Long Beach ranks 54th at Sears Directors Cup

By Glenn Klevens, On-line Forty-Niner

July 2,1998

Long Beach State finished tied for 54th in the nation in the final standings of the 1997-1998 Sears Directors' Cup for Division I schools, released on June 16.

Points are earned by teams according to their final place in any sport which offers an NCAA Championship. Long Beach State finished with 170 points, thanks in large part to a third place finish in women's volleyball and a fourth place showing in baseball. The two sports earned 60 points each.

Stanford captured the Sears Cup for the fourth year in a row, tallying 1010 points to easily outdistance Florida and North Carolina who tied for second with 660 points each.

Over 300 schools participate in Division I athletics. Among all the schools without a football program (77 total), the 49ers placed second only to Pepper-dine in points.

"This is an excellent tribute to the efficiency of the program," Athletic Director Bill Shumard said. "We have excellent coaches who have recruited solid student-athletes."

This has been the highest rating the school has received in the short life of the Sears Directors' Cup, according to Shumard. "The future is definitely on the upswing, very bright," he said.

The 49ers' score gave them top billing in the Big West Conference and ranked them seventh overall in the state.

The Sears Directors' Cup program awards a total of $100,000 in scholarships.