Sports News: Spring 2002

Monday, April 1, 2002

MORAVIAN 96th IN WINTER SEARS DIRECTORS' CUP STANDINGS

CLEVELAND, OH --- The Moravian College athletic teams have helped the Greyhounds to 96th place with 110.5 points after the fall and winter seasons in the 2001-02 NCAA Division III Sears Directors' Cup Standings.

Moravian is just out of the top third of the 251 schools that scored points this year and fifth among the 12 schools in the Middle Atlantic Conference that received points.  The only MAC schools currently ahead of Moravian are Messiah College in 11th overall, Elizabethtown College, the University of Scranton and King's College.

In the Lehigh Valley, Moravian is first of the three Division III schools while Muhlenberg College is tied for 115th and DeSales University is 169th.

Last year marked the second straight time in the seven-year history of the Sears Directors' Cup that Moravian had cracked the top 100 in the nation, finishing 94th.  The Greyhounds were 84th in 1999-2000, tied for 101st in 1998-99 and 1997-98, tied for 141st in 1996-97 and 114th overall in the first year of competition, 1995-96.

For a school to receive points, sports must compete in the NCAA National Championships (for individual sports) and the NCAA Tournament (for team sports).

Moravian earned 80 points this fall from the women's cross country team's third place finish in the NCAA Division III National Championships and the Greyhounds earned another 30.5 points from the women's indoor track & field team at the National Championships.  Last year, Moravian was tied for 75th place after the winter.

Developed as a joint effort between USA Today and NACDA, the Sears Directors' Cup program is the only all-sports competition that recognizes the institution in each of the four categories with the best overall athletics program.  It is administered by NACDA and sponsored by Sears, Roebuck and Co.   The Sears Directors' Cup is part of the Sears Collegiate Champions program which annually awards more than 2,200 conference and sport champion trophies and a quarter-of-a-million dollars in academic scholarships.

Williams (MA) College, a five-time Sears Director's Cup Champion, has closed the winter championship season with a 34.5-point lead in race for the Division III Sears Directors' Cup, presented by the nation's athletics directors.  Williams, which has a total of 622.5 points, scored in five of 12 sports.

Right behind is The College of New Jersey, with 588 points.  Rounding out the top five are University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point at 577 points, Ithaca College with 562 points and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh with 552 points.

These final winter standings include the sports of men's and women's basketball, men's and women's ice hockey, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's indoor track & field, fencing, rifle, skiing and wrestling.

Of the 402 eligible colleges and universities in the NCAA Division III, a total of 251 (61.5 percent) scored points in the Sears Directors' Cup competition this year.  Complete rankings on all of these institutions are available on NACDA's Web site at www.nacda.com.