Stephen F. Austin Claims First Southland Conference Commissioner's Cup
FRISCO, Texas - After claiming five regular season team championships, Stephen F. Austin has won its first Southland Conference Commissioner's Cup, the league announced Sunday.
FINAL STANDINGS
Stephen F. Austin joins UT Arlington (1998-99) as the only universities to win both the men's and women's all-sports trophies and the Commissioner's Cup in the same season. The 158 points accumulated by SFA are the most by a Commissioner's Cup winner since Texas State posted 175.5 points in the 2003-04 scholastic year.
"Congratulations to Stephen F. Austin and its administration, coaches and most of all, its student-athletes for a fantastic competitive record in 2009-10," Southland commissioner Tom Burnett said. "It's been over a decade since a Southland school swept the men's, women's and overall all-sports awards, and what the SFA program accomplished is a rare feat across Division I athletics."
The combined five regular season men's and women's team championships are the most by Stephen F. Austin since 2005 and the 29-point margin in the Commissioner's Cup standings is the largest winning margin in Southland history.
The Lumberjacks recorded four runner-up finishes and an additional three top-five finishes. SFA won its first men's all-sports trophy with 71.5 points after sharing the conference championship in football last fall. The Lumberjacks were second in indoor and outdoor track and field and basketball and came in fourth in baseball and cross country.
SFA won its second women's all-sports trophy and its first since the 1999-2000 season on the strength of four regular-season championships in basketball, indoor and outdoor track and field and a co-championship in softball. The 86.5 points are the most compiled by SFA since it scored 87 during the 2003-04 season.
"This award is a credit to our coaches, staff and, most importantly, our student-athletes for being able to balance not only athletics, but their academic responsibilities as well," SFA director of athletics Robert Hill said. "They have been able to concentrate on doing two things that we strive to do at SFA - win championships and graduate our student-athletes."
Texas State, the 2009 Commissioner's Cup winner, finished in a second-place tie with UTSA (129) after clinching its second consecutive regular-season championship in baseball on Saturday. In addition, the Bobcats recorded first-place finishes in women's soccer, women's golf and were co-champions in softball. Texas State has finished in the top three in the Commissioner's Cup standings the last three seasons.
UTSA tied for second in the Commissioner's Cup standings and has been among the top two teams in four of the last five seasons. The Roadrunners won their first trophy in 2008. UTSA won two championships this season as the men's indoor track and field team won its fifth consecutive conference title and the men's outdoor team won its second title in the last three years.
UT Arlington came in fourth place for the second consecutive season with 124.5 points, marking the fourth consecutive year the Mavericks have scored 120 or more points. Sam Houston State logged 120 points to finish in fifth for the second consecutive year.
McNeese State (101.5), Lamar (101) and Southeastern Louisiana (100.5) finished sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively by a one-point difference. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi finished ninth (91.5) while Northwestern State (76), Nicholls (62.5) and Central Arkansas (52.5) rounded out the standings.
The Commissioner's Cup is awarded annually to the top overall athletics program in the Southland. Texas State leads all member institutions with five. UT Arlington and Sam Houston State each have three and Northwestern State, Stephen F. Austin and UTSA have one apiece.
The Southland Conference All-Sports Trophies are awarded annually for men's and women's competition based on a 12-point system for all conference sports. Point values are 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, pending place of finish. Regular-season standings are used for sports that have a conference tournament. The Commissioner's Cup is awarded to the university compiling the highest combined total of men's and women's all-sports points.
Stephen F. Austin will be presented all three trophies June 3 at the annual Southland Conference Honors Dinner in Galveston, Texas.