CLEVELAND, Ohio – Thanks to a second place finish in men's soccer and an appearance in the second round of the NCAA playoffs by football, Carson-Newman's athletic department ranks 23^rd among all Division II school in the Learfield Director's Cup. 

C-N got 90 points from its finish in men's soccer and 53 from the run in the football playoffs.  With 143, it sits a point behind Lewis and 11 away from the top 20 in Simon Fraser and Saint Leo. 

C-N is second highest ranked school in the southeast region behind Wingate, who is ranked 11^th after scoring points for women's cross country, women's soccer and volleyball.

Lenoir-Rhyne is two spots behind C-N thanks to the Bears runners-up finish in football. 

Eight-time champion Grand Valley State (MI) increased its lead in the Division II Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings thanks to a third place finish in football and ninth place finish in women's volleyball. The Lakers finished the fall with 437 total points.

Shippensburg (PA) is in second with 303 points. The Raiders earned 50 points in women's volleyball. West Florida remains in the third spot to end the fall with 282 points. The Argonauts finished ninth in women's volleyball. West Texas A&M moved up to fourth with 276 points after finishing third in women's volleyball and fifth in football. Minnesota Duluth jumped into the fifth spot with 257.5 points thanks to ninth place finishes in both football and women's volleyball. 

The Learfield Sports 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 up to 14 sports -- seven women's and seven men's.

The first Division II winter standings will be released Thursday, March 20, 2014.

In its four decades, Learfield has developed trusted, long-term relationships with some of the most revered institutions and associations in the world of collegiate athletics. Learfield Sports owns the exclusive multimedia rights to over 50 of the leading college programs in the country and has prominence in all of the major athletic conferences. Learfield's rights encompass all athletic department media and sponsorships components, including stadium signage and numerous content distribution platforms. Those platforms deliver the passion of college athletics over radio, television and digital networks to fans globally, and Learfield's exclusive sports programming reaches more than 56 million television households nationally and delivers nearly 17,000 hours of radio programming on more than 1,100 radio stations. This marks the sixth consecutive year for the company to title the prestigious Learfield Sports Directors' Cup. To learn more, visit www.learfieldsports.com.