Thomas More College capped a banner 2015-16 athletic season with a 59th place finish in the final Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings.
The Saints accumulated 317 for its place among 323 NCAA Division III schools who competed in NCAA Championship events. There are 450 NCAA Division III member schools.
Thomas More recorded the top 2015-16 Directors’ Cup finish for a Presidents’ Athletic Conference member school and for a Kentucky Division III school as PAC member Westminster College was No. 140 and in-state rival Centre College was ranked No. 146.
The 59th place finish is the second-highest finish for Thomas More as it is second to the 57th place finish after the 2009-10 academic year. The Saints also finished in the top-100 in 2014-15 as they were ranked No. 61 and in 2013-14 and 2010-11 as they were 78th both of those years.
The 2015-16 academic year saw six Thomas More teams qualify for NCAA Championships (women’s soccer, volleyball, men’s soccer, football, women’s basketball and baseball). The women’s basketball team capped a perfect 33-0 season with its second-straight NCAA Division III Championship. The women’s soccer team advanced to the Sectional Semi-Finals (Round of 16), while the baseball team finished as regional semi-finalists.
Thomas More also had some high individual accomplishments during the past academic year. Sophomore Christina Cook (Independence, Ky./Simon Kenton) qualified for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championship for the second-straight-year in the 400-meter dash. For the third-straight year, senior guard/forward Sydney Moss (St. Albans, W.Va./Boone County (Ky.)) swept all three Division III women’s basketball player of the year honors and was named the 2016 Honda DIII Athlete of the Year. Head women’s basketball coach Jeff Hans was named the D3hoops.com’s National Coach of the Year for the second-straight season.
The Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution’s finish in up to 18 sports: nine women’s and nine men’s.
From TMC Athletics
