A strong winter season at the national level has propelled the Missouri S&T athletics program into 40th place -- or the top 15 percent in all of NCAA Division II -- in the latest U.S. Sports Academy Directors' Cup standings.
The latest standings released Thursday has S&T in 40th place with 206 points -- all of which were obtained with the national finishes by the swimming, women's basketball and men's track and field teams in NCAA championship competition. The swimming team finished at the NCAA Division II Championships to earn 90 points, while the women's basketball team finished in a tie for ninth based on reaching the regional championship game for 64 points.
The track and field squad had two individuals -- Jordan Henry and Jared Anders -- earn All-America honors and that led to a 21st place finish for the team at the national meet and 52 points for those efforts.
The 206 points accumulated by the S&T teams were the 16th-highest total for the winter season in Division II.
Missouri S&T ranks fifth among the teams from the Great Lakes Valley Conference, with Drury leading the GLVC schools in 12th place. Southern Illinois Edwardsville is currently 20th, while Northern Kentucky is 22nd and Indianapolis 27th.
Drury and Northern Kentucky both captured national titles during the winter season, with Drury finishing ahead of S&T at the swimming championships (its women's team also finished second) and Northern Kentucky winning the women's basketball title; NKU eliminated the Lady Miners in the Great Lakes Regional championship game.
The other GLVC schools in the current standings include Lewis in 46th place, Southern Indiana in 56th, Wisconsin-Parkside in 66th, Quincy in 122nd and a trio of schools, Bellarmine, Kentucky Wesleyan and Saint Joseph's that are tied for 158th place. Missouri-St. Louis and Rockhurst have not reached a national championship competition to this point in the 2007-08 season.
Grand Valley State, which led the standings after the fall season, continues to head the Division II list after a winter season that included three top ten finishes. Minnesota State is currently second followed by Tampa, Adams State and Nebraska-Omaha.
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