CLEVELAND – The ACU Wildcats completed another banner year in athletics competition with the announcement over the weekend that they had finished fourth in the Learfield Directors' Cup standings, which measure the top overall programs in collegiate athletics.
The Learfield Directors' Cup recognizes the top programs in each division of the NCAA as well as the NAIA and junior college.
"The Learfield Cup is something we're striving every year to win, and we're very proud of the way our student-athletes competed this year to allow us to finish fourth," ACU director of athletics
Jared Mosley said. "ACU has one of the great athletic traditions in Division II and we're all proud that we have the chance to build on that tradition every year."
ACU won two NCAA Division II team national championships and three regional championships on its way to earning 718 points on the season. Twelve of ACU's athletics programs reached NCAA post-season action with the men's indoor and outdoor track and field teams winning NCAA Division II national championships and the men's and women's tennis teams and men's golf teams capturing regional championships.
However, those championships weren't enough for the Wildcats to overtake Grand Valley State, which won the Learfield Cup for the eighth straight year. The Lakers wrapped up the Cup with the national championship in women's track and field, and they finished with a total of 1,057.50 points.
Central Missouri finished in the runner-up spot with 779.75 points, its best-ever finish in the Directors' Cup. Augustana (S.D.) finished third in the standings with 761.50 points, while ACU was fourth with 718.0 points.
Once again, the Wildcats' spring sports led the way for their points in the overall standings. The men's golf team finished third with 82.5 points, while the men's and women's tennis teams each finished fifth to score 73 points apiece. The women's track and field team was 29th for 43 points, while the men's outdoor national championship was worth 100 points.
The Wildcats' 371.50 spring points were the most spring sport points of any school in the nation, but the Wildcats were unable to overtake the three schools ahead of them.
Since the Director's Cup became a part of collegiate athletics, ACU has finished in the top three seven times, in the top 10 in 12 seasons and in the top 15 all 16 years of the standings. ACU, in fact, is the only NCAA Division II institution to finish in the top 15 in the final standings in each of the 16 years of the program. Cal-Davis, which won six Director's Cups before making the move to NCAA Division I status after the 2002-03 academic year, appeared in the top five in all eight final standings while it was a Division II institution, and Cal State-Bakersfield appeared in the top 15 11 straight years before the Roadrunners made the move to NCAA Division I status.
