LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Paced by strong fall and winter season, Biola closed out the 2009-10 year by finishing 12th out of over 300 NAIA schools in the NACDA/Learfield Directors' Cup Standings announced this week. It was the highest the Eagles have placed in the program which ranks the best athletic departments in the country.
Biola recorded 585.08 points overall, 63 points better than its total last year when the Eagles placed 16th overall--their previous best-ever finish. This year also marks the fifth Top-20 finish and its second-straight.
The Eagles wrapped up the fall sports season with 219.33 points, then added an impressive haul of 302 points in the winter, moving Biola as high as third in the standings. The Eagles then closed out the year with 63.75 points in the spring to finish in 12th place.
Biola was one of seven GSAC teams ranked in the top 18 overall. Azusa Pacific won its sixth-straight Directors' Cup title with 820 points, holding off Simon Fraser (B.C.) by just three points in the closest finish ever. Fresno Pacific took home third place just 18.25 points out of first while Concordia University (Calif.) placed fourth with 724.5 points.
California Baptist University was seventh, scoring 679 points, followed by Biola in 12th place. Point Loma Nazarene finished in 16th place with 551 points while Vanguard University was 18th with 502.5 points.
BIola received strong performances by a number of teams this season led by the women's cross country team, which placed second overall at the NAIA National Championships—the best finish by a Biola team since 1997. The Eagles, who entered the race ranked No. 4 in the final ratings, finished just three points out of first place.
The Eagles also had three teams place fifth at their respective national championships: men's soccer, men's basketball and women's indoor track and field. The men's soccer team turned a lot of heads with its quarterfinal appearance, reaching the NAIA Tournament for the first time since 1987.
The winter was the best of the three seasons for Biola as five of the six teams scored points. Men's basketball and women's track led the way while the Eagles' swim teams also netted impressive point totals as the women finished seventh and the men placed ninth. Women's basketball also scored for Biola as the Eagles reached the NAIA Tournament for the second-straight season.
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 14 sports--seven women's and seven 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.
Click here for the complete final NAIA Learfield Sports Directors' Cup Standings and click here to learn more about the Directors' Cup program.
