Cleveland, Ohio. — The state of Minnesota ranks fifth in the DII Learfield Directors’ Cup standings at the end of the winter season with 457.5 points.
MSU, which finished 16th in the fall standings, improved to fifth place from 296 points in the winter season. The Mavericks recorded the fifth-most points this winter season.
The women’s indoor track and field team led the NCAA championships in second place with 90 points. The men’s indoor track and field team scored 58.5 points as the Mavericks finished in 16th place. The Mavericks women’s basketball team finished 17th in the NCAA tournament and scored 50 points, while the wrestling team scored 49 points when they finished 25th in the NCAA championships. The women’s swimming and diving also finished 25th at the NCAA championships, scoring 48.5 points.
The Colorado School of Mines leads with 763.25 points, followed by Wingate in second place with 676.25 points. Grand Valley State is third with 661.5 points, followed by West Texas A&M in fourth with 547.0 points.
The state of Minnesota is the highest ranked NSIC school in the ranking. MSU is ranked in the top-50 by Augustana (19th/306.5 points), Minnesota Duluth (26th/285.0 points), St. Cloud State (34th/256.5 points), and Concordia-St. Paul (50th/198.0 points).
Other NSIC schools that appear in the rankings are Winona State (62nd/166.0 points), University of Mary (87th/136.5 points), Wayne State (96th/126.5 points), Bemidji State (98th / 126.0 points), MSU Moorhead (117th / 105.5 points), Northern State (140th / 78.0 points), Upper Iowa (159th / 58.5 points), Sioux Falls ( 197th / 34.0 points) and Minot State (198th / 32.0 points).
Last year, the Mavericks finished 10th in the Directors’ Cup final standings, marking their 19th straight top 25 finish.
General information on the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup
The Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup is a program that honors institutions that maintain a broad program and honors those programs that achieve success in many sports for both men and women. Begun in 1993-94 for Division I through NACDA and USA Today, it expanded to include Division II, III and the NAIA in 1995-96. Each institution receives points in a set number of sports for both men and women. The overall winner is the institution that records the highest score in its division’s Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup leaderboard.
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