Ice Hockey won its third straight NE-10 regular season championship as well as the tournament title. |
Women's Track & Field won its third straight NE-10 Indoor Championship (PHOTO BY Lewis Glass/SportsPix) |
Men's Basketball won its third regional championship and trip to the NCAA II Elite Eight. (PHOTO BY Tom Weishaar) |
Skyhawks also NE-10 best 20th in latest Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings
NE-10 Presidents' Cup Winter Update
EASTON, Mass. (March 31, 2016) – Five-time Northeast-10 Conference Presidents' Cup Champions Stonehill College moved up two spots from the fall season to third place in the 2015-16 Presidents' Cup standings following the winter athletic season the league announced today.
Stonehill, which has finished in the top three of the final NE-10 Presidents' Cup standings 11 straight years with first place finishes four of the last six, has accumulated 116 points through the winter sports season after sitting fifth after the fall with 71 points. Eight time Presidents' Cup champions Bentley University took over the top spot in the standings with 131.5 points, while fall leaders and two-time champions Adelphi University is second with 123 points. Stonehill stands 6.5 points ahead of fourth place Merrimack College (109.5) and 13.5 points in front of fifth place American International College (102.5) heading into the spring season.
In addition to its third place standing in the NE-10 Presidents' Cup, Stonehill is ranked a Northeast-10 best 20th in the latest Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings released today. The Skyhawks have earned 269.50 Learfield Cup points from NCAA Championship participation from the fall season as well as women's track and field (33 points) and men's basketball (73) during the winter. Stonehill, which finished a Northeast-10 high 30th in the final 2014-15 Learfield Cup standings, leads all NE-10 member institutions again, with Merrimack ranked 38th (223.50 points) and Adelphi 44th (188). The Learfield Cup is presented annually to signify success in 14 NCAA Division II Championships (seven men, seven women) over the course of the academic year.
Stonehill has won the NE-10 Presidents' Cup five times, following the 2005-06, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2014-15 academic years. The Presidents' Cup is presented annually to signify overall athletic excellence in the Northeast-10. The honor is awarded to the institution that compiles the most cumulative points, based on finishes in the regular-season standings, from all of its programs competing in league championships. Points for men's and women's cross country, men's and women's swimming & diving, men's and women's indoor and outdoor track & field, and men's golf are awarded based on placement in those sports' respective conference championships.
Stonehill won a third straight Northeast-10 regular season championship in ice hockey, while also capturing the NE-10 Tournament title, and the women's track and field program won a third straight NE-10 indoor championship this winter. Men's basketball finished tied for second in the NE-10's Northeast Division before earning a second straight NCAA Tournament bid, with the Skyhawks claiming a third East Regional Championship to advance to the Division II Elite Eight for the third time in ten years. Stonehill received maximum Presidents' Cup points from its seventh straight women's cross country NE-10 championship in the fall, while field hockey went on the win a second straight NE-10 tournament crown.
All five of Stonehill's winter sports competed in postseason play, giving the Skyhawks ten postseason appearances out of 13 programs through the fall and winter seasons.
With 20 intercollegiate sports, Stonehill boasts one of the top athletic and academic programs in the country. In addition to winning its fifth Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup following the 2014-15 academic year, the Skyhawks have received the NCAA Division II Presidents' Award for Academic Achievement each of the first five years of the program's existence of honoring institutions with an Academic Success Rate (ASR) of 90-percent or better. Stonehill has earned a 96% Academic Success Ranking (ASR) by the NCAA two straight years, which considers the academic success rate of the institution based on the graduation rate of student-athletes, good for fifth among all NCAA Division II institutions, with 12 Skyhawk teams receiving a perfect rating of 100%. In addition, the Skyhawks are ranked third in the National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA) Power Rankings for Division II used to assess the academic and athletic standards of all NCAA and NAIA athletic programs. Stonehill has also been selected as the host of the 2016 NCAA Division II Field Hockey Championships at W.B. Mason Stadium.
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