Fall Finishes Have Ducks 11th In Directors' Cup Standings
01/15/19 | General
The Ducks accumulated points in both women’s and men’s cross country, volleyball and football to tie for 11th among Division-I programs.
EUGENE, Ore. – Fueled by a podium finish at the women's cross country championships and an Elite Eight run in volleyball, the Oregon athletic department was 11th in the Learfield Directors' Cup standings for fall 2018.
The Ducks accumulated points in both women's and men's cross country, volleyball and football to tie with Princeton for 11th among Division-I programs. The Learfield Directors' Cup assigns point values for each team based on final NCAA championship placings, and the Ducks have 263 points through the fall quarter.
In 2017-18, Oregon extended its streak of top-25 finishes in the Learfield Directors' Cup to seven years. The year before, the Ducks posted their highest finisher ever, No. 9 among Division-I programs.
Women's cross country took third at nationals to earn 85 points, and the men were 15th for 60 points. The volleyball team's epic four-set upset of Minnesota to reach the Elite Eight earned 73 points; that win alone was worth two places in the fall Directors' Cup standings.
Also, the football team's Redbox Bowl victory was worth 45 points. The NCAA conducts championships in eights sports in the fall – perennial Directors' Cup champion Stanford scored in seven for fall 2018 – and Oregon was second among programs scoring in four sports, behind No. 9 Notre Dame.
The Ducks entered winter 2019 in third place among Pac-12 teams. Oregon trails Stanford and also Washington, which scored in the same four sports as the Ducks plus men's soccer, which the UO athletic department doesn't sponsor.
