Top Athletics Program

The Tufts University varsity athletics program earned its fifth top-10 finish in the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings after placing eighth among NCAA Division III schools for the 2012–13 academic year.

The Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup is 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 up to 18 sports at NCAA events—nine women’s and nine men’s.

Tufts enjoyed its most successful season in terms of Directors’ Cup points in the spring. Five teams combined to score 335 points, which gave the Jumbos a 752 total for the year. The fall teams combined for 197 points, and the winter season produced 220. In the final standings, Tufts was ahead of ninth-place St. Thomas (in Minnesota), which had a 742 score, and behind seventh-place Johns Hopkins (789.5). New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) rival Williams won the 2012–13 Directors’ Cup with a score of 1,273.75.

This spring, Coach Cheryl Milligan’s Jumbo softball team won the university’s second NCAA title of the year and scored 100 Directors’ Cup points. Men’s lacrosse, guided by Mike Daly, reached the NCAA quarterfinals and accumulated 70 points. Coach Kate Bayard’s women’s tennis team advanced to the third round and earned a Directors’ Cup score of 64. Women’s outdoor track and field, coached by Kristen Morwick, and men’s outdoor track and field, led by Ethan Barron, both tied for 22nd at their NCAA meets, scoring 51.5 and 49.5 in the Directors’ Cup, respectively. Barron’s teams scored a total 187 Directors’ Cup points in all three seasons for cross-country and indoor and outdoor track and field.

Five Jumbo winter teams qualified for NCAA Championships in 2012–13. Head coach Carla Berube’s women’s basketball team, which advanced to the Sweet 16, scored 64 points. The men’s indoor track and field team, coached by Barron, tied for 14th at the national meet to add 58.5 points to the Tufts total. The men’s swimming and diving team, directed by Adam Hoyt, placed 27th at the NCAAs to earn 47 points. Tying for 43rd in NCAA action, head coach Kristen Morwick’s women’s indoor track and field team contributed 29 points. The women’s swimming and diving team, coached by Nancy Bigelow, added 21.5 points after tying for 51st at their NCAA meet.

By winning the national championship, head coach Tina McDavitt’s field hockey squad scored the highest total of 100 to lead the fall teams. Barron’s men’s cross country team added 77 to the score with a seventh-place effort at the NCAA championship race. Men’s soccer, coached by Josh Shapiro, returned to NCAA play for the first time in more than a decade and scored 25 points.

Tufts was one of four NESCAC teams to finish among the top eight.

Tufts now has five top-10 finishes in the Directors’ Cup overall. The program finished a best-ever sixth in both 2005–06 and 2009–10, was seventh for 2011–12 and placed 10th overall for 2008–09. Tufts was 16th in 2006–07 and 16th again in 2007–08. In 2010–11, the Jumbos ranked 25th in the standings.

The NCAA’s Division III includes 330 schools ranked in the Directors’ Cup standings.