FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

BATES RANKED 29TH IN FINAL WINTER DIRECTOR'S CUP STANDINGS

LEWISTON, Maine - At the end of the Winter 2000 season, the Bates College athletic program is ranked 29th in the nation in the Sears Directors' Cup standings.

The Directors' Cup is the first-ever cross-sectional all-sports national recognition award for both men and women. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in up to 18 sports -- nine for men and nine for women. Each national champion receives 100 points. 

Thanks to a 10th place finish by men's cross country, Bates was in 59th place after the fall 1999 season. Bobcat teams scored a total of 173 points in four sports to vault 30 spots. Earning 55 points, the school's most for the winter season, was men's swimming and diving, in which sophomore diver Andrew Hastings of Weston, Mass., had a pair of top-five finishes to lead the Bobcats to 29th place. Senior Lucas Adams of Nottingham, N.H., took second place in the 35-pound weight throw at the men's indoor track and field championships, earning 15th place for the team at the championships and 50 Directors' Cup points. A five-person contingent at the NCAA National Collegiate skiing championships helped garner 38 points with a 16th place finish, while women's basketball's berth in the second round of the NCAA championship secured 30 points.

Bates' 29th-place standing is the second time in five years that the Bobcats have ended the winter season among the top 30. They were 28th at the end of the 1997-98 winter season. Three-time Directors' Cup champion Williams College was atop the winter standings, with Wisconsin-Stevens Point,  Wisconsin-LaCrosse, California-San Diego and Springfield (Mass.) rounding out the top five.

The Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. It is administered by NACDA and sponsored by Sears, Roebuck and Co. There are four Sears Directors' Cup Awards, one to honor the institution with the best all around athletics program in each of the NCAA's Divisions I, II and III and the NAIA. The winner of the award receives a trophy designed by Waterford Crystal, which tours the country, appearing at major men and women's events throughout the year. 
 

NACDA/Sears Directors' Cup Winter 2000 Standings
Top Ten
1. Williams (Mass.)        606
2. Wisc.-Stevens Point     531
3. Wisc.-LaCrosse          505
4. Cal.-San Diego          445
5. Springfield (Mass.)     440
6. Rowan (N.J.)            439
7. St. Thomas (Minn.)      431.5
8. College of New Jersey   415.5
9. Wheaton (Ill.)          399
10. Amherst (Mass.)        391

New England and NESCAC Institutions in the Top 100
13. Middlebury (Vt.)        362     65. MIT                142.5
19. Hamilton (N.Y.)         271     71. Wellesley (Mass.)  130
22. Norwich (Vt.)           259     84. Colby (Maine)      114
29. Bates (Maine)       229    97. Southern Maine      90
37. Tufts (Mass.)           203.5   97. W. Conn. State     90      
38. U.S. Coast Guard (Conn.)199.5   
41. Bowdoin (Maine)         190.5
48. Wheaton (Mass.)         171
56. Salem (Mass.) State     160