SHSU leads Southland in Director's Cup standings
6/28/2013 2:52:00 PM | Athletics
With NCAA championships appearances in football, baseball and bowling, Sam Houston State leads the Southland Conference and stands 117th overall in the final Learfield Sports Directors' Cup all-sports standings.
The Learfield Sports Directors' Cup, developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today, honors institutions maintaining a broad-based program that achieves success in many sports, both men's and women's.
The Bearkats, winners of the Southland Conference Commissioner's Cup All-Sports championship and the Southland women's all-sports title, led the league with 140 Directors' Cup points.
Central Arkansas (128) ranked second in the league followed by Oral Roberts (126), Northwestern State (75), Stephen F. Austin (59), McNeese State (29), A&M-Corpus Christi (25), Lamar (12) and Southeastern Louisiana (5).
Sam Houston football rolled up NCAA playoff wins over Cal Poly, Montana State and Eastern Washington to reach the NCAA Division I national finals in Frisco for the second year in a row.
The Bearkat baseball team defeated Louisiana-Lafayette in the first round of the Baton Rouge NCAA regional and led top seed LSU through seven innings in the second round before falling.
The women's bowling team went 5-2 in round-robin play at the NCAA Elite in Detroit in the Kats' second national championships appearance in the three-year history of the program.
Sam Houston's ranking in the Sports Director's Cup standings not only was the best in the Southland but also placed the Bearkats above all but two teams each in both the Sun Belt and Western Athletic Conference and one university the Big Sky.
The Sports Directors' Cup has honored the nation's NCAA Division I all-sports champion since 1996. Learfield Sprots has been the title sponsor for the award for the past five years.
