Dec. 21, 2007

Complete Division II U.S. Sports Academy Directors' Cup Standings in PDF Format

CANYON, Texas - After a spectacular fall semester that saw four of its athletic programs capture conference championships and enjoy deep runs in the NCAA-II playoffs, the success of West Texas A&M athletics has been recognized on a national level as the school was ranked fifth in the final fall standings of the 2007-08 Division II U.S. Sports Academy Directors Cup.

"I'm extremely proud of our coaches and student-athletes that competed for WT this fall," said athletics director Michael McBroom. "One of our long-term objectives is to consistently rank in the Top 10 in Directors Cup standings at the end of each year. While this is only the halfway point of the season, we are headed in the right direction."

The Directors Cup is awarded annually to the top school in each of the NCAA's three levels of membership (Division I, Division II and Division III) based on the overall success of all athletic programs at the school. The teams are awarded points for participation and high finishes in season-ending national tournament action.

West Texas A&M's high standing in the ranking was based on the Lady Buff volleyball team, which finished third nationally for the second consecutive season, the Buffalo football and soccer programs, which each collected ninth place finishes, and the Lady Buff soccer squad, which notched a 33rd place nationally.

The only Lone Star Conference school to rank above WT was Abilene Christian, which appeared in the No. 4 position largely based on the National Championship performance by the school's men's cross country program's. After ACU and WT, the only other LSC schools to appear in the top 50 were Central Oklahoma at No. 28 and Midwestern State at No. 30.

Grand Valley State topped the fall rankings after recording points in women's cross country, men's cross country, football, women's soccer and women's volleyball. Tampa and Massachusetts Lowell round out the top three schools in the standings.

The first winter Division II standings will be released Thursday, March 20, 2008, and will feature men's and women's track, men's and women's swimming and wrestling. The U. S. Sports Academy Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. The United States Sports Academy, based in Daphne, Alabama, is the program sponsor. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in up to 14 sports -- seven women's and seven men's.

Please note, standings published midseason are unofficial. Official standings will be published upon the completion of the spring season. Complete standings and the scoring structure can be found on NACDA's Web site at www.nacda.com.