Official NACDA Release
CLEVELAND – With the sports of men’s and women’s cross country and women’s field hockey counted, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference had two institutions on the first 2017-18 Learfield Directors’ Cup Division II Standings that were released this week.
Walsh (116.50 points) comes in at No. 11 and Hillsdale checks in at a tie at No. 29 (72.00 points) as 61 NCAA Division II schools were listed in the first ranking.
Shippensburg is first overall with 100 points from a national title in women’s field hockey followed by a 10th-place showing in men’s cross country and a top-30 effort in women’s cross country.
Adams State is currently runner-up with 100 points each with sweeping men’s and women’s national cross country team titles.
Walsh, competing in its first year as a Great Midwest institution has made an early splash in the fall sports with both men’s and women’s cross country programs going to the NCAA Division II Championships in Evansville, Ind., as team qualifiers.
Senior USTFCCCA Midwest Region Athlete of the Year and Great Midwest Runner of the Year Sarah Berger took her place on the podium as the national runner-up for the Cavaliers.
Walsh’s Jacob Kernell was the top finisher from the Great Midwest at the NCAA Championships as the Cavaliers finished 22nd as a team overall.
Walsh just missed the top 10 of the Learfield Directors’ Cup Fall Standings by eight points behind Queens (N.C.) from the South Atlantic Conference.
A seventh-place performance at the NCAA Cross Country Championships by the Hillsdale women catapulted the Chargers in the top half of the Learfield Directors’ Cup Fall Standings.
Junior Hannah McIntyre finished off her tremendous season with a finish of fourth overall in a field of nearly 250 runners. Arena Lewis, Maryssa Depies and Christina Sawyer also finished in the top 100 as Hillsdale claimed the Great Midwest’s best team finish at the national meet so far in league history.
The Chargers, also a first-year Great Midwest institutions, will receive points in the next standings released as an NCAA Championship qualifier in volleyball.