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Sports News: Spring 2010

Thursday, June 24, 2010

MORAVIAN FINISHES 48th IN 2009-10 LEARFIELD SPORTS DIRECTORS’ CUP

CLEVELAND, OH --- The Moravian College athletic teams successful spring on the national level helped the Greyhounds to a 48th place finish with 314.25 points in the 2009-10 NCAA Division III Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup Final Standings, the highest ever finish for Moravian.

All eight Landmark Conference schools received points, however; Moravian was the only school in the conference to finish in the top 50.  The United States Merchant Marine Academy tied for 100th with 186 points while Drew University tied for 154th with 125 points and Juniata College was tied for 161st with 115 points.

Moravian has been in the top 100 eight times in the 15-year history of the Directors’ Cup including a previous high finish of 75 in 2008-09.  Moravian first cracked the top 100 in 1999-2000, and the school has been in the top 100 in eight of the last 11 years.

For a school to receive points, sports must compete in the NCAA National Championships (for individual sports) and the NCAA Tournament (for team sports).  Schools in NCAA Division III can earn points in nine men’s and nine women’s sports. If a school earns points in more than nine sports, the top top nine point totals are counted.  A total of 311 of the 420 NCAA Division III institutions earned points in this year’s standings.

Moravian earned 73 points from the softball team’s seventh place finish in the NCAA Division III Tournament, 69.75 points from the women’s indoor track & field team, 62.25 from the women’s outdoor track & field squad, 59.25 points from the men’s outdoor track & field program and 25 points each from the baseball and women’s basketball teams.

Williams College (Mass.) defended its title as the best athletics program in NCAA Division III competition by winning its 14th Learfield Sports Directors' Cup, the prestigious award presented annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and Learfield Sports to the best overall collegiate athletics programs in the country.

The 2009-10 Learfield Sports Directors' Cup winners were announced at NACDA's 45th Annual Convention in Anaheim, California, and the four winning institutions -- one in each of the NCAA Divisions (I, II, and III), and the NAIA -- were awarded with their Learfield Sports Directors' Cups.

Williams College won its 14th Learfield Directors' Cup in the last 15 years and recorded 1,292.25 points, 386.5 points ahead of runner-up Amherst (Mass.) College.

Amherst was second with 905.75 points while Washington (MO) University was third at 858.5 points, Middlebury (VT) College was fourth at 751 points and Illinois Wesleyan University was fifth in 704.25 points.

To view the full 2009-10 final standings, visit http://www.nacda.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/nacda/sports/directorscup/auto_pdf/d3dcupjun23