BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Western Washington University ranks 6th in the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup NCAA Division II standings following the Fall Championships season.

WWU finished the fall sports season with 214 points, bolstered by 100 points for the National Championship by the women's soccer team, 64 points for a regional final appearance by the volleyball program and 50 points for the men's soccer team reaching the second round in its first trip to the NCAA Tournament.

"We are very proud of our student-athletes and coaches for their accomplishments from the fall sports season," said WWU Director of Athletics Steve Card. "A national championship by our women's soccer team, another great season for the volleyball team advancing to the regional final and the first trip to the NCAA Tournament for the men's soccer team. It was an amazing fall and we look forward to our programs carrying the success through the rest of the year."

Defending champion Grand Valley State leads all 307 Division II schools with 350 points, followed by Colorado School of Mines (324), LIU Post (257), Alaska Anchorage (235.5) and Shippensburg (233.5). Alaska Anchorage and Western Washington top the 38 Division II schools in the West Region. GNAC schools Simon Fraser (24th, 148.5), Central Washington (62nd, 75.0), Northwest Nazarene (100th, 50.0) and Seattle Pacific (133rd, 25.0) also appeared in the final fall rankings.

WWU was one of only three schools in all of the NCAA Division II to have women's soccer, men's soccer and women's volleyball programs each qualify for the national NCAA II tournament, joining Rockhurst and Adelphi.

The Vikings finished 26th among 307 NCAA Division II schools in the final 2015-16 standings, marking the 13th consecutive year to finish in the top 50 and eight time inside the top 30 since joining the NCAA level in 1998-99. WWU was 3rd after last year's fall standings with 239.50 points.

The latest rankings were released Thursday by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, marking the one-third point in the 2016-17 campaign. The annual all-sport competition, which determines the national success of the 307 NCAA Division II programs, is updated after the winter sports season on March 30, and finalized following the Spring Championships on June 8.

While having success in competition, WWU student-athletes continue to be outstanding in the classroom. Using the NCAA Academic Success Rate, which includes all freshman student-athletes from the fall of 2009 and also accounts for student-athletes who transfer into or out of the institution, WWU posted an 86 percent success rate, compared to the NCAA II national number of 71 percent. WWU's federal grad rate for student-athletes for the entering class of 2009, which looks only at how many freshmen student-athletes who received athletically based financial aid graduated within six years, was 85 percent, compared to the NCAA II national rate of 56 percent.