May 6, 2003
Columbia, Mo. - The University of Missouri Department of Athletics ranks 34th overall in the latest NACDA Directors' Cup Standings, and the Tigers are on pace to notch their best-ever finish in the standings.
A strong winter sport season that featured points from six sports helped propel the Tigers to 34th overall, with a season total of 361.5 points. The best Mizzou finish in the standings, which began in the 1993-94 season, was a 49th-place finish in 2000-01. The current point total of 361.5 points has already surpassed last year's total of 344.5 when the Tigers finished 53rd overall, and is just four points shy of the school-best 365.5 total set in 2000-01.
The winter sports of wrestling (16th at NCAA Championships), men's basketball (second round of NCAA Tournament), gymnastics (NCAA Regional qualifier), men's indoor track and field (27th at NCAA Championships), men's swimming (29th at NCAA Championships) and women's indoor track and field (39th at NCAA Championships) scored a total of 269.5 points. That has been added to the fall total of 92 points scored by women's cross country (16th at NCAA Championships) and volleyball (second round of NCAA Tournament) to come up with the current season point total for Mizzou.
Spring sports in which Mizzou is competing include women's tennis, softball, men's and women's golf, baseball and men's and women's outdoor track and field. Of those sports, tennis and men's and women's golf have already qualified for regional NCAA competition, guaranteeing MU Directors' Cup points in those sports. The final point standings will be announced June 26th.
Since Director of Athletics Mike Alden took over prior to the 1998-99 season, Mizzou has an average yearly finish of 56th place in the annual standings, a vast improvement from the average yearly finish of 98th from 1993-94 through 1997-98.
The Directors' Cup is a comprehensive scoring system that ranks the competitive success each year from all Division I institutions, based on each school's national finish in up to 20 sports - 10 women's and 10 men's. More detailed information about the standings can be found online at www.nacda.com