Tulane FInishes 2nd Among C-USA Schools in Director's Cup Rankings
 |  The Tulane men's tennis team advanced to the NCAA Final 16 and finished the season ranked 14th in the country to lead all Green Wave teams in 2002-03. |
June 30, 2003
NEW ORLEANS - With NCAA appearances for five of its 14 programs in 2002-03, Tulane vaulted to a national finish of 77th in the final NACDA Director's Cup Division I Final Standings. The Wave's finish, among a total of 318 eligible colleges and universities in NCAA Division I, ranked second among 14 Conference USA schools.
While Stanford ran away with its ninth consecutive Director's Cup award, TCU took top honors in Conference USA, finishing 64th with 277.75 points. Tulane, behind NCAA Championships appearances by the baseball, women's golf, men's and women's tennis and men's cross country squads, totaled 205.5 points, placing it between No. 76 Syracuse (208 points) and No. 78 Northwestern (203 points). Tulane's finish was even more impressive considering that the school earned its points from 14 sports programs while the results of up to 20 sports can be counted in Division I.
Highlights of the recently-completed 2002-2003 sports seasons for Tulane included: * A final national ranking of #14 for the Green Wave men's tennis team after advancing to the "Sweet 16" for the first time; * Conference USA Championships for the Tulane men's and women's tennis squads;
* The ninth straight NCAA appearance for the Tulane women's basketball team;
* The sixth straight NCAA appearance for the Green Wave baseball team;
* Women's golf making back-to-back NCAA appearances for the first time in school history;
* Football's victory in the 2002 Hawai'i Bowl to complete an 8-5 season;
* Five Tulane student-athletes - tennis players Julie Smekodub and Jenny Kuhn, Michael Kogan and Victor Romero and baseball player Michael Aubrey - earning first team All-America recognition;
* The national championship won by freshmen Smekodub and Kuhn at the ITA National Indoors in November.
"Certainly from a competitive standpoint, we're very proud of the accomplishments of our teams and student-athletes during this past year," said Rick Dickson, Tulane Director of Athletics. "We had some outstanding team and individual performances on the field, which were matched by our collective excellence in the classroom."
After TCU and Tulane, no other Conference USA team placed in the Top 100 as Cincinnati was the next closest program with 158 points to tie for 110th while Marquette and South Florida (tied for 113th) were followed closely by Houston. Louisville was next at 150th. Overall, 268 of the 318 Division I teams scored points in the competition.
Season tickets for the 2003-2004 Tulane football, volleyball, basketball (men's and women's) and soccer teams are on sale now in the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office in the James Wilson Center, by calling 504-861-WAVE or by logging on to www.TulaneGreenWave.com.
-- THINK GREEN! --
