Standing near the conclusion of the fall sporting season, UCSD — after sending the women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s cross country and men’s water polo teams to postseason play — finds itself among the leaders in the Sears Directors’ Cup standings.
The Sears Directors’ Cup competition honors the top athletic programs in each National Collegiate Athletic Association division, as well as in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
For Division II schools, 14 team sports (seven men and seven women) determine the number of points each school can earn. The number of points each team receives for its school is based on how well it places during the season and postseason. The school with the most points overall receives the Waterford crystal trophy from Sears.
Last year, UC Davis, which has finished either first or second in every Sears Directors’ Cup competition since the program’s initiation in 1996, won the Waterford trophy for the fourth time despite not winning any national championships that year.
UCSD, competing last year for the first time in the Division II Sears Directors’ Cup race, finished an impressive fourth overall.
This year, UCSD currently has 41 points and is ranked 28th in the nation out of over 200 Division II schools. Not bad in itself, but these facts are more impressive when also considering the fact that those standing are based only on the men’s cross country, women’s cross country and field hockey teams and have yet to take into account the points for the Tritons’ volleyball and soccer teams, which are still competing and promise to give the Tritons major points.
All of the Tritons’ 41 points have come from their men’s cross country team, which competed in the NCAA Division II nationals and placed 15th overall.
As of Nov. 19, Western State held the No. 1 position with 200 points, earning 100 points each for both their men’s and women’s cross country teams. They are followed by Adams State, which earned 90 points for women’s cross country and 80 points for men’s cross country for a total of 170 points. UC Davis remained lurking in the No. 3 spot with 149.5 points, consisting of 80 women’s cross country points and 69.5 points for men’s cross country.
