OSU Claims its Best Finish in Sears Directors’ Cup – Ohio State Buckeyes
6/20/2001 12:00:00 AM | General
June 20, 2001
COLUMBUS, Ohio– Ohio State finished in the No. 6 position in the final standings of the 2000-01 Sears Directors’ Cup released June 19 by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). The sixth-place finish is the highest for the Buckeyes in the eight years the Cup as they improve from their 14th-place finish a year ago. OSU’s previous high was a tie for eighth during the 1996-97 campaign.
The Buckeyes finished second among Big Ten teams just behind Michigan who led the way with 864.5 points to claim the No. 4 spot. No. 10 Penn State (774.5), No. 19 Wisconsin (671.5) and No. 23 Minnesota (639.5) rounded out the conference’s representatives in the Top 25. The Buckeyes and Golden Gophers stood strong in the standings on the strength of 100 points from their national championship teams, men’s gymnastics and wrestling, respectively, and the Wolverines were aided by their 90 points from the national runner-up rowing team.
OSU, after finishing the fall in 29th with 114 points, surged to the Top 5 in the winter with a total of 609 points and the No. 4 position before its best finish. The Buckeyes accumulated points in 19 of the possible 32 scored sports including 11 men’s teams. Five of the teams finished its respective national tournaments in the Top 10 including men’s gymnastics (first), men’s volleyball (third), women’s rowing (fourth), fencing (eighth) and women’s volleyball (ninth).
In the standings, points from 10 men’s and 10 women’s sports are counted toward OSU’s overall total. Prior to the scoring of baseball (June 16), the Buckeyes stood in fifth (861) with their points accumulated coming from 10 men’s sports and eight women’s. Baseball was the 11th scored sport meaning its 20 points would not count unless another men’s team had earned less than 20. NACDA counted baseball and removed the 20 points earned from men’s volleyball keeping the total number of men’s teams scoring at 10.
The 2000-01 Directors’ Cup was awarded to Stanford (Division I) for the seventh-consecutive year as the Cardinal accumulated 1,349.5 points. The Cardinal was followed by UCLA (1,138), Georgia (890.5), Michigan and Arizona (863) in the Top 5. UC-Davis (Division II), Williams College (Division III) and Simon Fraser (NAIA) also claimed the Cup in their respective divisions.
Sears Directors’ Cup Standings: Fall: 29th with 114 points Spring: 5th with 861 points (Final) National Points National Points Finish Earned Finish Earned MCross Country 14 44.0 MVolleyball 3 0.0* MSoccer 17 20.0 WRowing 4 70.0 WVolleyball 9 50.0 MTennis 17 30.0 WGolf 22 62.0 MGolf 33 50.0 WTennis 33 20.0 Baseball 49 20.0* Totals – 114.0 Totals – 252.0
Winter: 4th with 609 points Sears Director’s Cup Standings (Final) National Points Big Ten Schools only: Finish Earned 4. Michigan 864.5 MGymanstics 1 100.0 6. OHIO STATE 861.0 Fencing 8 62.0 10. Penn State 774.5 Wrestling 16 68.0 19. Wisconsin 671.5 WTrack & Field 17 67.0 23. Minnesota 639.5 WGymnastics 25 40.5 31. Purdue 484.5 MSwimming 26 41.5 32. Indiana 481.5 MTrack & Field 28 53.0 39. Michigan State 446.5 WSwimming 30 38.0 44. Iowa 397.5 MBasketball 33 25.0 45. Illinois 396.0 Totals – 495.0 67. Northwestern 255.5
* Baseball was awarded 20 points as was men’s volleyball. NACDA awarded the points to baseball and removed points awarded to men’s volleyball because OSU could only score in 10 men’s events. Only the Top 10 scoring men’s and women’s teams are counted in Sears Cup competition regardless of the number of teams scoring points for a particular institution.
