University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Falls To Fifth In Latest Sears Cup Standings
March 22, 2001 | General
March 22, 2001
CLEVELAND, OHIO - After leading the 2000-01 Sears Directors Cup competition at the conclusion of the fall season, the University of North Carolina fell to fifth place in the first winter sports standings released Thursday morning. The Sears Directors Cup is sponsored by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) in conjunction with Sears Roebuck and Company and USA Today.
Nebraska has taken over the lead in the Sears Cup with 535.5 points. Thursday's standings added six winter sports to the standings for the 2000-01 school year. Those sports are the coed sports of rifle and skiing as well as women's swimming and diving, women's indoor track and field, men's indoor track and field and wrestling.
Wisconsin has moved into second place in the standings with 506.5 points while Stanford, which has won six straight Cup championships, is now in third place with 504 points. UCLA is in fourth place with 450.5 points, barely edging Carolina for that spot. The Tar Heels are now fifth with 449 points.
The remainder of the Top 10 teams has Colorado in sixth place with 378 points, Arizona in seventh place with 368.5 points, Michigan in eighth place with 357.5 points, Florida in ninth place with 349 points and Indiana in 10th place with 341 points.
North Carolina fell four spots in the standings in large measure because the Tar Heels scored points in only two of the six sports added to the standings Thursday. UNC finished ninth in women's swimming to score 65 points and 10th in women's indoor track and field to score 74 points. Points are distributed based on the size of a tournament field. Track has a bigger tournament field than swimming so even though UNC finished one spot lower in track than in swimming it received more points in track.
Carolina will hopefully profit in future Sears Cup standings and keep pace for another Top 10 finish this year. The Tar Heels have achieved a ranking of sixth or higher in every Sears Cup competition save one. UNC was first in 1994, second in 1995, sixth in 1996, second in 1997, second in 1998 and fifth in 2000. The only year Carolina fell out of the Top 10 was 1999 when UNC was 17th.
