Salisbury places 36th in 2006-07 Directors' Cup

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Salisbury University athletics program capped off another successful season as the Sea Gulls finished in the top 10 percent of Division III schools that earned points in the 2006-07 U.S. Sports Academy Directors' Cup Standings presented by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). Thanks to a late spring push, powered by a men's lacrosse national championship and a women's lacrosse national runner-up finish, the Gulls were able to accumulate 384.5 points which ranks them 36th in the country.

The award is presented annually to the nation's best overall collegiate athletics program in the country. Schools acquire points based on their success in NCAA post-season play for all sports. Salisbury was the top ranked school in the Capital Athletic Conference.

In the 12 years that the Directors' Cup has been awarded Salisbury has never been ranked lower then 54th. SU's best years were in 2001, 2003-2005 where they ranked 15th, 18th, 12th and 11th, respectively.

"This is a credit to our board-base athletics program which consists of our experienced coaching staff and talented student-athletes. We thank everyone for their efforts for giving us another outstanding season for Sea Gull athletics," said SU Director of Athletics Dr. Michael Vienna.

The Gulls 2006-2007 season was highlighted by the men's lacrosse national championship (fourth in five years), the second women's lacrosse national runner-up finish in three years, a ninth place finish for the field hockey team, a 17th place finish by the softball team, 33rd place finish by the baseball team and the women's soccer team, a 56th place finish for the women's track and field team and a 59th place finish for the men's track and field team.

This year, Williams (Mass.) College defended its Directors' Cup title with 1,137.5 points, followed by Middlebury College with 1,064.5 points. Rounding out the top five was SUNY Cortland (N.Y.), Amherst College (Mass.) and Washington (Mo.) College. There were 312 Division III teams that earned a Directors' Cup point. There are over 430 NCAA Division III schools in the country.

Each year, the Directors' Cup program, sponsored by NACDA and the United States Sports Academy, awards trophies to the top athletics programs in NCAA Division I, II, III and NAIA. The 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. Complete final rankings on all of the institutions are available on NACDA's home page at www.nacda.com

Previous Salisbury University Directors' Cup Ranks
Year: Final Place
1995-96: 51st
1996-97: 25th
1997-98: 45th
1998-99: 34th
1999-00: 18th
2000-01: 15th
2001-02: 54th
2002-03: 18th
2003-04: 12th
2004-05: 11th
2005-06: 24th | Release
2006-07: 36th