Sports News: Spring 2003

Monday, June 16, 2003

MORAVIAN FINISHES IN TOP THIRD NATIONALLY IN SEARS DIRECTORS’ CUP;
Greyhounds Have Highest Finish Ever with 80th Place

BETHLEHEM, PA --- The Moravian College athletic teams helped the Greyhounds to an 80th place finish, its highest finish ever, with 175.5 points in the 2002-03 NCAA Division III Sears Directors’ Cup Final Standings.

Moravian was in the top third of the 281 schools that scored points this season and fourth among the 13 schools in the Middle Atlantic Conference that received points. The only MAC schools to finish ahead of Moravian were Messiah College tied for 16th, King’s College in 47th and the University of Scranton in 60th.

In the Lehigh Valley, Moravian was second of the four Division III schools while Muhlenberg College was first in the Lehigh Valley and 68th overall with 202.75 points and DeSales University was tied for 139th with 103 points. Cedar Crest College did not receive any points in the final rankings.

This year marked the fourth straight time in the eight-year history of the Sears Directors’ Cup that Moravian has cracked the top 100 in the nation. The Greyhounds were 82nd last year, 94th in 2000-01, 84th in 1999-2000, tied for 101st the two previous years, 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 119.5 of its total points this spring with the softball team earning 64 points for finishing tied for ninth in the nation while the women’s outdoor track and field team had two All-Americans and tied for 18th at the national championships, good enough for 55.5 points. Last winter, Moravian earned 56 points in men’s indoor track & field with a 16th place finish at the national championships with one national champion.

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. 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.

While Williams College (MA) took home the Waterford Crystal Sears Directors’ Cup for winning the NCAA Division III competition for the fifth straight year and seventh time in eight years, the 2002-03 winners in the other categories include: Division I - Stanford University; Division II - University of California-Davis; NAIA – Lindenwood University (MO).

Through the Sears Directors’ Cup program, Sears and NACDA annually award $100,000 in postgraduate academic scholarships. Five $5,000 scholarships in each division assist students who support their institution's athletics departments, including team managers, athletics trainers, band members, cheerleaders, assistant coaches, sports information assistants, facility staff and academic support personnel. For each category, four outstanding recipients are selected by a nationwide nomination process, administered by NACDA, while the fifth recipient is a student at the institution that wins the Sears Directors’ Cup.

Sears and NACDA also awarded each of the second through fifth place institutions in all four divisions with Sears Directors’ Cup plaques, commemorating their program's dedication to athletics greatness. This year's runner-up institutions in the NCAA Division III include: Emory University (GA), The College of New Jersey, Trinity (TX) University and Washington (MO) University.

Of the 424 eligible colleges and universities in the NCAA Division III, a total of 281 (66 percent) scored points in the Sears Directors’ Cup competition. Complete final rankings on all of these institutions are available on NACDA's Web site at www.nacda.com.

NACDA, now in its 38th year, serves as the professional and educational association for more than 6,100 collegiate athletics directors, associates, assistants and conference administrators at more than 1,600 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Sears, Roebuck and Co. is a broadline retailer with significant service and credit businesses. In 2001, the company's annual revenue was more than $41 billion. The company offers its wide range of apparel, home and automotive products and services to families in the U.S. through Sears stores nationwide, including approximately 870 full-line stores. Sears also offers a variety of merchandise and services through its Web site, www.sears.com.