LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola sent nine teams to NAIA National Championships and recorded 519.25 points, finishing 16th out of nearly 300 NAIA schools in the final Learfield Sports' Director's Cup rankings released on Saturday.
The finish was one of the highest for the Eagles in recent years as nine teams reached the national tournament capped by a third-place finish by the volleyball team. That finish earned Biola 83 points during the fall season along with 54 points from the women's cross country team which finished 12th at the NAIA Championships.
The Eagles had a banner winter sports season with five of the six varsity teams reaching the NAIA Tournaments. The Biola women's basketball team picked up its first NAIA Tournament berth in five seasons and its first win at the tournament ever. The run garnered 53 points for Biola. The men's team also reached the tournament for the first time in four seasons to record and additional 25 points.
Biola's men's and women's swim teams put on a strong display the NAIA Swim Championships with the men taking ninth overall and the women placing 11th to earn 63 and 57 points, respectively. Rounding out the winter scoring was the women's indoor track and field team. The Eagles, led by sophomore Natasha Miller who was named NAIA women's Most Valuable Performer, scored 69.75 points with their eighth-place finish.
Miller again helped the Biola women's outdoor track and field team earn quite a few points, repeating as the Outdoor Most Valuable Performer as the Eagles placed 12th overall and earned 64.5 Director's Cup points. The Biola baseball team picked up the remaining 50 points, reaching the Opening Round of the NAIA tournament to finish in a tie for 20th.
"The 2008-09 year was marked by a number of outstanding team and individual successes," said Biola Director of Athletics Dave Holmquist. "We are very proud of what our coaches and student-athletes were able to accomplish."
Biola was one of six Golden State Athletic Conference schools in the top 16. Azusa Pacific repeated as Director's Cup Champions for the fifth-straight season. The Cougars were followed by Concordia University in second place with Fresno Pacific University taking fourth, California Baptist University finishing in fifth place and Point Loma Nazarene wrapping up seventh place.
The Learfield Sports 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 up to 12 sports – six women’s and six men’s.
The Director Cup program’s philosophy is: “A program that honors institutions maintaining a broad-based program, achieving success in many sports, both men’s and women’s, in which all sports that the NCAA or NAIA offers a championship, along with Division I-A football, and all student-athletes that compete in those sports, are treated equally,” according to the Learfield Sports Directors Cup website.
For more information on the Director's Cup and to view the final standings, visit:
http://www.nacda.com/directorscup/nacda-directorscup-current-scoring.html.