Arkansas finishes 24th in Directors’ Cup listing

Posted on Tuesday, July 1, 2008

URL: http://www.wholehogsports.com/nwat/66710/

The University of Arkansas finished 24 th in the 2007-08 United States Sports Academy’s Directors’ Cup standings, it was announced recently.

The Directors ’ Cup is presented annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, the United States Sports Academy and USA Today to the best overall collegiate athletics programs in the country and this year’s standings were announced at the NACDA’s 43 rd Annual Convention in Dallas.

Programs are scored for their NCAA Championship finish and may count 20 sports, 10 for men and 10 for women.

Arkansas’ 24 th-place finish is its best since 1998-99 when the Razorbacks were 19 th. It is the fourth-best finish ever. Arkansas finished 14 th in the standings in 1997-98, 18 th in 1994-95, and 19 th in 1998-99.

“ Congratulations to our nearly 500 student-athletes and the coaches who were instrumental in our athletic success this past academic year, ” Arkansas athletics director Jeff Long said. “ Our 24 th-place finish in the Director’s Cup, combined with our academic and community service achievements, have made this a truly outstanding year. We are very proud to have earned this national

recognition as a top-25 all sports program and look forward to continued success in the years to come. ” Arkansas scored 696 points this year behind a solid spring in which the Razorback programs tallied 318. 50 points. Arkansas scored 104 fall points and 273. 50 points during the winter season. The top-point earning team this past spring was the Arkansas women’s tennis team, which earned 75 points after a fifth-place finish. Women’s golf was next, scoring 70. 5 points after an eighth-place showing. Men’s track and field collected 57 points, followed by women’s track and field with 51. Both baseball and softball added 25 points each and men’s golf scored 17 points this spring.

Stanford won its 14 th consecutive Directors’ Cup with 1461. 00 points. The Cardinal scored points in 24 different sports, counting 10 of those. UCLA was second for the third consecutive year and sixth time overall, followed by Michigan, Arizona State and Texas rounding out the top five.

Grand Valley State (Michigan ), Williams (Massachusetts ) and Azusa Pacific (California ) won the Division II, Division III and NAIA titles, respectively.