Arkansas Moves into Top 25 in Sports Directors' Cup Standings

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Arkansas' women's track and field team finished fourth at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas has moved up 18 spots and ranks among the top 25 intercollegiate athletics programs in the nation in the latest edition of the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings. The Razorbacks have accumulated 296 total points to rank 25^th in the first winter standings released recently by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).

“We are pleased that our recent team success has vaulted the University of Arkansas into the top 25 of the Directors’ Cup standings,” said Jeff Long, vice chancellor and director of athletics. “Our national ranking is a credit to the student-athletes and coaches who have competed successfully in the Southeastern Conference and nationally. With gymnastics and many of our nationally-ranked spring sports teams still competing, I am optimistic that we will once again finish among the nation’s elite all-sports programs.”

Arkansas has earned 171.5 points thus far in the winter sports segment. The Razorback women’s fourth-place finish at the 2010 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships earned 80 points while the men’s 22^nd place finish netted another 50.5 points. Arkansas earned 41 points for 32^nd place finish at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.

The Razorbacks ranked 43^rd in the final fall standings with a total of 124.5 points, including 60 points for a 10^th place finish at the NCAA Men’s Cross Country Championships and 64.5 points for football’s first ever trip to the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Football programs are allotted points by their final rankings in the USA Today Coaches poll. Arkansas finished 12^th in the final USA Today Coaches football poll.

Arkansas has finished in the top 25 of the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup in two of the past three years. If the Razorbacks maintain their top 25 ranking, it would mark the first time in school history Arkansas has finished in the top 25 three times in a four-year period. The Razorbacks’ highest final national finish in the Directors’ Cup came in 1997-98 when the Razorbacks finished 14^th.

The Directors’ Cup program has been tracking the success of the nation’s top intercollegiate athletics programs since 1993-94.