BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Following one of the most successful fall sports seasons in Western Washington University history, the Vikings hold the No. 3 ranking in the first edition of the 2018-19 Learfield Directors' Cup NCAA Division II standings.

 

WWU is in third with 256 points after taking 2nd in women's volleyball, 9th in women's soccer, 20th in women's cross country and 26th in men's cross country. The No. 3 ranking matches the highest in fall history tying 2015. Western Washington has placed in the top 50 in the Division II Directors' Cup standings in 14 of the last 15 seasons.

 

At last week's NCAA Division II Championships Fall Festival, WWU was one of four schools to have three programs represented in Pittsburgh with the volleyball and men's and women's cross country teams competing. Western joined Grand Valley State, Lee University and Shippensburg as having the most teams represented at the Fall Festival.

 

"It was an outstanding fall, all the way around with all seven of our teams that competed earning national rankings," said WWU Director of Athletics Steve Card. "The historic season by volleyball led the way, with women's soccer playing in another West Regional Championship and both cross country teams advancing to the NCAA Championships. And Men's soccer finished 2^nd in the GNAC and earned the first national ranking in program history. What a great start to the 2018-19 season and I am so proud of our student-athletes and coaches for all the hard work they put in on a daily basis to elevate WWU to the top of this list. In the classroom, in competition and in the community – there are a lot of great things happening in our department and we are all looking forward to the winter and fall seasons that are ahead of us."

 

Colorado School of Mines captured two top-10 finishes (5th-women's cross country; 2nd-men's cross country) and a 17th place finish in both men and women's soccer and women's volleyball to hold the No. 1 spot. Perennial Division II power Grand Valley State is in second with 290 points after capturing a pair of national championships in men's and women's cross country and a 2nd-place finish in women's soccer. Shippensburg (218.0), West Texas A&M (206.0), Barry (200.0), West Chester (195.0), Chico State (192.5), Saginaw Valley State (190.5) and Cal Poly Pomona (182.0) rounded out the top 10.

The first fall DII Top 5 announced today: @MinesAthletics - 315.00@gvsulakers - 290.00@WWUAthletics - 256.00@ShipURaiders - 218.00@wtathletics - 206.00

View full DII standings: https://t.co/qJyse1H4Ul pic.twitter.com/1qAJavfI9q
— Learfield Directors' Cup (@LDirectorsCup) December 6, 2018
 

The Great Northwest Athletic Conference had six schools score points during the fall season, out of 124 total NCAA Division II schools that were ranked. In addition to WWU, Simon Fraser (11th, 180.5 points) and Alaska Anchorage (20th, 144.0 points) were ranked in the top 20.

 

The final fall standings will be released Thursday, December 20 after the conclusion of the Division II football season. All Learfield Directors' Cup Standings can be found online at NACDA.com. Rankings through the winter sports will be announced on March 28 and the final 2018-19 rankings will be released on June 12.

 

The Directors' Cup standings come one day after WWU was announced as one of 27 NCAA Division II schools to earn the NCAA Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence, awarded to schools having an Academic Success Rate of 90 percent or higher. Western was one of just two public schools of the 27 that received the Presidents' Award, the other being UC San Diego. Overall, 48 percent of NCAA Division II schools are public institutions.

 

Here is the top 20 in the first edition of the 2018-19 Learfield Directors' Cup standings for NCAA Division II as of Dec. 5…the final fall standings will be released on Dec. 20 following the Division II football championships:

 

 

In addition to the third-place ranking in the Directors' Cup Standings, here is a look inside the numbers at the success of WWU's fall sports seasons, which included competition by volleyball, men's and women's soccer and men's and women's cross country. The WWU men's and women's golf team also competed, with the Viking men ranked No. 7 in the nation, but their championship season is in the spring:

 

7

All-Americans

 

14

All-Region selections

 

21

GNAC Player of the Week selections

 

23

All-GNAC selections

 

40

GNAC All-Academic selections

 

Western Washington University is a four-year public institution located in Bellingham, Washington, featuring over 300 student-athletes that compete for 15 intercollegiate athletic teams at the NCAA Division II level and primarily in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. WWU Athletics has finished in the top 50 in the NCAA II Learfield Directors' Cup standings in 14 of the past 15 years, and in the top 20 in eight of the last 11 years. WWU's programs have won 11 team national championships, most recently the 2016 women's soccer team and the 2017 women's rowing team. Outside of competition. WWU's student-athletes have compiled an academic success rate at 90%, earning the NCAA's President's Award for Academic Excellence each of the last two years. During the recently-completed 2017-18 sports season, 9 of 15 programs had representation at the NCAA Championships, 75 student-athletes earned GNAC Academic All-Star status, 27 received all-region honors and 9 were named All-Americans. The 2018-19 athletics season is off to a tremendous start with all eight programs that competed during the fall earning national rankings, including the volleyball team advancing to the national championship game, the cross country teams both competed in the NCAA II Championships and the women's soccer team advanced to the NCAA II West Regional for the fourth consecutive season.

 

For more information on WWU's 15 varsity sports programs, visit WWUVikings.com. Fans and alumni can also track all the teams via social media accounts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat at @WWUAthletics.

 

-- @WWUAthletics --