ODU Currently Ranks Among Nation's Top 20 Successful Athletic Programs

After a successful fall season that saw Old Dominion University's Lady Monarchs field hockey team advance to the Final Four, its soccer team qualify for the second round of the NCAA tournament and its football team win a playoff game in only its third year of existence, ODU is currently 19th in a national ranking of collegiate athletic programs.

Called the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup, the contest awards points for playoff/tournament finishes in Division I sports. With the success of the three sports, ODU was awarded 133 points, good for a tie for 19th with Indiana and Wake Forest. Defending Learfield Cup champion Stanford is in first place again after the fall sports season, with 260 points.

In the Learfield Cup standings, Old Dominion has the highest-ranked athletic program both in the Colonial Athletic Association and the commonwealth of Virginia. In 2010-11, ODU finished in 68th place in the final Learfield Cup standings.

The 2011-12 athletic season is the fourth year that Learfield, a multimedia sports company with more than 50 collegiate properties, has sponsored this national competition through the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).

For more information about the Directors' Cup or NACDA, visit http://www.nacda.com/ot/nacda-awards-home.html.