Irish Stand 17th In The Sears Directors’ Cup
Softball earns 50 points with a regional runnerup finish.

June 21, 2002

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame stands in 17th place in the second set of spring sports standings released in the 2001-02 Sears Directors’ Cup all-sports competition.

Notre Dame has scored 275 spring points through its NCAA appearances in women’s lacrosse (40 points based on quarterfinal appearance), men’s tennis (50 points based on Final 16 appearance), women’s tennis (20 points based on first-round play), softball (50 points from regional runnerup finish), men’s outdoor track (58.5 from 24th-place finish) and women’s outdoor track (56.5 from 27th-place finish).Still to come for the Irish are points from NCAA qualification in baseball (Notre Dame should receive 60 points for its appearance in the College World Series). Final standings will be announced June 25.

The latest standings include NCAA spring sports results in men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s outdoor track and field, women’s water polo, women’s rowing, softball and men’s volleyball.

Notre Dame earned 300.5 winter points from a 21st-place finish in men’s indoor track (62.5 points), a 34th-place finish in women’s indoor track (49 points), NCAA second-round appearances in men’s and women’s basketball (30 points each), its 19th-place NCAA finish in women’s swimming (49) and its third-place finish in fencing (80).

Fall NCAA competition earned the Irish 171 points based on their sixth-place finish in men’s cross country (68), their 19th-place finish in women’s cross country (33 points), their advancement to the second round of the NCAAs in women’s soccer (30 points) and their first-round NCAA participation in both volleyball and men’s soccer (20 points each).

Notre Dame and Stanford were the only schools to score in each of five traditional fall Olympic sports – men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball.

Stanford (1,369.5 points) leads the competition thanks to its NCAA championships in men’s water polo, women’s water polo, women’s tennis, and women’s volleyball and its second-place finishes in men’s cross country and men’s swimming.

The current standings also include results from NCAA fall competition in women’s volleyball, field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s water polo, Division I-A and I-AA football, and men’s and women’s cross country – as well as NCAA winter competition in men’s and women’s basketball, fencing, men’s and women’s hockey, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s wrestling, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, men’s and women’s gymnastics, rifle and skiing.

In previous years in which the Sears Directors’ Cup competition has been held, Notre Dame has finished 11th in 1993-94, 30th in 1994-95, 11th in 1995-96, 14th in 1996-97, tied for 31st in 1997-98, 25th in 1998-99, 21st in 1999-2000 – and 11th again in 2000-01.

Here are the current standings:

1. Stanford 1429.5
2. Florida 1078
3. North Carolina 1065.5
4. UCLA 1026
5. Texas 1010.5
6. Michigan 917
7. Minnesota 886.5
8. Georgia 865
9. Arizona 852
10. LSU 842.5
11. Tennessee 821
12. Ohio State 778.5
13. (tie) Arizona State and USC 767.5 each
15. Oklahoma 760.5,16. Colorado 751.5
17. Notre Dame 746.5
18. (tie) Auburn and South Carolina 738.5 each
20. California 738