(As of June 11, 1996)

Stanford, California-Davis, Williams and Pacific Lutheran Win the Sears Directors' Cups

Marco Island, Fla. -- For the first time ever, four colleges or universities have won the Sears Directors' Cup for achieving the top ranking in women's and men's competition in their respective division. With the completion of the 1995-96 season, Stanford University in NCAA Division I, the University of California-Davis in NCAA Division II, Williams College (Mass.) in NCAA Division III and Pacific Lutheran University (Wash.) in the NAIA have emerged as the winners of the Sears Directors' Cups.

The four Sears Directors' Cups were presented today to directors of athletics Ted Leland of Stanford, Greg Warzecka of California-Davis, Bob Peck of Williams and Dave Olson of Pacific Lutheran at a ceremony during the 31st annual Convention of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) in Marco Island, Fla.

In Division I, the Stanford Cardinal won their second consecutive trophy with a total of 961.5 points, outdistancing UCLA, which placed second with 836.0 points. They won two national titles, in women's swimming and men's tennis, and added 11 more top 10 placings, in men's cross country, field hockey, women's volleyball, women's basketball, fencing, women's and men's gymnastics, men's swimming, women's and men's golf and women's tennis. The Cardinal scored in 10 women's and six men's sports. Rounding out the top five were the University of Florida with 731.5 points; the University of Texas, fourth with 700.0 points; and the University of Michigan, fifth with 689.0 points.

The University of California-Davis won the Division II championship with 610.0 points. The Aggies entered the race in 17th place in the fall standings and moved up to fourth place in the winter. They recorded seven top 10 finishes, including a third place in softball. Both the women and the men scored in six sports. The race for second through fifth was close, with Abilene Christian (Tex.) taking second with 484.0 points; North Dakota State, third with 470.5 points; South Dakota State, fourth with 407.5 points and California State-Bakersfield, fifth with 404.0 points.

In Division III, Williams College won with 782.0 points. The Ephs accumulated a total of 782.0 points. Williams won two national titles, in men's cross country and men's soccer; and had 11 additional top 10 finishes, including a second place in men's outdoor track and field. The Ephs recorded points in seven men's and seven women's sports. They were followed by California-San Diego with 718.0 points; Wisconsin-Oshkosh, third with 593.0 points; Trenton State (N.J.), fourth with 543.5 points; and Rowan (N.J.), fifth with 490.5 points.

Pacific Lutheran was the victor in the NAIA with 571.0 points. The Lutes started the competition in third place and advanced to second by the end of the winter season. They recorded seven top 10 finishes, including a third in women's swimming. The Lutes scored in five women's and six men's sports. Securing the second spot was Simon Fraser (BC Canada) with 529.0 points; followed by Mobile (Ala.) in third with 526.0 points; Berry (Ga.), fourth with 456.0 points; and Azusa Pacific (Cal.), fifth with 432.5 points.

"By including all four-year institutions in this year's Sears Directors' Cup competition, we, together with NACDA, have strengthened our mutual commitment to gender, school and sport equity in collegiate athletics," said John H. Costello, senior executive vice president of marketing for Sears.

Of the 1,277 eligible colleges and universities, a total of 909 (71 percent) scored points in the Sears Directors' Cup competitions. Complete final rankings on all of these institutions are available on NACDA's Home Page (http://www.nacda.com/nacda/). Satellite feed of the Sears Directors' Cup presentation is available on Wednesday, June 12 at 17:30-18:00 (EST) on G-STAR 4, Transponder 8.

The Sears Directors' Cup program, which awards crystal trophies valued at $35,000 each, is presented in partnership by NACDA and Sears, Roebuck and Co. and is the only national awards and scholarship program to recognize all championship sports for both women's and men's athletics.

In addition, Sears and NACDA award five $5,000 postgraduate scholarships in each division as a part of the Sears Directors' Cup program to assist students who work within the athletic department in a support role, including student managers, student trainers, band members, cheerleaders and other assistants. Four outstanding recipients are selected by a nationwide nomination process, managed by NACDA, while the fifth recipient is a student at the institution which wins the Sears Directors' Cup.

The 16 at-large $5,000 postgraduate scholarship winners for the 1995-96 Sears Directors' Cup program are:

NCAA Division I

NCAA Division II

NCAA Division III

NAIA

NACDA is the professional and educational association for collegiate athletic directors and has more than 5,100 individuals and 1,500 institutions as members throughout the United States and Canada. Members include athletics directors, associate and assistant athletics directors, conference commissioners and affiliate individuals or corporations. The NACDA Foundation, through the Sears Directors' Cup and its other scholarship programs, has awarded close to $6.5 million in scholarships since 1983.

Sears commitment to collegiate athletics involves awarding more than a quarter of a million dollars in academic scholarships and 2,400 trophies each year through its Sears Collegiate Champions program. The Sears Collegiate Champions program is a partnership of five collegiate athletic associations: NACDA, the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the College Sports Information Directors of Amercia (CoSIDA).

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