OLIVER KIMOKEO | sports editor
Last week, on March 27, the updated standings were announced on the pursuit for the 2007-08 Directors’ Cup.
The three-time defending champion Cougars fell back in the race for a little while but are now back in fi rst place heading into the spring season.
Sparked by the strong performances of men’s and women’s basketball, the Cougars were able to accumulate enough points to get fi rst place by the slimmest of margins. Currently, the Cougars have 618.5 points while the British Columbian university Simon Fraser has 618 points. The Simon Fraser Clan still has won the most Directors’ Cups in the NAIA association. They won fi ve straight Cups from 1996-1997 to 2000-2001 and added a sixth Cup in 2003-2004.
The main reason why the Clan has not been winning the Cups in the last three years is because the Clan is split between associations in their sports. Simon Fraser belongs to both the NAIA and the Canadian Interuniversity Sport. They can not tally points in football, men’s and women’s basketball, and women’s basketball because they compete for championships in the CIS.
The Clan transferred the aforementioned sports to the CIS in 2002. This is the only reason why the Cougars have been able to win three straight Directors’ Cup and compete for a fourth consecutive one this year. Even without all their sports eligible for points, Simon Fraser has remained a competitive university in the Directors’ Cup race. It was the Clan’s choice to compete in CIS so it is not fair to say that the Cougars were anything than worthy to earn the Cups they have earned in the past.
The Cougars benefi t from being a strong program in all sports despite not showing any dominance in any sport, with the exception of track and fi eld. Every sport has been essential for the Cougars to tally the points necessary to capture the Cup. Going a couple extra rounds in men’s basketball, for instance, gave APU 70 points rather than 25 points had they been eliminated in the fi rst round.
Of course, winning all 100 points for a sport is big, which is only done through winning a championship. The Cougars should be the favorite to be the team with the most points at the end of the year. APU will pick up a lot of points in the men’s and women’s outdoor track and fi eld and the Cougars should be strong in men’s and women’s tennis as well. If baseball can make a return appearance to the NAIA World Series, the Cougars should get the points necessary to clinch the Cup since the Clan does not fi eld a baseball team.
The dark-horse sport that may put the Cougars over the top is softball. Softball has been in the process of rebuilding their status as contenders and while there is still a lot of work to be done, the Cougars have pulled off some impressive wins to gain a No. 21 ranking in the latest NAIA poll.
Every point counts, and for the fi rst time this year, every Cougar program has made an appearance in the NAIA top 25 in their respective sport.
