Michigan athletics has finished second in the Director's Cup for the second time ever with its highest ever point total.
Buoyed by a second place finish in baseball and 13, top 10 finishes across all sports, the Wolverines ranked behind only perennial champion Stanford, the first time since 2003-04 they've finished so high.
The Cardinal scored in 18 of 19 possible sports, led by six national championships, four on the women's side (volleyball, swimming, tennis, water polo) and two men's titles (gymnastics, golf). Softball, lacrosse, indoor track and field and gymnastics were omitted for the Cardinal. On the men's side, wrestling, swimming and football were removed from the overall total, while fencing was not counted.
Michigan's runner-up performance at the College World Series pushed U-M's total to 1272.25 total points to secure second-place. The previous high was 1236.25 in 2003-04. Overall, Michigan scored in 18 of 19 sports. Four scores were removed for the Wolverines – men's soccer and both indoor and outdoor track and field, and women's indoor track and field.
Stanford held the lead after the fall Division I standings with 541.00 points after notching 45 points in football, the final sport score of the fall season. U-M was second with 380.50 points, recording 61.5 points in football.
The nine fall NCAA champions: women's cross country – Colorado; men's cross country – Northern Arizona; field hockey – North Carolina; women's soccer – Florida State; men's soccer – Maryland; men's water polo – USC; women's volleyball – Stanford; FCS football – North Dakota State; FBS football – Clemson.
The Wolverines were fourth after the final winter standings were released. Stanford remained No. 1 with 930.25 total points, fueled by a National Championship in women's swimming and diving, a 12th-place finish in fencing, a 15th-place finish in men's swimming and diving and a 40th-place showing in wrestling.
Penn State captured a national championship in wrestling to move into second with 715.00 total points, while Wisconsin moved to third overall with 690.50 total points coming off of a championship performance from the women's hockey team. The Wolverines registered two top-five performances in women's swimming and diving (third) and wrestling (fifth), paired with a 13th-place finish from men's swimming and diving to bring their point total to 646.00.
The Big Ten led with most schools in the top 10 after the winter sports were tallied. Minnesota (7th; 512.50 pts.) and Ohio State (9th; 501.50 pts.) were the other two institutions.
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 in NCAA Championships. Stanford has finished on top for 24 straight years after North Carolina won the initial competition.
Michigan is tied for fifth all time with 19, top 10 finishes.
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