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Cal looks for highest Sears finish ever

Daily Planet Wire Services
Thursday June 14, 2001

With just the final baseball points to be added, Cal appears headed toward its highest finish ever in the Sears Directors’ Cup standings.  

In the latest rankings announced Tuesday, the Bears moved up to 11th place. Once baseball points are added after the College World Series next week, Cal could easily find itself in the Top 10 at end of the year.  

The Sears Cup measures a school’s overall level of success based on performances of teams in 20 selected sports.  

However, Cal’s finish could have been even higher except that four teams that finished among the top four in the nation did not contribute to the standings. Both rugby and men’s crew defended their national titles, but neither sport competes under the NCAA umbrella. In addition, men’s and women’s water polo were ranked fourth in the final polls, but the Bears were not among the four teams invited to the NCAA championships, and thus received no Sears Cup points.  

In addition to the above teams, Cal had Top 25 finishes in women’s crew (6th), women’s golf (19th), men’s gymnastics (3rd), women’s gymnastics (19th), women’s swimming (7th), men’s swimming (8th), women’s soccer (17th), softball (5th), women’s tennis (9th), men’s tennis (9th) and men’s track & field (22nd).  

The Bears also received points from men’s basketball and men’s golf, and will gain more points from baseball.  

Last year, Cal finished 15th in the final Sears Cup standings, its highest since coming in 13th in 1994-95.