Complete NACDA Directors' Cup Standings

TACOMA, Wash. — The Pacific Lutheran University athletic department finishes the 2021-2022 academic year ranked fourth amongst West Coast colleges and universities in the final Learfield Directors' Cup standings released on Thursday by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).

The Lutes accumulated 242.75 points over the course of the year, including 55 points from a seventh place finish from women's rowing, 62.25 points from a 12th place finish from women's outdoor track & field, and six points from men's outdoor track & field. PLU secured 44.5 points in the winter from women's indoor track & field while netting 75 points in the fall from men's soccer and women's soccer.

PLU ranks 72nd overall, moving up 18 positions from the winter standings. The Lutes rank second amongst Northwest Conference institutions, fourth amongst West Coast institutions, and 15th amongst colleges and universities west of the Mississippi River.

George Fox University is the top NWC school, finishing six spots ahead of the Lutes in 66th with 23.50 points. Linfield University was five spots back of PLU with 234.5 points while Whitworth University is a distant 135th with 143 points. Whitman College is 166th (102.50 points), followed by Willamette University in 239th (54.5 points), Lewis & Clark College in 279th (32.5 points), and Pacific University in 285th (25 points). University of Puget Sound was the lone NWC institution not to be among the 326 schools from around the nation to be ranked, failing to record a finish at an NCAA Championship event this academic year.

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.

Tufts University wins the overall title in NCAA Division III, scoring 1,080 points with Johns Hopkins University (1,043 points), and Middlebury College (1,000.50) rounding out the top three.