Dec. 29, 2006

The University of Notre Dame stands ninth in the third set of fall sports standings released in the 2006-07 United States Sports Academy Division I Directors’ Cup all-sports competition, sponsored by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (formerly known as Sears Directors’ Cup).

Fall NCAA competition so far has earned the Irish 224 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), 19th-place finish in men’s cross country (36) anda first-round NCAA women’s volleyball appearance (25). Yet to come for Notre Dame are fall points for football, based on the final USA Today coaches poll after the bowl games. The Irish stood 11th in the final regular-season coaches poll.

The final fall standings will be available Jan. 11.

Stanford (’06 NCAA women’s cross country champion and women’s volleyball runnerup) leads the competition with 334 points. Duke (316) is second, followed by Colorado (2006 NCAA men’s cross country champion and women’s cross country runnerup) with 304 points.

The current standings include results from NCAA fall competition in 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.

In previous years in which the 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, 11th in 2000-01, 13th in 2001-02, tied for 13th in 2002-03, 19th in 2003-04, 16th in 2004-05 and a best-ever sixth in 2005-06.

Here are the current standings: 1.Stanford 334, 2.Duke 316, 3.Colorado 304, 4.Virginia and California 303, 6.UCLA 284, 7.Wake Forest 243, 8.Wisconsin 234, 9.Notre Dame 224, 10.UC-Santa Barbara 208.