UK Sets School Record with 10th-Place Directors’ Cup Finish

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky Athletics Department set a school record by finishing 10th in final 2016-17 Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings released on Thursday.

“I want to congratulate our students, coaches and staff on this unprecedented top-10 finish in the Directors’ Cup, which is an important gauge of our competitive success,” Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart said. “I am so thankful for their dedication and the way they continually make the Commonwealth proud. This is an important step toward our goals, but we are not going to rest in our work to establish UK Athletics as one of the truly elite departments in America.”

The 10th-place finish breaks the previous school record of 11th set in 2013-14 and gives UK its seventh consecutive top-30 finish. UK had placed in the top 30 only twice in the history of the Directors’ Cup prior to 2009-10, with 26th place being the highest finish.

This year, UK also finished second among Southeastern Conference schools behind only Florida, which marks a school record. The previous best was third place in 2013-14.

The Directors’ Cup measures competitive success for all Division-I schools. For each NCAA-sanctioned sport, schools are awarded points based on NCAA championship participation.

Twenty-one of UK’s 22 varsity teams reached NCAA play to score points toward UK’s Directors’ Cup tally, the most in school history. The rifle, women’s outdoor track and field, men’s basketball, women’s indoor track and field, softball, and baseball teams gave UK six top-10 finishes. UK’s complete finishes by sport are as follows:

Women’s outdoor track and field – Fourth, 80 points

Rifle – Fourth, 80 points

Men’s basketball – Fifth, 73 points

Women’s indoor track and field – Sixth, 73.5 points

Softball – Ninth, 64 points

Baseball – Ninth, 64 points

Gymnastics – 13th, 58.5 points

Women’s swimming and diving – 14th, 61.5 points

Men’s soccer – 17th, 50 points

Volleyball – 17th, 50 points

Women’s basketball – 17th, 50 points

Men’s tennis – 17th, 50 points

Women’s tennis – 17th, 50 points

Men’s indoor track and field – 22nd, 50 points

Women’s cross country – 30th, 30 points

Men’s cross country – 32nd, 26 points

Men’s swimming and diving – 37th, 32 points

Men’s golf – 39th, 33.5 points

Football – 50th, 25 points

Men’s outdoor track and field – 59th, 12.5 points

Women’s golf – 61st, 11.5 points

UK’s goal, set as part of Barnhart’s Elite 1-3-5 initiative, is to finish in the top five of Directors’ Cup standings by the year 2022. Elite 1-3-5 also calls in each UK team to win a conference or national championship by the year 2022 and to continue the department’s streak of 10 consecutive semesters with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or better.