BALTIMORE, MD - With five teams scoring at NCAA Championships, Johns Hopkins accumulated 256.5 points during the winter season and ranks second in the final 2017-18 Learfield Directors' Cup Standings for the winter. The winter effort builds on a 383-point showing in the fall to give Blue Jay teams a total of 639.5 points on the year.

MIT moved into the top spot in the standings with 686.5 total points and is followed by Johns Hopkins, Williams (613 points), Middlebury (609) and Washington St. Louis (582.5) in the top five.

Johns Hopkins has placed in the top 10 in the final Directors' Cup standings in six of the last seven years with eighth (2010-11), ninth (2011-12), seventh (2012-13), third (2013-14), second (2014-15) and fifth place (2016-17) finishes to its credit. Johns Hopkins has 11 consecutive top 20 finishes and 19 top 25 finishes in the 22 years the program has existed.

The men's swimming team led the way for Johns Hopkins in the winter as a fourth-place showing at the NCAA Championships landed 80 Directors' Cup points. The women's swimming team added 75 points with a fifth-place finish at the NCAAs.

A return to the NCAA Tournament by the men's basketball team landed 50 Directors' Cup points as head coach Josh Loeffler led his team to the second round of the NCAAs.

Head coach Keith Norris and the Blue Jay wrestling team had three individuals qualify for the NCAA Championships and their efforts contributed 36 Directors' Cup points.

Rounding out the winter scoring teams for Johns Hopkins was the women's indoor track team, which earned 15.5 points in winter Directors' Cup standings.

The Johns Hopkins men's fencing team also scored at the recent NCAA Championship. As a national collegiate championship (a single championship for multiple divisions within in the NCAA), those Directors' Cup points will be awarded when the final Division I winter standings are announced. It doesn't appear that the points Johns Hopkins earned will change its second-place standing heading into the spring.

The Learfield Sports Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Through the course of the year, Directors' Cup points are awarded based on a school's finish in up to 18 sports - nine men and nine women - in NCAA Championships. New in 2017-18 is the stipulation that four of the 18 sports counted for every school must be men's and women's soccer and men's and women's basketball - even if those teams do not score in those sports.

About Learfield Sports: An industry leader for more than four decades, Learfield has a deep presence in the college athletics landscape nationwide. It manages the multimedia and sponsorship rights for more than 120 collegiate institutions, conferences and arenas, and supports athletics departments at all competitive levels as title sponsor of the prestigious Learfield Directors' Cup. Learfield also provides its collegiate partners access to professional concessions and ticket sales; branding, licensing and trademark consulting; digital and social platform expertise; campus-wide business and sponsorship development; and venue and technology systems through its affiliated companies.

2017-18 Learfield Directors' Cup
Final Division III Winter Standings (3-29-2017) ? Top 10
1 - MIT (686.5 points)
2 - Johns Hopkins (639.5)
3 - Williams (613)
4 - Middlebury (609)
5 - Washington St. Louis (582.5)
6 - Emory (578.55)
7 - Wisconsin La Crosse (540)
8 - Chicago (532)
9 - Tufts (521.5)
10 - Wartburg (508.5)

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