FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas debuted among the nation’s top 20 intercollegiate athletics programs in the initial 2018-19 Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup Standings released on Thursday by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of America (NACDA). The Directors’ Cup tracks the nation’s most successful intercollegiate athletics programs for their performances throughout the year.

Arkansas, ranked No. 18, leads all Southeastern Conference programs and is one of only two league programs (Ole Miss) in the top 35 of the initial standings. The standings released on Thursday included women’s field hockey, men’s cross country and women’s cross country. The Razorbacks currently have 110.5 points.

The 2019 cross country season was full of championships for the University of Arkansas. The women’s team won its sixth-straight SEC cross country crown while junior Gilbert Boit won the SEC individual men’s title. After both the Arkansas men’s and women’s teams won the NCAA South Central Regional crowns in College Station, Texas, both squads advanced to the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Madison, Wisconsin.

The Arkansas women’s cross country team raced to a 14th-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championship to earn 61.5 points. Freshman Katrina Robinson was the Razorbacks’ top individual finisher, earning a 41st-place finish in her first national race. Dating back to its 14^th-place finish at the 2011 Championships, the Razorbacks have finished in the top-20 eight-consecutive years, including four top-15 finishes in the past five years.

Arkansas’ men’s cross country team finished 25th at the NCAA Cross Country Championship. Senior Cameron Griffith led the way for the Razorbacks finishing 42nd in the individual race. Arkansas earned 49 points for its Top-25 team finish.

In 2017-18, Arkansas tied a program record with a No. 16 finish in the Directors’ Cup. The Razorbacks finished in the top 25 for the ninth time in the past 11 years and in the top 20 for only the seventh time since the Directors’ Cup program began 25 years ago. Arkansas ranked first in the nation among programs with 19 or fewer sports.

The Directors’ Cup program has been tracking the success of the nation’s top intercollegiate athletics programs since 1993-94.

BY Kevin Trainor