Arkansas at No. 14 in Final Directors’ Cup Winter Standings
NACDA Directors’ Cup Final Winter Standings
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A return to the final weekend of the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships helped Arkansas retain its spot among the nation’s top performing programs in the final winter standings of the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup.
Arkansas is ranked No. 14 in the latest Directors’ Cup standings released on Thursday by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of America (NACDA). With 566.25 total points, the Razorbacks are fourth in the SEC and are one of seven league programs in the top 25 of the final winter standings.
The standings released on Thursday included men’s and women’s basketball, women’s bowling, men’s and women’s cross country, fencing, football, women’s field hockey, men’s and women’s gymnastics, men’s and women’s ice hockey, rifle, skiing, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, women’s volleyball, men’s water polo and men’s wrestling.
The Directors’ Cup tracks the nation’s most successful intercollegiate athletics programs for their performances throughout the year. The Razorbacks have earned top-15 finishes in each of the past three years, including an eighth-place finish in 2020-21, a seventh-place finish in 2021-22 and a 13th-place finish in 2022-23. Arkansas’ previous best finish, prior to 2020-21, was 14th. The Directors’ Cup program has been tracking the success of the nation’s top intercollegiate athletics programs since 1993-94.
Arkansas returned to the NCAA Gymnastics Championship for the first time in six years (2018), advancing to the Elite Eight for the first time in the new championship format. The Razorbacks finished seventh in the team standings, the highest team finish since 2012 when the Hogs finished sixth at the championship meet. Sophomore Reese Drotar scored a 9.925 on the bars which matched a school NCAA championship record and earned her first-team All-America honors. With its seventh-place team finish, Coach Jordyn Wieber’s squad netted 71.3 Directors’ Cup points.
In a historic victory for a tradition-rich track and field program, the Arkansas women’s track and field team defended its national indoor title and claimed the 50th combined NCAA track and field crown at the University of Arkansas. The national title was the first for first-year head coach Chris Johnson, the fifth indoor NCAA crown and the eighth NCAA title overall for the women’s program. Arkansas previously won the NCAA women’s indoor team title in 2015, 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2024. Arkansas earned 100 Directors’ Cup points for the national championship.
Arkansas was in the mix for a national title in the men’s competition at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, before ultimately finishing as the national runner-up. The finish marked the fourth national runner-up finish at the NCAA Indoors for the Razorbacks in the past 12 seasons under Coach Chris Bucknam. The performance also extended an impressive streak with Arkansas earning a podium finish (top 4) in each of the four most recent NCAA Cross Country or Track and Field Championship competitions. The national runner-up team finish resulted in 90 Directors’ Cup points.
The Razorback women’s swimming and diving program racked up 33 points for the Hogs in the Directors’ Cup standings after its performance in the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. Arkansas placed 36th in the team competition and has now tallied Directors’ Cup points in each of the past six seasons.
The Razorback men’s cross country team once again earned a spot on the podium at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Arkansas, who won the 2023 SEC Cross Country Championship, earned a fourth-place NCAA finish its third podium finish in the past four years by the Razorbacks, who also placed fourth in 2020 and 2021. It also marked the fifth time the Hogs placed among the top five since 2016 Patrick Kiprop and Kirami Yego earned All-America honors in leading the Razorbacks to 80 Directors’ Cup points.
Arkansas’ women’s cross country team tallied a top-10 finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championship. The Razorbacks finished ninth in the team competition, earning their 17th top-10 finish in program history. Sydney Thorvaldson earned All-America honors in helping pace Arkansas to a 69-point addition to the Directors’ Cup standings.
It was a historic season for Razorback Volleyball, as for the first time in program history Arkansas advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. Prior to 2023, only one Arkansas team had ever advanced to the round of 16. Arkansas earned its most wins since 1999 (28), which included the team’s first win over Kentucky in 11 years, coming in the round of 16 in Lincoln. Arkansas recorded its third straight season with 20+ wins, earned its highest-ever ranking at No. 8, its best record (15-3) in SEC play since 2003 and recorded the best 20-match start (18-2) to a season in program history. Coach Jason Watson’s squad re-wrote the record books and tallied 73 Directors’ Cup points in the process.
Coach Colby Hale once again led Arkansas to an outstanding season on the pitch. The Razorback soccer team won both the SEC Western Division and Overall Regular season title in 2023 and earned a coveted No. 2 seed in the NCAA Soccer Tournament. The Razorbacks hosted multiple rounds of the NCAA Tournament at Razorback Field, defeating Grambling in the opening round before falling to Pittsburgh in the second round of the bracket. Arkansas scored 50 Directors’ Cup points in women’s soccer.