Athletics
Denison finishes second in NCAC All-Sports race
Date: May 14, 2008
Location: CLEVELAND
A highly successful spring sports season which featured seven, top-three finishes in the North Coast Athletic Conference standings led Denison to their second straight, second-place finish in the conference's annual All-Sports Championship standings. Denison, who won an unprecedented nine-consecutive All-Sports Championships between 1998-2006, has not finished lower than second place in the overall standings since 1997.
Denison totaled 153.5 points which trailed 2007-08 champion Ohio Wesleyan by 16 points. Finishing third was Allegheny College with 147.0 points. Fourth place went to Kenyon College with 140.0, followed by Wittenberg (137.5), Wooster (135.5), Oberlin (111.5), Wabash (65.5) and Earlham and Hiram who tied with 54.0 points.
Overall, Denison posted 12, top-three finishes led by championships in men's lacrosse and women's tennis. The men's lacrosse team posted a perfect 5-0 record in NCAC play and rattled off 11 consecutive victories before suffering an overtime loss in NCAA second-round to No. 3 Gettysburg College. The lacrosse team set a new single-season scoring record with 255 goals in 2008.
The women's tennis team won their seventh straight NCAC Championship and on Tuesday (May 13), advanced to the NCAA Semifinals for the first time in school history. The No. 5 ranked Big Red defeated DePauw University in the NCAA regional championship and topped No. 4 Emory, 5-2 in the NCAA Quartefinals from St. Thomas, Minn. Their 21 victories is also a new program record.
Runner-up finishes were posted by women's soccer, men's cross country, men's and women's swimming & diving, baseball, women's lacrosse and men's tennis. Men's golf, men's indoor track and field, and softball all garnered third place finishes, helping the Big Red contend for this year's All-Sports title.
The All-Sports Award is given annually to the school that performs the best across the NCAC's 22 sports. Ten points are awards for a first-place finish, nine for a second, eight for a third, and so on. Men's and women's performances are combined, exemplifying the North Coast's commitment to equity and balance among programs. Denison ranks third with 97 NCAC Championships in the conference's 24 playing seasons. The Big Red trails only Allegheny (102) and Ohio Wesleyan (112) in total championships.