ASU finishes among Director’s Cup elite

The ASU athletic department finished 10th in the U.S. Sports Academy Directors’ Cup standings, as ASU’s top 10 finishes in women’s indoor and outdoor track and field, women’s basketball, baseball and softball led the way to its 11th straight top 20 finish.

ASU’s finish also ties its second-highest overall mark and is the third time in seven years it has finished in the top 10 overall.

Highlighting ASU’s finish were a pair of NCAA championships earned by head coach Greg Kraft’s women’s indoor and outdoor track and field teams. Kraft was named the 2007 USTFCCA Women’s National Coach of the Year (both indoors and outdoors) after leading the Sun Devils to the women’s indoor national crown in March, followed by the women’s national outdoor title in June. The women, who scored 200 total points for ASU in the cup standings (100 per first-place finish), also won their second Pac-10 title in a row.

ASU’s women’s basketball team, led by head coach Charli Turner Thorne, enjoyed a historic run through the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, placing fifth overall with a 31-5 record, as the Sun Devils advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history. ASU also set single-season school records for wins (31), Pac-10 conference wins (16) and road wins (10) while achieving its highest USA Today/ESPN coaches poll ranking (No. 8) and Associated Press ranking (No. 10) in school history.

The Pac-10 conference champion Sun Devil baseball team returned to the College World Series for the second time in three seasons, finishing fifth overall. Led by Pat Murphy, the 2007 Pac-10 coach of the year, and Pac-10 conference player of the year Brett Wallace, ASU finished 49-15 on the season and swept through its regional and super-regional appearances in Tempe before traveling to Omaha, Neb., to participate in the 2007 CWS.

Head coach Clint Myers’ softball team appeared in the Women’s College World Series for the second straight season, placing seventh overall with a final record of 54-17.

ASU is one of five Pac-10 schools to finish ranked in this year’s top 10 overall standings.

For the complete release, including historical results, please click on the following link: http://thesundevils.cstv.com/genrel/062707aaf.html.