Jan. 11, 2007

The University of Notre Dame ended up in 10th place in the final set of fall sports standings released in the 2006-07 United States Sports Academy Division I Directors’ Cup all-sports competition, which is sponsored by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (formerly known as the Sears Directors’ Cup).

Fall NCAA competition earned the Irish 279 points based on their NCAA runner-up finish in women’s soccer (90 points), a best-ever NCAA quarterfinal appearance in men’s soccer (73),a 19th-place finish in men’s cross country (36), a first-round NCAA women’s volleyball appearance (25) and the 19th-place finish in the final USA Today football poll (55 points).

California (’06 NCAA men’s water polo champion) leads the competition with 364.5 points. Stanford (’06 NCAA women’s cross country champion and women’s volleyball runnerup) is second (334), followed by Duke (316), UCLA and Wisconsin (tied with 309).

The current standings include results from NCAA fall competition in I-A and I-AA football, women’s field hockey, men’s water polo, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s cross country, and women’s volleyball.

Winter sports standings updates will be issued on March 22, and April 5, 12 and 26.

In previous years in which the Directors’ Cup competition has been held, Notre Dame has finished: 11th in 1993-94, 30th in ’94-’95, 11th in ’95-’96, 14th in ’96-’97, 31st in ’97-’98, 25th in ’98-’99, 21st in 1999-2000, 11th in ’00-’01, 13th in ’01-’02, 13th in ’02-’03, 19th in ’03-’04, 16th in ’04-’05 and a best-ever sixth in ’05-’06.

Here are the current standings: 1. California 364.5, 2. Stanford 334, 3.Duke 316, 4. UCLA and Wisconsin 309, 6. Colorado 304, 7. Virginia 303, 8. Wake Forest 300, 9. Florida 280, 10. Notre Dame 279, 11. Texas 269, 12. USC 264, 13. Penn State 255, 14. Arkansas 232, 15. BYU 222.