July 12, 2005

Columbia, Mo. - The University of Missouri concluded its 2004-2005 athletic season ranked 41st in the nation in the final United States Sports Academy Directors' Cup (formerly the NACDA Directors' Cup) standings. The finish is an improvement from 46th a year ago, and it marks the 2nd-highest finish for MU in the standings, since they originated in 1993.

The showing marks a continued overall improvement for Tiger Athletics from a comprehensive competitive standpoint under the guidance of Director of Athletics Mike Alden. In the last five years of the standings, Mizzou's average finish has been 45th overall (including a record 37th-place finish in 2002-03). In the first five years of the standings (1993-94 through 1997-98), MU's average finish was 98th.

"Overall, I would say that the numbers show that the 2004-05 season was a pretty successful one for us," said Alden. "Of course, we didn't have the type of success we were looking for in our revenue sports, but that really makes our finish this year even more remarkable from my viewpoint. For Mizzou to become a top-25 national program in this measurement - which is a goal of ours - we have to have all of our sports contributing, and we are all working very hard to make this happen," he said.

Overall, the 2004-05 season was arguably the best in the school's history, from an Olympic sport standpoint, as 15 of MU's 20 teams qualified for post-season play, and a record seven sports turned in top-25 finishes at NCAA Championship events. Those top-25 finishes included Women's Cross Country (11th), Wrestling (11th), Gymnastics (13th), Women's Golf (16th), Softball (17th), Volleyball (17th) and Men's Golf (20th).

Since Alden arrived at MU for the 1998-99 season, MU has had 32 overall top-25 team finishes (an average of 4.5 per season). In the five years prior to his arrival (1993-94 through 1997-98), MU had only 11 total top-25 finishes (2.2 per year).

The United States Sports Academy Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. The United States Sports Academy, based in Daphne, Alabama, is in its second year sponsoring the program. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in up to 20 sports - 10 women's and 10 men's. Each national champion receives 100 points.

Complete standings and the scoring structure can be found on NACDA's web site at www.nacda.com.