July 8, 2008

IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine finished fifth in the race for the Division I-AAA Athletic Directors Association All-Sports Trophy in 2007-08.

The Anteaters (218.00 points), who won the trophy in 2006-07, finished behind first-place Denver (434.25), Pepperdine (298.00), Oral Roberts (283.75) and Boston University (263.50). The trophy is awarded annually to the top-ranked Division I-AAA institution in the United States Sports Academy Directors' Cup Standings. There are 94 Division I-AAA (non-football) schools in the nation.

UCI earned NCAA postseason points in baseball, men's and women's golf, and men's and women's swimming.

Also, for the first time this year, the Division I-AAA ADA handed out individual sport trophies to the I-AAA institution that had the highest finish in an NCAA Championship. Taking home the individual hardware in baseball was UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton and Wichita State; men's basketball - Xavier; women's basketball - George Washington and Old Dominion; men's cross country - Portland; women's cross country - UC Santa Barbara; men's golf - North Carolina Charlotte; women's golf - Denver; men's soccer - Bradley and Illinois Chicago; women's soccer - Portland; softball - DePaul; men's tennis - Pepperdine; women's tennis - Denver and Pepperdine; men's indoor track and field - Oral Roberts; women's indoor track and field - Boston University; men's outdoor track and field - Oral Roberts and Texas A&M Corpus Christi; women's outdoor track and field - Providence; and volleyball - St. John's.

"We are pleased that we are able to recognize the Division I-AAA institutions that finish highest in an NCAA Championship," stated Mike Carter, AD at Oral Roberts University and the chair of the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy Committee. "The committee looks forward to continuing this process in the years to come."

UCI was the second-highest Big West Conference institution in the final 2007-08 U.S. Sports Academy Directors' Cup standings for all Division I schools. Cal Poly (253.50) was the top-ranked Big West school at 80th overall, followed by No. 90 UCI (218.00), No. 94 UC Santa Barbara (199.00), No. 95 UC Davis (193.00), No. 96 Long Beach State (192.00), No. 111 Cal State Fullerton (168.50) and No. 165 Cal State Northridge (75.50).

About Division I-AAA ADA: Now in its eighth year, the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association's mission is to enhance initiatives common to its Division I-AAA membership (the 94 Division I institutions that do not sponsor football). The Association is administered by NACDA, now in its 44th year. NACDA is the professional and educational association for more than 6,500 college athletics administrators at more than 1,600 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.