Dec. 18, 2002

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame stands 13th in the first set of fall sports standings released in the 2002-03 Division I NACDA 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 115 points based on their third-place finish in women’s cross country (85 points, highest total ever in that sport for the Irish) and their 22nd-place finish in men’s cross country (30 points).

Yet to come are fall points for Notre Dame’s 2002 NCAA involvement in volleyball (the Irish advanced to the second round), women’s soccer (the Irish advanced to the third round), men’s soccer (the Irish fell in the second round) and football (the Irish finished the regular season 12th in the USA Today/ESPN poll and presumably will remain somewhere in the top 25 after their appearance in the Gator Bowl).

Notre Dame is the only school in the country to make postseason appearances in all six of those sports during the fall 2002 season.

Notre Dame also stood 13th in the first set of fall standings in 2001, eventually finishing 13th overall.

The next set of fall standings will be released Dec. 19, a third fall set Jan. 2 and the final fall standings will be available Jan. 9.

Stanford (190 points) leads the competition thanks to its NCAA championship in men’s cross country and its second-place finish in women’s cross country. Second is Wake Forest (’02 NCAA field hockey champion), followed by Colorado, Michigan State and BYU (’02 NCAA women’s cross country champion).

The current standings include results from NCAA fall competition in field hockey, and men’s and women’s cross country.

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 and 13th in 2001-02.

Here are the current standings:

1.Stanford 190, 2.Wake Forest 163, 3.Colorado 155, 4.Michigan State 151, 5.BYU 142, 6.Arkansas 141, 7.Michigan 136, 8.Northern Arizona 129, 9.Wisconsin 126, 10.Providence 123, 11.Villanova 120, 12.Georgetown 118, 13.Notre Dame 115, 14.Penn State 113, 15.Duke 100.