Case Western Reserve University maintained its standing as one of the top athletic programs in all of Division III, placing 47th among the over 400 member institutions in the final Learfield Directors' Cup standings of the 2025-26 academic year.
The Learfield Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in the NCAA Championships.
CWRU recorded its fifth consecutive top-50 finish in the Learfield Directors' Cup this year, after having never finished higher than 59th before the 2021-22 season. The Spartans accumulated 381.5 points across the fall, winter, and spring seasons, the fifth-highest total in program history since the award was first issued to Division III programs following the 1995-96 season.
The Spartans steadily climbed in the standings throughout the year. After ranking 98th in the fall with 50 points from women's soccer's 17th-place finish, CWRU rose to 69th after the winter with 129.5 additional points during the season. Women's swimming and diving (23rd place, 50.5 points), men's swimming and diving (33rd place, 40 points), and wrestling (35th place, 39 points) each contributed to the fifth-highest scoring winter season in department history.
For wrestling, it marked the first time that the program has contributed points to the Directors' Cup since the 2010-11 campaign.
CWRU went on to make another jump in the spring, moving to 47th place in the standings with 202 total points during the season, behind contributions from men's tennis (third place, 83 points), softball (ninth place, 64 points), women's tennis (17th place, 50 points), and women's outdoor track and field (72nd place, five points).
While the Directors' Cup standings tell part of the story of the CWRU Department of Physical Education & Athletics in 2025-26, they are only a small piece of the success achieved by the Spartans during the year. Eleven of the 19 varsity programs were represented at their respective NCAA Championships, with men's cross country, women's cross country, and women's indoor track & field sending individuals to compete at their national meets. A total of 18 Spartans earned All-America honors, the fourth-most in a year in department history.
Academically, six CWRU athletes were named College Sports Communicators Academic All-Americans, with softball, baseball, track & field/cross country, and wrestling yet to announce their teams. Three Spartans - William Froass (men's swimming and diving), Ansh Shah (men's tennis), and Hannah Kassaie (women's tennis) - won the NCAA Elite-Scholar Award for having the highest GPA among participants at their NCAA Championship site.
