Tufts athletics is enjoying record-breaking success this season, and now, the rest of the nation is taking notice.
Thanks to postseason appearances from five winter-season squads, the Jumbos climbed from 31st to 12th in the latest Directors' Cup rankings, which were released on April 3. Tufts gained 271.5 points in the standings, more than it has earned in any previous fall, winter or spring season.
The NESCAC is easily the best-represented conference in the latest rankings, boasting three schools - Amherst, Williams and Middlebury - in the top five. The trio is chasing Washington University in St. Louis, which leads the standings with 693.50 points.
The Directors' Cup has been ranking Div. III schools based on their overall athletic prowess since the 1995-96 school year. A school earns a maximum of 100 points in the standings for each team it qualifies for NCAA postseason events. Victories in conference or regional tournaments, however, do not earn a school Directors' Cup points.
The Jumbos' biggest haul of the winter came from the women's track and field team, which tallied 73.5 points behind the strength of a sixth-place showing at the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 14-15. Just a shade behind was women's basketball, which parlayed a run to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament into 73 points.
Meanwhile, the men's track and field team also scored big for Tufts, taking in 45.5 points following its top-25 performance at the NCAA Indoor Championships. A pair of individual national titles from senior Kendall Swett helped the women's swimming and diving team garner 53 points, while the men's side contributed 26.5.
So far, the spring season has indicated that the best is yet to come for the Jumbos. Men's lacrosse entered the season ranked No. 5 in the nation, softball will likely contend for a trip to the College World Series, and women's tennis is seeking an eighth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth. Meanwhile, both the men's and women's outdoor track teams will feature much of the talent that made them successful during the indoor season.
If the spring squads live up to their early-season billing, the Jumbos will continue a three-year trend that has seen them make their presence on the national scene increasingly palpable. The run began in the 2005-06 season when Tufts finished at No. 6 in the final Directors' Cup rankings, obliterating its previous school high of 24th. Last year, the Jumbos followed with another top-20 finish, placing 16th in the final standings. A strong spring this time around could catapult Tufts into the top 10 for just the second time in school history.
The first Div. III spring rankings are due out on May 22, followed by the final 2007-08 standings on June 11.
