Shorter, which posted a program-best 11th place finish in 2009-10, racked up the nation’s highest spring point total behind several historic finishes in the NAIA’s spring national championships.
Shorter won the school’s first-ever NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championship, posted program-best third-place finishes in both the women’s golf and women’s track and field national championships, finished seventh in softball, ninth in men’s tennis and 20th in men’s golf.
Shorter was ranked No. 14 in the final winter Directors’ Cup standings, but soared 12 spots to No. 2 after accumulating the highest single-season point total the school has ever witnessed.
The Hawks have amassed 741 and stand 29.25 points ahead of Lindenwood University (Mo.) and just over 41 points ahead of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Fla.) with one national championship — baseball — yet to be determined.
Golden State Athletic Conference power Azusa Pacific, which leads the pack with 1020.75 points, will run away with yet another NAIA Learfield Directors’ Cup crown, but that won’t prevent Shorter and Director of Athletics Bill Peterson from basking in what is unquestionably the best year in the history of Shorter Athletics.
Shorter won its first two NAIA team national championships in over 50 years of NAIA membership in 2010-11. Shorter, guided by two-time NAIA National Coach of the Year Scott Byrd, captured the men’s indoor track title in March and before wrapping up the men’s outdoor championship last weekend.
The men’s cross country program finished 10th at the NAIA Cross Country National Championship in the fall — its best finish in national competition — to kick off proceedings.
In the winter, the Lady Hawk basketball squad made a return trip to the NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship, and Shorter’s first-year wrestling program posted an eye-catching 20th place finish at the NAIA Wrestling National Championship in Iowa.
Women’s golf claimed the school’s first-ever national No. 1 ranking. win five events and missed out on a national championship by two strokes.
The women’s track team scored a third-place finish at the national meet, while the softball team advanced to bracket play at the national tournament for the second straight year.
Men’s tennis advanced to the second round of the national tournament for the second year in a row and men’s golf climbed to a national No. 9 ranking before ending its season with a strong finish at the national tournament.
The final Learfield Directors’ Cup rankings will be released on July 17.
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