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July 5, 2005
Eagles are Top 10 again in Directors Cup standings

John Arenberg is Emory's sports information director

 

Emory finished eighth in the nation among 434 NCAA Div. III schools in the final 2005 standings for the NACDA Directors Cup, presented with the best all-around athletics program.

Standings are derived from a mathematical formula based on each school’s finish at the NCAA national championships. Emory benefited from two national championships (women’s swimming & diving, women’s tennis), six top-10 finishes at the nationals and six top-20 finishes.

Emory is one of five schools in the nation—others include Div. I Duke, Stanford and Notre Dame—to place in the top 20 in both the NACDA Directors’ Cup standings (eighth) and the latest annual U.S. News and World Report rankings of best national universities (20th).

TENNIS (WOMEN)
Emory became the first NCAA Div. III school ever to win three consecutive national women’s team championships. The feat has been accomplished once in Div. I and three times in Div. II.

This was Emory’s fourth national championship overall, tying a Div. III record. Overall, Emory finished with a 20-3 record—its third consecutive 20-win season and fifth in school history. Emory won the University Athletic Association (UAA) team title for the 18th consecutive year. The Eagles have won every UAA championship since it first conducted tennis championships in 1988. That is the longest title streak in conference history in any sport.

TENNIS (MEN)
Emory finished third at the NCAA Div. III national team championship—the fourth consecutive year the Eagles reached the national semifinals. They were second in 2002, won the national title in 2003, and third in 2004.

GOLF
Emory finished eighth at the NCAA Div. III national championships. This is the sixth time in 10 NCAA appearances Emory has placed in the top 10 nationally.

Three Emory golfers, Drew Harker, Timothy Hamm and Mike Lebow, made the All-America third team—the first time Emory had three All-Americans in the same year. Harker finished in a tie for 17th place in the field of 120 golfers at the NCAA championships.

SOFTBALL
Emory finished with a 32-6 record, marking its fifth year in a row with at least 30 wins. The Eagles began the year unranked, but placed 10th in the final national regular-season poll by the coaches’ association. However, they were not among the 43 teams selected for the NCAA national championship tournament.

Emory led the nation in team fielding percentage (.978) in the final Div. III national statistical report compiled by the NCAA. The Eagles were fifth in team winning percentage (.842), 10th in team earned run average (0.99). Senior Jennifer Harrigan was 13th in the nation in RBIs (46). Freshman pitcher Kathy Gordon ranked 19th nationally among pitchers with a 0.76 earned run average.

BASEBALL
Emory completed its 14th consecutive winning season, finishing the year with a 21-18 record. Junior infielder Taylor Gettinger led the squad with a .388 batting average followed by sophomore catcher Griffin Baum at .343.

TRACK & FIELD (MEN)
Emory sent one participant, Rob Leventhal, to the NCAA Div. III national outdoor track & field championships.
Leventhal, a sophomore, finished 14th out of 16 competitors in the 800-meter run with a time of one minute and 54.75 seconds.

Emory placed fifth at the UAA outdoor championships, ending a streak of five consecutive years in first or second place. The Eagles had one individual and one relay champion at the conference outdoor meet, and registered eight all-conference performances (top-three finishes).

TRACK & FIELD (WOMEN)
Emory had two entrants at the NCAA national outdoor championships. Emily Watts, a senior, finished 15th out of 19 competitors in the 100-meter dash in a time of 12.45 seconds. Jane Ukandu, a sophomore, was 19th out of 21 entrants in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.75 seconds.

Emory placed third at the UAA outdoor championships, marking the 15th time in the conference’s 18-year history that the Eagles were in the top three. The Eagles had two individual champions at the conference outdoor meet and registered nine all-conference performances.

 

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