Gamecock women’s athletics ranked top ten in Capital One Cup standings

McLEAN, Va. (May 23, 2018) – Stanford Cardinal men’s and women’s athletics programs hold their spot at the top of the Capital One Cup standings with only the spring season remaining, as announced today by Capital One (NYSE: COF), an official NCAA^® Corporate Champion.

The Capital One Cup is awarded each year to the nation’s top men’s and women’s NCAA Division I athletics programs. Along with the trophy, the programs that earn the No. 1 spot at the end of the spring season receive a combined $400,000 in student-athlete scholarships and are honored at The ESPYS in July. Cardinal men’s and women’s athletics programs have never won the Capital One Cup in the same calendar year.

 The Stanford men, who won their first-ever Capital One Cup in 2016, quickly secured the lead in the fall with a National Championship in soccer and top-10 finishes in cross country and water polo. After concluding the fall with a 16-point lead over both Alabama and North Dakota State; the Cardinal men added to that lead with a top four finish in gymnastics and a top eight finish in swimming and diving.

Another College Football National Championship had the Alabama Crimson Tide men tied for the No. 2 spot in the fall standings with North Dakota State, but this winter the Tide rolled into sole possession of that spot after adding two points from a strong performance in indoor track and field. Tied for third in the men’s winter standings is North Dakota State, Michigan and Villanova. The NDSU Bison were caught by the Wolverines and Wildcats, since the fall standings, after both teams competed for the NCAA Championship in men’s basketball with Villanova emerging victorious to take home 60 points. Michigan built upon its runner-up points in basketball with impressive finishes in swimming and diving, ice hockey, and gymnastics.  Rounding out the top ten standings for men’s athletic programs are Ohio State (6), Oklahoma (7), Georgia (8), Indiana (9) and Penn State (10).

The Stanford Cardinal women followed up their second-ever DI Women’s Soccer Championship in the fall with a winter National Championship in swimming and diving. The championship was the 10th all-time and second-straight for the Cardinal women and they claimed it in record fashion defeating the closest competitor, University of California at Berkeley, by more than 200 points. With the swimming and diving championship and an impressive winter season in indoor track and field, the Stanford women stretched their impressive 32-point lead over No. 2 Nebraska in the Capital One Cup Fall standings to 37 points in the winter standings. Continued excellence has been a theme for the Cardinal women; they’ve won the Capital One Cup four times – more than any men’s or women’s program in the award’s history.

Nebraska women’s athletics continues to hold sole possession of the No. 2 spot, while the Notre Dame Fighting Irish women catapulted themselves into the No. 3 spot after their second-ever National Championship in basketball. The Irish made national headlines and highlight reels after hitting a stunning last-second shot to beat Mississippi State. Rounding out the top five in the women’s standings is Florida, whose top-3 finish in gymnastics and top-10 finish in indoor track and field landed the Gators at No. 4 and UCLA at No. 5, a spot garnered from a National Championship in gymnastics.

Below are the official Capital One Cup standings for the 2017–2018 athletics season with the top-10 point earners (including ties) listed in both men’s and women’s athletics. The complete winter standings can be found at www.CapitalOneCup.com.

Highlights from the winter season include:

• On a last-second buzzer beating shot, Notre Dame women’s basketball defeats Mississippi State to claim the university’s second-ever NCAA Championship in basketball.
• Stanford Cardinal women’s swimming and diving defends its 2017 NCAA National Championship in dominant fashion defeating all competing teams by more than 200+ points to claim the 2018 National Championship. It was the school’s 10th swimming and diving championship all-time.
• Villanova men’s basketball wins its second NCAA National Championship in three seasons with a dominant win over the Michigan Wolverines 79-62. The Wildcats also won the Big East Tournament and their margin of victory over their last 10 games was 18.3 points.
• The University of Oklahoma men’s gymnastics team won its fourth consecutive NCAA National Championship, the Sooners are just the third team in history to do so since the NCAA began holding gymnastics championships in 1938.
• Florida Gators men’s indoor track and field captures their fourth NCAA Indoor Championships team title, defeating Southern California. The Gators have won eight men’s national titles since 2010, that leads all of DI by three.
• UCLA women’s gymnastics wins the 2018 NCAA National Championship title defeating two-time defending champion Oklahoma with a NCAA record score on the balance beam in the final rotation.
• Clarkson women’s ice hockey wins second straight NCAA National Championship on a thrilling overtime game-winning goal vs. Colgate.

“Watching the athletes and their teams strive for greatness is inspiring, and as we move into the spring season, there will be more exciting games and individual highlights to look forward to. The team at Capital One wishes all schools the best of luck as the 2017-2018 Capital One Cup season comes to its exciting conclusion” said Byron Daub, Senior Director of Brand Sponsorships at Capital One. “We’re looking forward to crowning our 8^th Capital One Cup champions and are proud to support and contribute to the success of student athletes.”

Each school earns points based on its teams’ top-10 finishes in NCAA Division I championships and in final official coaches’ polls across 21 women’s and 20 men’s sports.  The Capital One Cup winners will be determined at the end of the spring season and will be presented with the Capital One Cup trophy and a combined $400,000 in student-athlete scholarships. Last year, the Capital One Cup was awarded to The Ohio State University men’s athletics program and Stanford University women’s athletics program. This is the eighth year of the Capital One Cup.