Azusa Pacific Back on Top in Cup Race
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Azusa Pacific has won the past 3 Directors' Cups but Simon Fraser has won 6 overall, the most in NAIA history.
Published
March 27, 2008
AZUSA, Calif. – It’ll be sprint to the finish like never before.
Three-time defending champion Azusa Pacific University has re-taken the lead in the race for the 2007-08 Directors’ Cup, but the Cougars hold the slimmest of margins, just a half-point lead over 6-time champion Simon Fraser University (B.C.) at the close of the winter season.
SFU assumed the lead in this year’s race following the swimming & diving along with the indoor track & field championship meets in late February and early March. However, on the strength of men’s and women’s basketball, Azusa Pacific jumped back into the lead. The Cougars have tallied 618.5 points. Simon Fraser had 618.
Azusa Pacific collected an additional 125 points after the Cougar men advanced to the “Elite Eight” and the women qualified for their respective NAIA basketball championship tournaments.
All that remains now on the score card are the tabulation of the NAIA spring sport championships. Azusa Pacific and Simon Fraser will go head-to-head in mens’ and women’s outdoor track & field. The Clan have their eyes on a berth into the NAIA softball tourney, while the Cougars are hoping to make deep runs in the NAIA men’s and women’s tennis tournaments.
The closest Directors’ Cup race in NAIA history came in 2002 when Lindenwood University (Mo.) edged Oklahoma City University by 23.5 points to claim its first-ever title.
Azusa Pacific also heads a parade of 4 Golden State Athletic Conference teams that currently sit in the Top 15 of the Directors’ Cup. Concordia University is fourth with 481.5 points. California Baptist University is 11th with 380.5, and Fresno Pacific follows close behind in 12th with 378.5.
The Director’s Cup is an annual national awards program that recognizes the overall athletics success from member schools in NCAA Division I, II and III and the NAIA during an academic year. Points are awarded based on how far an institutions top 6 men’s and 6 women’s teams advance into their respective postseason tournaments.