CURRENT FALL STANDINGS
WESTERVILLE, Ohio – Otterbein University currently ranks 26th nationally in this year's Learfield Directors' Cup standings, marking the highest finish for a fall season in school history.
Beginning in 1993, the Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Through the course of the year, Directors' Cup points are awarded based on a school's finish in up to 18 sports - nine men and nine women - in NCAA Championships. There are more than 400 schools competing under the NCAA Division III banner and 190 of those schools scored points in the Directors' Cup standings this fall.
Otterbein experienced perhaps its best fall ever in 2017, making the NCAA Championships in men's soccer, women's volleyball and women's cross country. All three programs won Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) titles as well.
The men's soccer team won a pair of NCAA matches before exiting in the Sweet 16, ultimately culminating with a 19-3 record and ranked 11th in the final national poll.
Volleyball went 30-4 overall, a single-season record for wins, and advanced to the NCAA second round on its home floor in the Rike Center. The Cards had three All-Americans and broke into the national rankings in early November.
Women's Cross Country continued its dominance with a third-straight OAC crown before finishing fourth at the Great Lakes Regional and 29th at the ensuing NCAA Championships in Elsah, Ill. It was the first team appearance for the Cards since 2003, watching standout junior
Claire Lamb earn individual All-American honors.
Otterbein tallied 159 points and was the second-highest conference school in the fall Directors' Cup standings, coming in behind Ohio Northern (21st – 192 pts) and then ahead of Mount Union (35th – 133 pts).
New to the scoring structure this year in Division III, men's and women's soccer and men's and women's basketball must be included by every school in their scoring total. Previously, the top nine men's and women's scoring teams could be counted; now, regardless of whether a school's soccer and basketball teams qualify for the NCAAs, they must be counted.
The Cardinals will look for continued success throughout the rest of the upcoming athletic calendar in hopes of besting its highest-ever total finish of 41st, set back during the 2005-2006 season.
