Sports News: Spring 2000

Thursday, June 15, 2000

MORAVIAN FINISHES IN TOP THIRD NATIONALLY IN SEARS DIRECTORS’ CUP

BETHLEHEM, PA --- The Moravian College athletic teams helped the Greyhounds to an 84th place finish with 169.5 points in the 1999-2000 NCAA Division III Sears Directors’ Cup Final Standings.

Moravian was in the top third of the 267 schools that scored points this season and third among the 13 schools in the Middle Atlantic Conference that received points. The only two MAC schools to finish ahead of Moravian were Messiah College in 55th and the University of Scranton in a tie for 79th.

In the Lehigh Valley, Moravian was first of the three Division III schools while Allentown College was second and tied for 170th nationally with 60 points and Muhlenberg College was third in the Lehigh Valley and tied for 178th overall with 56 points.

This year also marked the first time in the five-year history of the Sears Directors’ Cup that Moravian has cracked the top 100 in the nation. The Greyhounds were tied for 101st the last two 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 87.5 of its total points this spring with the softball team earning 30 points for finishing tied for 17th in the nation while the women’s outdoor track and field team had two All-Americans and tied for 23rd at the national championships, good enough for 57.5 points. In the winter season, the Greyhounds received 48 points from the women’s indoor track and field team with one All-American and a 17th place tied in the team standings.

Last fall, Moravian was in 40th place overall after earning 32 points in women’s cross country with a 20th place finish at the national championships and 50 points in women’s volleyball as the Greyhounds tied for ninth nationally.

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 second straight year and fourth time in five years, the 1999-2000 winners in the other categories include: Division I - Stanford University; Division II - University of California-Davis; NAIA - Simon Fraser University [B.C.].

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.

"The scholarship component of the Sears Directors’ Cup program recognizes the dedicated students who support their colleges’ athletics programs behind the scenes," said Lee McElroy, chair of the Sears Directors’ Cup Committee and director of athletics at American University. "By rewarding academic and athletics success, the Sears Directors’ Cup program encourages students to excel both on and off the playing fields."

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: University California-San Diego, College of New Jersey, University of St. Thomas (Minn.) and Middlebury College (Vt.).

Of the 393 eligible colleges and universities in the NCAA Division III, a total of 267 (68 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.