Fresh off an impressive fall athletic campaign, University of Lynchburg ranks eighth in the Division III Learfield Directors’ Cup standings released Dec. 9. The Learfield Cup ranks schools depending on how many of their teams went to the NCAA Tournament, and how far those teams advanced. Lynchburg ranked ninth overall at this point last year.
With six fall seasons complete, LC ranks ahead of all Division III schools in the state and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC).
The Hornets currently have 209 points, after the fall season excluding points for football. Lynchburg got 90 points from the men’s soccer team, which advanced to the Division III title game for the first time in school history. The LC field hockey team added 53 points for its one win in the tournament, traveling to the round of 16. The Lynchburg women’s soccer team added 50 points to the total after a winning a first-round contest against Transylvania University (KY). The Hornet men’s cross country team chipped in 16 points to the overall total, taking 29th in the national meet.
“It was a very impressive showing by all of our fall athletic teams,” said LC director of athletics Dr. Jack Toms ’69. “Our success across the board the last two years shows where we want to be consistently every year in all sports. We are continuing to make tremendous strides in our athletic department on the field and in the classroom.”
Washington College (MO) leads with 336 points, followed by Calvin College (MI) with 327 and Middlebury College (VT) with 325. Six of the seven fall NCAA championships have been completed with the following institutions capturing titles: men’s cross country – Haverford (PA); women’s cross country – Middlebury; women’s volleyball – Calvin; field hockey – Bowdoin (MA); men’s soccer – Messiah (PA); women’s soccer – Hardin-Simmons (TX). The final fall standings will be released on December 23.
