Thursday, March 31, 2022

PORTLAND, Ore. – Thanks in part to its success at the Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships, Simon Fraser finds itself in the top 20 of the 2021-22 Learfield Directors’ Cup Division II Winter Standings.

The only NCAA institution in Canada is ranked 18th in the winter standings, which evaluates an athletic program’s success based on each institution’s finish in the NCAA Championships.

Simon Fraser sits at 330.25 points after top 15 finishes at both the NCAA Indoor Track and Field and Swimming and Diving Championships. In indoor track and field, Simon Fraser’s men tied for 12th place to earn 63.75 points. It was the highest finish for the team since 2014. The SFU men also placed 12th, the highest finish ever for the program, to earn 64.5 points.

In swimming and diving, the SFU women placed eighth to earn 70.5 points in the Learfield Cup standings. The men placed 14th, earning 48 points.

Western Washington, which led all GNAC teams in the fall standings, sits in 23rd place with 290 points. The Vikings earned 90 points with the runner-up finish in the Division II Women’s Basketball Championships and picked up 25 points with the men’s 36th place finish at the Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Alaska rounds out the GNAC’s top-50 teams, ranking 45th with 218 points. The Nanooks earned 64 points for the men’s basketball team’s run to the West Region championship game. Alaska’s rifle team finished third in the NCAA National Collegiate Championships, earning 85 points. The Nanooks also received 69 points for a seventh-place finish in the NCAA National Collegiate Skiing Championships.

Alaska Anchorage and Central Washington are tied for 90th with 125 points, followed by Seattle Pacific in 95th place (123.50) and Northwest Nazarene in 192nd place (25 points).

The three top-50 institutions and six top-100 institutions are the most of any West Region conference. Azusa Pacific leads all West Region teams in the Directors’ Cup standings, ranking 11th with 363.50 points.

Grand Valley State leads the winter Directors’ Cup standings with 754 points, followed by Colorado Mines with 614.25 points. Rounding out the top five are Queens (N.C., 540 points), West Texas A&M (537.50 points) and Colorado Mesa (492.25 points).

The Learfield Directors’ Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution’s finish in NCAA and NAIA Championships. Separate standings are published for each of the NCAA’s three divisions as well as the NAIA.

Winter sports figured into the Directors’ Cup standings include men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, fencing, women’s ice hockey, rifle, skiing and men’s wrestling. The final standings will be announced on June 16.