with 350 total points. Colorado School of Mines is in second place with 324 points, LIU Post is in third place with 257 points, Alaska Anchorage is in fourth with 235.50 points and rounding out the top five is Shippensburg (Pa.) with 233.50 points.
Tampa currently has 155 points, coming from three of its five fall sports. Advancing to the NCAA quarterfinals, men's soccer gathered 73 points to lead all Spartan fall squads. Volleyball earned 50 points with an NCAA regional semifinal showing, while women's cross country earned 32 points while competing in the NCAA South Regional.
The Spartans are second among Sunshine State Conference institutions, trailing only No. 13 Saint Leo. Other SSC members include Florida Southern (44), Lynn (62), Florida Tech (62), Barry (80), Rollins (100) and Nova Southeastern (133). Provisional SSC school Palm Beach Atlantic is No. 26.
The final Division I fall standings will be released Thursday, January 12. The first set of winter standings will be released mid-March.
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. The Directors' Cup Committee is reviewing the scoring structure for 2016-17 which will be finalized prior to the winter sports standings.
Please note, standings published midseason are unofficial. Official standings will be published upon the completion of the fall season. Complete standings and the scoring structure can be found on NACDA's website atwww.directorscup.org. In addition, please visit www.thedirectorscup.com, like us on Facebook atfacebook.com/ldirectorscup or follow us on Twitter @ldirectorscup.
About Learfield: An industry leader for more than four decades, Learfield has a deep presence in the college athletics landscape nationwide. It manages the multimedia and sponsorship rights for more than 120 collegiate institutions, conferences and arenas, and supports athletics departments at all competitive levels as title sponsor of the prestigious Learfield Directors' Cup. Learfield also provides its collegiate partners access to professional concessions and ticket sales; branding, licensing and trademark consulting; digital and social platform expertise; campus-wide business and sponsorship development; and venue and technology systems through its affiliated companies.