ACU finishes 13th in Sears Cup
6/26/2002 12:00:00 AM | General
Wildcats finish 13th in Sears Directors' Cup race
ACU highest-ranked LSC team in final standings
ABILENE -- ACU finished 13th in the nation in NCAA Division in the race for the 2001-02 Sears Directors' Cup, which is awarded to the top overall athletics programs in NCAA divisions I, II and III and NAIA. The final season standings were released Tuesday in conjunction with the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics convention in Dallas.
The Wildcats scored 429.5 points to finish eight points behind Ashland (Ohio), which scored 437.5 points. California-Davis claimed its fifth Sears Directors' Cup with 743 points, while second-place Grand Valley State (Mich.) finished with 687 points.
Rounding out the top five are California-San Diego (571.5 points), Truman State, Mo., at No. 4 (541.5 points) and Western State, Colo., at No. 5 (535.5 points).
UC-Davis has finished either first or second in each of the seven years of the Sears Directors' Cup competition, winning the award in 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001 and 2001. Led by their national champion women's rowing team, the Aggies sealed the Cup win with five top-10 finishes in women's cross country (3rd), football (3rd), men's cross country (5th), men's golf (8th), and men's swimming and diving (10th). UC-Davis scored points in six women's and the maximum of seven men's sports.
ACU, meanwhile, scored 90 points in the fall (second place in men's cross country) before adding 100 more points in the winter (national champion in men's indoor track and field). The Wildcats then added 293.5 points in the spring, scoring 30 points in baseball (9th), 38 in men's golf (42nd), 60 in women's tennis (5th), 30 in men's tennis (17th) and 81.5 in women's track and field (3rd at the national outdoor championships).
The Cup does not, however, count indoor and outdoor track and field separately, meaning the Wildcats' national championship at the men's outdoor track and field meet was not counted because they had already won a track and field championship. Also, the women's 75 points at the indoor meet were bested by their 81.5 points at the outdoor meet, and the 75 points were thrown out.
With those extra 175 points, ACU would have finished with 604.5 points and would have finished third in the standings
