ELMHURST, Ill. - With the fall season of the 2009-10 academic year in the books, IUPUI has taken the early lead in the race for The Summit League Commissioner’s Cup with 35.5 points, while Oakland is second with 33.5 points. In the race for the Dr. William Steinbrecher Men’s All Sports Award, Oakland holds the top spot, while in the Dr. Helen Smiley Women’s All Sports Award, North Dakota State is in first place.

Oakland and North Dakota State trail each other by half a point, while South Dakota State, Oral Roberts and Southern Utah are all separated by three points in the fourth through sixth slots in the Commissioner’s Cup Standings. Western Illinois, IPFW and UMKC are only 1.5 points apart, while Centenary rounds out the standings.

 

IUPUI finished among the top two in three of the five Summit League Championship sports contested during the fall, including a team championship in women’s soccer. The Golden Grizzlies finished in the top five in four of the five fall sports for its second-place standing on the Commissioner’s Cup list.

 

The Bison sit atop the women’s standings and in third place in the Commissioner’s Cup rankings thanks to finishing first in women’s women’s soccer and volleyball and a second-place finish in women’s cross country.

 

South Dakota State ranks fourth in the Commissioner’s Cup standings after finishing first in the men’s cross country and women’s soccer standings. Oral Roberts is fifth in the Commissioner’s Cup standings after a third-place finish in the women’s cross country championship and fifth-place performances in men’s cross country and women’s soccer.

 

The Commissioner’s Cup is given annually to the member institution that collects the most combined points in relationship to placement in league-sponsored sports between its men’s and women’s athletic programs, while the All Sports Awards are given to the institutions that accumulate the most points in men’s sports and women’s sports. The men’s award is named for former Valparaiso Director of Athletics Dr. William Steinbrecher, who guided the Crusaders from 1979-2004, while the women’s award is named for former Western Illinois Director of Athletics Dr. Helen Smiley, who headed WIU’s athletic program from 1994-2001.

 

Standings for the 2009-10 Commissioner’s Cup and the Dr. William Steinbrecher Men’s All Sports and Dr. Helen Smiley Women’s All Sports Awards can be found below.