LA MIRADA, Calif. --- It was another fantastic winter season for Biola Athletics. Five of Biola's six winter teams spent a significant amount of time ranked inside of their NAIA Top-25 Coaches' Polls, which led to a high finish in the latest standings of the Learfield Directors' Cup.

The Eagles accumulated 242.5 overall ratings points to sit fifth in the final winter installment of the Directors' Cup standings. Biola accumulated more points in the winter than it collected in the fall, but dropped one spot from where it sat in the fall release back in December. This week's release includes the final finishes of all of the Eagles' winter sports teams, including basketball, swim & dive and indoor track & field.

Biola finished seventh in the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings back in 2015-16 and are eager to finish at that spot or even better this season. Ending winter in fifth place is a great continuation from the institution's strong fall.
 
Women's Swim & Dive corralled the most points of any Biola program in the winter. They matched women's cross country's third-place national finish and earned 85 points for the cause. The third-place national finish was the highest in program history. Both of first-year head coach Emily Mosbacher's teams made a significant impact on the Eagles' Directors' Cup propects as the men's side finished 12^th overall and brought in 54 points, which will likely be the most from any one men's program this year.

Women's Indoor Track & Field added 53.5 points by finishing 20^th at Indoor nationals earlier in March. Last season Biola Women's Cross Country and Track & Field was named the USTFCCCA NAIA Program of the Year because of its collection of national finishes.

The higher the finish in the coaches' poll, the more Directors' Cup points teams are awarded. The Directors' Cup is meant to measure the overall success of each athletic department within each national affiliation. Points are awarded based off of finish in the final coaches' poll of each sport's season. Each institution can earn points in up to six men's sports and six women's sports and the institution with the highest number of total points at the end of the spring wins the prestigious distinction as the best NAIA athletic department for that year.

Two Golden State Athletic Conference teams are featured inside of the top-6 of the rankings through the winter season. Biola sits in fifth with 464.5 points and Westmont is in sixth place with 461.25 overall points. Lindsey Wilson (Ky.), which had top-10 national finishes in women's basketball, men and women's swimming and wrestling, is currently in first place with 532 overall points. In this poll last winter Biola led all institutions with 560 total 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 national championship events. The Directors' Cup Committee is reviewing the scoring structure for 2016-17 which will be finalized prior to the winter sports standings.

The final NAIA standings will be released in June.