Tampa Concludes Winter Season at No. 11 in Directors’ Cup Standings
CLEVELAND - Thanks to strong efforts from its men's and women's swimming teams, the University of Tampa sits at No. 11 in the current NCAA Division II Learfield Directors' Cup standings, as announced by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) in its final winter rankings.
Grand Valley State regained the first place position with 550.50 total points. The Lakers moved from second to first as they finished sixth in women's swimming & diving and eighth in men's swimming & diving. Maintaining its spot in second place is Grand Canyon with 529.50 total points. Ashland is in third place with 492.50 total points. In fourth place with 445.50 total points is Adams State (Colo.). Augustana (S.D.) rounds out the top five with 404.50 total points.
The Spartans now have 355.0 total points as its men's and women's swimming teams scored big in winter NCAA competition. The Spartan women earned 80 points for their fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships while the men tallied 51 points for placing 13th overall.
Tampa earned 224 of its points in the fall, after finishing third in women's volleyball, fifth in women's soccer, 16th in women's cross country and 24th in men's cross country. UT captured NCAA South Region titles from three of its five fall teams, with women's cross country, women's soccer and volleyball each finishing as the top teams in the NCAA South Region.
All winter NCAA championships have been completed with the following institutions capturing titles: women's track & field - Grand Valley State (Mich.); men's track & field - Grand Canyon (Ariz.); wrestling - Nebraska Kearney; women's basketball - Shaw (N.C.); men's basketball - Western Washington; men's swimming & diving - Drury (Mo.); women's swimming - Wayne State (Mich.).
The Learfield Sports 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 up to 14 sports -- seven women's and seven men's.
The first Division II Learfield Sports Directors' Cup spring standings will be published May 24. 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, like us on Facebook at facebook.com/lsdirectorscup or follow us on Twitter @lsdirectorscup.