2019-20 Presidents' Cup Standings
Findlay Presidents' Cup Page
INDIANAPOLIS – The eighth unveiling of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Presidents’ Cup standings revealed the University of Findlay as the winner for the 2019-20 academic year released by the league Wednesday morning.
The Oilers are officially back-to-back winners of the annual award after first taking home the crystal hardware at the 2018-19 Spring Awards Banquet. All 13 full-member institutions in the league were factored into the point totals.
This year, only half a point separated Findlay with 95.5 from Walsh University with 95 as 13 conference championship sports were accounted for. Tiffin University came in third place with 86 points and both Cedarville University and Hillsdale College tied for fourth with 82.5 points, respectively.
The point totals for 2019-20 were calculated through the conclusion of the winter conference championship season, which included basketball, indoor track and field, swimming and diving and wrestling. Spring championships were unable to be completed due to COVID-19.
The Great Midwest Presidents' Cup is awarded to the member institution that collects the highest tally of points based on regular-season winning percentage (standings) or individual meet results (sports with no conference regular season schedule) through the completed winter championship season.
For Findlay to pull off the repeat, the points were a collaborative effort by all of the Oilers’ athletic programs. The women’s soccer program captured the regular season title and the top seed in the Great Midwest Championship tournament in the fall to secure 11 points.
Making it three straight regular season titles in three attempts was Findlay men’s basketball as the Oilers tied with Hillsdale at the top of the league standings. Another three peat was pulled off by men’s swimming & diving at the combined conference championship meet in Canton.
The Oilers made significant gains during the winter as track and field finished runner-up by the men and fourth by the women. In a very competitive women’s basketball landscape, Findlay was third in the point ratings system tally to host a first-round playoff contest.
The women’s swimming & diving team had plenty to celebrate by advancing a number of student-athletes to nationals, where one day of competition was completed. Volleyball qualified for the conference tournament for the third straight year since joining the Great Midwest.
During a year where four programs from the Great Midwest advanced to the NCAA Championship Super Regional, UF men’s soccer more than held their own in the standings to make the competitive playoff field. With a 5-2 record, football was in the upper tier of the league once again as offensive lineman Andrew Dickinson recently was signed as a free agent by the Arizona Cardinals. The Oilers nearly pulled off season-altering upsets vs. nationally ranked Ferris State and Notre Dame (OH) while routing Ashland towards the end of the regular season.
The cross country programs also combined for 11 points in the conference meet hosted by Ursuline and wrestling came in third at the championship duals this year.
Walsh was highlighted by an undefeated regular season and conference tournament run by women’s basketball while the men’s cross country team brought home first place in the fall. The Cavaliers also produced runner-up finishes in the women’s soccer standings and the women’s cross country 6K race.
Women’s indoor track and field secured a third-place team finish as middle-distance star Andra Lehotay capped a banner season with multiple individual honors. Similarly, the Cavaliers flourished in the volleyball season with a third-place finish and the men’s soccer program was regionally ranked at times while making the postseason.
Other top team performances for the 2019-20 Presidents’ Cup totals included Tiffin’s team titles in football, men’s indoor track and field and the wrestling team duals. Hillsdale secured women’s cross country, women’s indoor track and field, volleyball, women’s swimming and diving and shared men’s basketball with Findlay.
Malone and Kentucky Wesleyan were just outside the top five separated by less than 10 points and Lake Erie, Ohio Dominican and Trevecca Nazarene, were also within eight points of each other to round out the top 10. Alderson Broaddus, Ursuline and Ohio Valley, rounded out this year’s point totals, respectively.