Sports News: Winter 2001-02

Friday, December 21, 2001

MORAVIAN TIED FOR 42nd IN FALL SEARS DIRECTORS' CUP STANDINGS

CLEVELAND, OH --- The Moravian College athletic teams have helped the Greyhounds to tied for 42nd with 80 points after the fall season in the 2001-02 NCAA Division III Sears Directors' Cup Standings.

Moravian is in the top third of the 151 schools that scored points this fall and tied for second among the six schools in the Middle Atlantic Conference that received points. The only MAC school currently ahead of Moravian is Messiah College in third while the Greyhounds are tied with Juniata College and the University of Scranton.

In the Lehigh Valley, Moravian is first of the three Division III schools while Muhlenberg College was tied for 59th and DeSales University had not received any points.

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 its 80 points this fall from the women's cross country team's third place finish in the NCAA Division III National Championships.  Last year, Moravian was in 45th place after the fall.

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 fall championship season with a 13-point lead in race for the Division III Sears Directors' Cup, presented by the nation's athletics directors.  Williams scored in six of seven sports.

Right behind is The College of New Jersey, with 253 points.  Rounding out the top five are Messiah, third with 215 points; last year's fall leader the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, fourth with 210 points; and Ithaca (NY) College, fifth with 203 points. 

These final fall standings include the sports of women and men's cross country, field hockey, football, women's and men's soccer and women's volleyball. Winning national championships were Middlebury (VT) in women's cross country; University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse in men's cross country; Cortland (NY) State in field hockey; Mount Union (OH) in football; Ohio Wesleyan in women's soccer; Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in men's soccer; and LaVerne (CA) University in women's volleyball.

Of the 402 eligible colleges and universities in the NCAA Division III, a total of 151 (37.6 percent) scored points in the Sears Directors' Cup competition this fall.  Complete rankings on all of these institutions are available on NACDA's Web site at www.nacda.com.