Fri 19 Jun 2009
MOO! Congrats to All the Williams Student Athletes: 11 in a Row
Posted by Larry George under Athletics at 9:27 am
(Thanks to Dad’13 for pointing this out on Speak Up!)
Williams 1, Middlebury 2, Amherst 3
From the NACAD site:
“Division III
Williams (Mass.) has clinched its 11th consecutive Division II Directors’ Cup with 1066.50 points after competing in 16 post season championships earning points in the maximum nine women’s sports and in seven men’s sports including the national collegiate skiing championship. The Ephs took home the women’s tennis and women’s rowing championships and placed third in women’s and men’s cross country and women’s soccer, fourth in women’s swimming, fifth in women’s volleyball and men’s tennis, ninth in women’s lacrosse, 10th in men’s wrestling, 14th in national collegiate skiing, and men’s outdoor track and field, 15th in women’s outdoor track and field, 21st in men’s swimming and 48th in men’s and women’s indoor track and field.”
Complete standings are here.
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8 Responses to “MOO! Congrats to All the Williams Student Athletes: 11 in a Row”
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JeffZ says:
Congrats. Incredible accomplishment.
David says:
Has skiing always counted in the Directors’ Cup? I have some vague recollection that it (and sports like squash) without “true” Division III NCAA championships did not count.
Could someone knowledgeable give us some details on what rle changes there have been, if any, this year and what rule changes to expect in the future. I seem to recall that a finish of 48th did not use to score you any points.
Could someone speculate on next year, in particular what teams should do well (losing few seniors)?
How about commentary on the performances of other colleges? I don’t follow this topic closely enough to have an informed opinion.
David says:
Williams article here.
Perhaps add this to the post above, for those who don’t read the comments?
JeffZ says:
I can speculate a little about next year. Obviously anything can happen, but here goes. These are very rough guesses (who knows, for example, what sort of frosh are coming in).
Fall: Men’s cross country is a legit title contender, women’s cross country will also be strong as always. Women’s soccer should still be very strong and a likely NCAA participant at a minimum, and could make another deep run. Men’s soccer has a shot at getting back in the NCAA’s although Midd and Amherst seem to have both overtaken Williams in men’s soccer. Women’s volleyball will be even better though probably will never finish any higher than fifth because regions outside New England are much stronger.
Winter: I expect Williams to earn a lot more points in the winter. Wrestling and women’s swimming should both be very strong again, and wrestling could even improve. Men’s swimming might earn some additional points. Men’s hoops should be MUCH improved with a very good shot of making the NCAA’s. Even women’s hoops, which had a very down year, should be much improved with an outside shot of making the tourney. Both indoors track teams could easily earn more points. Men’s hockey should have its best team in years, and has a shot of making the NCAA’s for (I think) the first time in the Director’s Cup era (or at least the first for awhile). The new women’s hockey coach also bears watching although probably too soon to turn that team around. Skiing always scores about the same level.
Spring: women’s crew and tennis can’t do any better, but in light of recent history, neither should do much worse. Men’s tennis should be improved and has a shot of finishing even higher. Baseball returns tons of offensive talent (and from what I’ve read has some great recruits coming in), and could squeeze into the NCAA’s although Trinity is still a formidable obstacle. Men’s and/or women’s golf could easily return to the tourney after this year’s hiatrus, as both teams are regular presences there. Women’s lacrosse could return to the tourney, and men’s lacrosse could squeeze in as well as they made it last year and have a lot of talent returning. Outdoor track and field probably can’t do much better unless some amazing frosh are coming in.
In sum, Williams will be the favorite yet again. Probably will have a hard time doing better in the spring, but could easily outperform this year’s fall and winter results. Many Amherst teams had unprecedented spectacular years and Amherst will have a hard time topping this performance. Midd is probably the toughest competition yet again because of its strength across so many sports, like Williams.
Larry George says:
A bit of a digression, but I liked the “moo” chorus in the Sports people’s release. Too bad it would sound too much like “boo” in person, but we’ll have to remember it when we want to crow in print. Amending post title accordingly.
lgeorge says:
Squib in the Albany Times Union about the win: http://blog.timesunion.com/mcguire/williams-the-best-program-in-college-sports/3985/
I liked the title (“The Best Program in College Sports”) but this was the best line:
“Sports Information Director Dick Quinn knows how to have fun in his job.”
I’ll moo to that.
BHC says:
The NACDA rules are complex. They only count NCAA sports, which do include skiing. But several strong Williams teams are non-NCAA and are not counted, including men’s squash, women’s squash, and men’s rowing. It may seem arbitrary, but tennis and women’s rowing are NCAA and therefore counted by NACDA; squash and men’s rowing are non-NCAA and therefore don’t count.
Another rule is that NACDA only counts the top 9 men’s and 9 women’s teams. So if you have, say, 10 nationally ranked women’s teams, they drop the lowest ones from the count. I believe this rule has actually bitten Williams in the past, and it came close this year with 9 ranked women’s teams.
I think NACDA allows ski teams, which are ranked on the basis of overall men’s and women’s performance, to swing either way. So this year, skiing was counted as the 7th men’s team.
PTC says:
Did’nt we just have a thread about Williams not being big jock school… lol.