In the release of the 2012-13 Directors’ Cup NAIA final standings, Westmont College Athletics has improved on last year’s nineteenth place finish by moving up to number 13 for the 2012-13 season.
Westmont scored 539.50 points, second only to Concordia among Golden State Athletic Conference schools.
The thirteenth-place finish is the best for Westmont since 2002 when the Warriors placed a program-high seventh. Westmont, which also placed seventh in 1998, has finshed in the top-ten on three occasions and the top-15 on eight.
“Like the GSAC All-Sports Award, our lofty standing in the Director’s Cup is another tangible measure of our accomplishments as an overall athletic program,” said Westmont athletic director Dave Odell. “I especially like the Director’s Cup because it rewards excellence across all sports and both genders equally.
“At Westmont, our coaching staff is very close,” continued Odell. “We cheer for each other, we encourage each other professionally and we feed off each other’s success. In fact, we even share athletes. This year we had five athletes compete in more than one sport. So, as a coaching staff, it is fun and motivating to have a collective goal that we can pursue together despite the varying natures of our particular sports.”
Developed as a joint effort by USA Today and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), the award was created in order to honor institutions that maintain a broad-based program, achieving success in both men’s and women’s sports.
Only teams that compete in the national championships are eligible to earn points in the competition. In fall sports, women’s volleyball led the way with 57 points. Women’s cross country earned 38 points and women’s soccer contributed another 25.
The winter sports were led by women’s basketball whose NAIA National Championship added a maximum 100 points. The return of men’s basketball to the national championship was worth 25 points. Indoor track and field also added to the winter totals with the women adding 53 points and the men 37.
Men’s tennis, which reached the semifinals of the national tournament, tallied 83 points in the cup standings. The women’s tennis team chipped in 53 points with its return to post-season play. Outdoor track and field concluded the scoring with the women’s team collecting 52 points and the men’s team 16.5.
Oklahoma Baptist, which earned 964 points, was the winner of this year’s Director’s Cup.
Among GSAC schools, Concordia finished third with 781 points. Biola placed twenty-ninth with 370.50 points, edging out Vanguard who finished thirtieth with 360 points. The Master’s placed thirty-fifth with 334 points while Hope International and San Diego Christian were each part of a fourteen-team tie for 148th place with 53 points. The GSAC’s newest member, Arizona Christian, finished in a twenty-way tie for 178th place with 25 points.
