Syracuse Athletics Leads 1st Director's Cup Standings

The 1st standings of the Learfield Sports Directors Cup were released today and for the 2nd year in a row, the Syracuse Orange have jumped to an early lead.  The standings to this point are based on the results from field hockey and cross-country, so the two National Championships earned by Syracuse last month, along with the 12th-place finish from Women's Cross-Country were worth 264.5 points.

Rounding out the top 5 behind Syracuse are the Michigan Wolverines (202.5 points), Colorado Buffaloes (180 points), Virginia Cavaliers (172 points), and Stanford Cardinal (171.5 points).The ACC is off to a strong start so far, as the each school from the conference is in the top 31 except for Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. Stanford has won the award for 21 consecutive seasons. Syracuse finished 47th last year and with this start, could threaten the school's highest finish of 39th achieved back in 2013.

The Directors Cup standings for Division 1 are based upon the top 10 men's and top 10 women's sports at each institution. The next standings release will occur on December 17th and include Men's Water Polo and Soccer. This means that Saturday's Men's Soccer contest against Boston College can earn the Orange a trip to the Final Four, #OrangeEagle points, and more Director's Cup Points.