Sports Editor

After finishing third and fourth in the last two years, UCSD’s athletic program placed 12th with 467 points in this year’s National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Directors’ Cup, formerly the Sears Directors’ Cup.

The NACDA Directors’ Cup is awarded each year to the top collegiate athletic programs in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (Divisions I, II, III) and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

This year, UCSD rival UC Davis won the Cup for the fourth consecutive year. This is their sixth Cup in the NACDA’s eight-year Cup history. UC Davis will jump into Division I play this fall. The Aggies scored a total of 857 points, with 10 of the school’s athletic teams finishing in the top 10, including a national championship for the women’s softball team. Also earning this coveted award were Stanford University, Williams College and Lindenwood University in NCAA Divisions I and II and NAIA, respectively.

Although UCSD had a bigger drop in standings from the past two years, Associate Athletic Director Ken Grosse feels that the Tritons finished solidly this year.

“”Given the fact that there are over 300 Division II institutions in the nation, quite a few programs would consider a 12th place finish outstanding,”” Grosse said. “”It looks substandard only when compared to the incredible results we’ve been able to post the last two years at Division II and during our time at the Division III level.””

Along with the name change of the Cup came significant changes in the scoring structure. There is now a requirement that at least twelve teams must participate in a championship in order for a team to be eligible in the standings. For UCSD, this rule eliminates men and women’s water polo, women’s rowing and men’s volleyball. The Tritons’ men’s water polo team, which has always placed very well, will no longer be able to contribute to the standings.

“”Changes in the scoring system … didn’t allow for points from men’s water polo where we finished fourth in the nation. Water polo had been part of the equation in past years and adding the points normally accrued would probably have jumped us four to five spots,”” Grosse said. “”For the first time in four years, UCSD did not win the women’s soccer championship, which meant a significant loss of points that we had been accustomed to getting, but can’t really expect every year. Additionally, the difference between having an excellent or mediocre year in terms of Directors’ Cup points for specific sports can be very narrow.””

Despite the changes in the scoring system, Grosse expects UCSD to improve in next year’s standings with the perenially good Triton programs continuing their top play and several other teams becoming more competitive.

“”With UC Davis, a consistent Directors’ Cup power, moving to Division I, the race for the top spots may be more wide open than it has been,”” he said.