NWAC Announces 2025-26 Athletic Director's Cups Winter Update
The NWAC awards its Athletic Director's Cups (Dr. Maury Ray Cup) to the schools that performs the best in each of the conference's 13 men's and women's championships. Starting with the 2025-26 athletic calendar, the NWAC revamped the award with a new scoring format and splitting the conference into three divisions: the upper, middle, and lower divisions. The upper division consists of schools with 10 or more sports, middle division schools have 7-9 sports, and the lower division programs have six or less sports. The formula consists of weighting each sport based on the number of participating teams, and adding bonus points based on regular season and postseason finishes. Each schools total points are then divided by the number of sports they compete in.
Cups will be awarded to winners of the three divisions at the end of the year Hall of Fame Banquet.
At the conclusion of winter sports championships, following are the top five schools in each division:
|
Place |
Upper Division (10+ Sports) |
Points |
|
1st |
Spokane Colleges |
0.870 |
|
2nd |
Lane Community College |
0.819 |
|
3rd |
Treasure Valley Community College |
0.748 |
|
4th |
Southwestern Oregon Community College |
0.728 |
|
5th |
Umpqua Community College |
0.727 |
|
Place |
Middle Division (7-9 Sports) |
Points |
|
1st |
Highline College |
0.887 |
|
2nd |
Skagit Valley College |
0.8583 |
|
3rd |
Columbia Basin College |
0.8581 |
|
4th |
Bellevue College |
0.850 |
|
5th |
Walla Walla Community College |
0.823 |
|
Place |
Lower Division (6 or less Sports) |
Points |
|
1st |
Peninsula College |
0.961 |
|
2nd |
Lower Columbia College |
0.903 |
|
3rd |
Rogue Community College |
0.816 |
|
4th |
Tacoma Community College |
0.765 |
|
5th |
Yakima Valley College |
0.719 |
Spokane maintains its top spot in the upper division ranking, but has seen its lead shrink during the winter. The Sasquatch won two team titles in men's cross country and women's soccer, while placing second in women's cross country, top-four in men's soccer and top-eight in volleyball. Treasure Valley and Umpqua each saw nice jumps thanks to both men's and women's basketball programs qualifying for the NWAC tournament including two region titles from the men's basketball teams.
In the middle division, Highline remains in first, but by a narrow margin with Skagit Valley, Columbia Basin, Bellevue and Walla Walla all within range. Skaigt Valley jumped up to second with their men's basketball title and a postseason appearance for the women's team. Walla Walla moved into fifth thanks to their women's basketball title. Bellevue and Columbia Basin maintained consistency with two more postseason qualifying teams.
Lastly, the lower division is still led by Peninsula whose women's basketball team reached the final four with a region championship, while the men's basketball team also earned points qualifying for the tournament. Lower Columbia made a large jump from sixth to second after a runner-up finish from the men's basketball team and a final four appearance from the women's basketball program, to go with their region title.
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Contact: Iain Dexter; idexter@nwacsports.com