Salisbury University ranked 23rd in final Directors' Cup standings
DALLAS - For the ninth time in school history the Salisbury University athletics program is ranked in the top 25 of the final U.S. Sports Academy Division III Directors' Cup standings presented by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. The Sea Gulls finished 23rd overall in the country, for the second year in a row, as SU accumulated 538.5 points during the 2008-09 season. Salisbury is the top-ranked school from the Capital Athletic Conference and the second highest in the state of Maryland. SU has been ranked in the top 25 in six of the past seven seasons.
The Directors' Cup is presented annually to the nation's best overall collegiate athletics program in the country. Schools acquire points based on their success in NCAA tournament play for all sports.
Salisbury entered the spring season in 46th place overall (195.5 points) but moved up 23 spots over the course of May to its final spot at 23rd. The Sea Gulls earned 343 points in the spring because of the women's lacrosse team reached the national championship game, the men's track and field team placed fourth overall, softball won its first-round tournament and finished tied for fifth in the championship tournament, men's lacrosse reached the national quarterfinals and baseball earned a regional berth.
SU earned 67.5 points in the winter as the men's indoor track and field team had two second place event finishes at the NCAA Division III indoor national championships.
Salisbury was ranked 31st overall after the fall season as the Sea Gulls secured 128 points thanks to three programs who made the NCAA tournament which included field hockey, men's soccer and volleyball.
This year's finish for SU ties for the fifth best in school history in the 14-year history of the Directors' Cup.
Williams (Mass.) College won its 11th consecutive Directors' Cup title with 1,066.5 points as the Ephs scored points in the maximum of nine women's sports and seven men's sports. Williams fields 33 varsity sports. The Ephs were followed by Middlebury (Vt.) College in second place with 923 points and Amherst (Mass.) College was third with 910. Washington (Mo.) University checked in fourth place with 873 points while SUNY Cortland rounds out the top five with 861 points. Williams, Middlebury and Amherst all hail from the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC).
There were 310 Division III institutions that earned Directors' Cup points out of nearly 450 schools in the country.
Johns Hopkins University was the lone Maryland school ahead of
Salisbury as the Blue Jays were 18th with 620.5 points. In addition
to Salisbury, six CAC schools were also ranked in the final
standings including University of Mary Washington (61st), York
(Pa.) College (106th), Stevenson University (189th), Wesley College
(191st), St. Mary's (Md.) College (198th) and Marymount (Va.)
University (289th).
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.
Also see:
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
2006-07: 36th
2007-08: 23rd
2008-09: 23rd
