Contact: Mark Albanese, Director of Sports Communication

Complete Directors' Cup Standings

TACOMA, Wash. -The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics released the final Learfield Directors' Cup standings of the fall with the Pacific Lutheran University athletic department ranking 35th in the nation amongst 450 NCAA Division III institutions.

The Lutes racked up 133 points in the fall standings as a department, tying for 35th with Brandeis University and the University of Mount Union. PLU tallied points in three sports, netting 50 points in both women's soccer and volleyball for advancing to the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament while scooping up 33 more points for men's cross country runner Brad Hodkinson's performance at the NCAA Championships.

PLU is the top ranking Northwest Conference institution with Linfield College ranking 61st (86 points), Whitworth University ranking 81st (63 points), and Willamette University ranking 126th (25 points). Johns Hopkins University sits atop the ranking, netting 383 points across seven sports this fall followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (319.5 points) and Middlebury College (301 points). University of Saint Thomas and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse round out the top five, both collecting 270 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 NCAA Championships. A total of 18 teams can be scored for each institution of which four must be men's and women's basketball and men's and women's soccer. The first set of winter standings will be released on March 8, 2018.

PLU had a banner fall season with women's soccer, volleyball, and men's soccer all winning NWC titles while the men's cross country team logged a runner-up finish at the league championships.