CLEVELAND– The University of Indianapolis capped an historic 2023-24 sports calendar with its best-ever finish in the Division II LEARFIELD Directors' Cup standings, placing second among nearly 300 NCAA Division II institutions. Perennially one of the top athletic programs in DII, UIndy has now placed in the top 10 in the Directors' Cup in 10 of the last 11 years*, including six top-five finishes in that span. Additionally, UIndy is one of only three DII institutions that can claim 16 consecutive top-20 showings*.
The LEARFIELD Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and
USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish at the NCAA Championships in up to 15 sports, four of which must be men's and women's basketball, baseball and volleyball. Complete standings and the scoring structure can be found on NACDA's website at
DirectorsCup.org.
UIndy officially finished the year with school-record 901.25 total points, a single point ahead of third-place West Texas A&M and just 81.75 behind winner Grand Valley State. The Hounds' final tally was boosted by an amazing spring season that yielded a DII-leading 492.50 points. UIndy racked up seven top-10 showings this spring, including a maximum 100 points from the women's golf
national championship. Both softball (3rd-place points) and baseball (7th) made World Series appearances, while men's and women's tennis each advanced to Nationals.
UIndy's spring total alone would have placed it 23rd in the final standings. Furthermore, its spring sum represents the largest single-season total by any DII school since the Directors' Cup implemented its current scoring system in 2017-18.
Other major contributions came from women's track & field, which saw
Zoe Pentecost earn an individual national title at both
Indoor and
Outdoor Nationals. Both swimming & diving teams secured podium finishes at the NCAA DII Championships, with the men's team taking
third place and the women
fourth. Wrestling placed ninth at its
national meet, with a big assist coming from national-champ
Derek Blubaugh. Meanwhile, men's basketball, football, men's golf, women's lacrosse, men's lacrosse and men's soccer all earned NCAA postseason berths.
* no final standings were compiled in 2019-20 and 2020-21 due to the pandemic.
