Wheaton among top Division III athletic programs in Sears Directors' Cup final standings
July 13, 2000
The Sears Directors[base '] Cup, presented annually by Sears Roebuck and Co. and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) to the top NCAA collegiate programs in Division I, II and III and the NAIA, named Wheaton College as one of the top athletic programs in Division III.
Wheaton recorded 197.5 points in the final 1999-2000 Sears Cup standings, while Williams College (Mass.) defended its title and won the Cup for the fourth time in the past five years. Wheaton[base ']s score placed the college in the top twenty percent of Division III schools nationally.
Wheaton[base ']s second consecutive national championship in women[base ']s indoor track-and-field, as well as strong top-10 finishes in women[base ']s outdoor track-and-field (third) and men[base ']s indoor (sixth) and outdoor (eighth) track-and-field, contributed to the college[base ']s strong showing in the Cup standings. The Lyons[base '] baseball team (28-12) also added points by qualifying for its first NCAA Tournament appearance in its brief three-year history as a varsity program.
Combined with the five teams that placed at the national level, twelve of Wheaton[base ']s 21 varsity programs qualified for post-season competition. The teams[base '] successes included an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship in women[base ']s soccer (23-2) and a seventh-place finish at the U.S. Collegiate Championships for synchronized swimming.
Also competing in an ECAC Tournament for the Lyons last year was men[base ']s soccer (12-6-1), women[base ']s volleyball (17-17), men[base ']s basketball (16-9), softball (35-11-1) and women[base ']s lacrosse (10-6). The Wheaton softball team also earned the top seed and the right to host the ECAC tourney while advancing to the semifinal round of the tournament.
Each year the Sears Directors[base '] Cup program, presented in partnership by Sears, NACDA and USA Today, awards Waterford Crystal trophies to the top athletics programs and presents a total of $100,000 in postgraduate academic scholarships to students in all four categories.
Developed as a joint effort between USA Today and NACDA, the Sears Directors[base '] Cup program is the only national awards and academic scholarship program to recognize all NCAA and NAIA championship sports for both men[base ']s and women[base ']s athletics.
For more information on the Sears Directors' Cup program, please visit http://nacda.com. For more information on Wheaton's athletics program, please visit http://www.wheatoncollege.edu/Athletics.