For decades known as a small college football and basketball powerhouse, Wittenberg University ended the 2002-03 academic year ranked No. 20 among 424 NCAA Division III schools in the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Directors’ Cup standings.

Wittenberg exhibited the best all-around performance among NCAA Division III schools in either the North Coast Athletic Conference or the state of Ohio. After finishing a close second in the 2002-03 NCAC All-Sports standings for a second straight year, Wittenberg outdistanced its conference rivals in the national standings by scoring points in four men’s sports and five women’s sports.

The finish puts Wittenberg in the same company as other academically distinguished colleges, such as Williams College, Middlebury College, Amherst College and Johns Hopkins University that finished in the top 20.

Wittenberg also showed well against larger NCAA Division III institutions, such as Emory University, Tufts University and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, all top-30 finishers with enrollments at least three times that of Wittenberg.

The Directors’ Cup, presented annually since 1996 by the NACDA, is based on schools’ finishes at their respective national championships, and women’s teams were instrumental in Wittenberg’s top-20 finish. Tiger teams finished the fall season with 179 points thanks to national finishes in football (tied for ninth), volleyball (tied for fifth) and field hockey (tied for ninth). In the winter sports season, Wittenberg ran its point total to 338.5 thanks to national finishes in women’s basketball (tied for 33rd), men’s swimming and diving (tied for 21st), women’s swimming and diving (tied for 40th), and men’s indoor track and field (tied for 23rd). The point total improved again during the spring season thanks to national finishes in softball (tied for 25th) and men’s outdoor track and field (tied for ninth).

Each year, the Directors’ Cup program awards Waterford Crystal trophies to the winning athletics programs in NCAA Divisions I, II and III and the NAIA, and presents a total of $100,000 in postgraduate academic scholarships to students in all four collegiate categories.

Developed as a joint effort between USA TODAY and NACDA, the program is the only national awards and academic scholarship program to recognize all NCAA and NAIA championship sports for both women’s and men’s athletics.