UK breaks school record with Top 10 Directors' Cup finish

It’s a big morning from Mitch Barnhart and the UK Athletics Department, which placed 10th in the 2016-17 Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup, the highest finish in school history.

The Directors’ Cup measures success for all Division-I schools in each NCAA sanctioned sport. This year’s 10th place finish tops the previous school record of 11th set in 2013-14 and gives UK its seventh consecutive top-30 finish. UK had placed in the top 30 only twice in the history of the Directors’ Cup prior to 2009-10, with 26th place being the highest finish. In a telling sign of the department’s success, UK finished second among SEC Schools behind Florida, another school record.

Here’s the breakdown of how each program performed this year:

Department — 10th, 1,025 points
Women’s outdoor track and field — Fourth, 80 points
Rifle — Fourth, 80 points
Men’s basketball — Fifth, 73 points
Women’s indoor track and field — Sixth, 73.5 points
Softball — Ninth, 64 points
Baseball — Ninth, 64 points
Gymnastics — 13th, 58.5 points
Women’s swimming and diving — 14th, 61.5 points
Men’s soccer — 17th, 50 points
Volleyball — 17th, 50 points
Women’s basketball — 17th, 50 points
Men’s tennis — 17th, 50 points
Women’s tennis — 17th, 50 points
Men’s indoor track and field — 22nd, 50 points
Women’s cross country — 30th, 30 points
Men’s cross country — 32nd, 26 points
Men’s swimming and diving — 37th, 32 points
Men’s golf — 39th, 33.5 points
Football — 50th, 25 points
Men’s outdoor track and field — 59th, 12.5 points
Women’s golf — 61st, 11.5 points

This year’s accomplishment bodes well for Barnhart’s 1-3-5 initiative. By 2022, Barnhart wants each UK team to win a conference or national championship; to continue the department’s streak of 10 consecutive semesters with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or better; and to finish in the top five of the Director’s Cup standings.

Congrats, guys.