The St. Thomas athletic department currently sits 13th in the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Division III Directors’ Cup standings, not far from its eighth-place finish at the end of last year.

The NACDA website describes the competition as “a program that honors institutions maintaining a broad-based program, achieving success in many sports, both men’s and women’s.”

The overall champion is the institution that records the highest number of points in their division’s Directors’ Cup standings, the website said.

The Tommies have racked up 295.50 total points as of March 19. Just 105.50 of the points came from the winter season, with more points hanging on the fate of the men’s basketball team.

The St. Thomas men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams pushed the department’s point total to its current 295.50 score, with 49.5 points from the men and 56 from the women.

By clinching the program’s first national title after toppling Calvin College (Mich.) in a five-set thriller, the volleyball team added 100 points to the Tommies’ running total this past fall.

The football team added 90 points after its best finish in program history, falling to Mount Union with second place in the NCAA championship game.

Athletic Director Steve Fritz said St. Thomas’ strong performance on and off the court speaks to its high ranking.

“We’ve always been proud of everything in the classroom and the extra-curricular kind of things like athletics. We see nothing wrong with being successful,” Fritz said. “We expect good things from everything at St. Thomas, and so this certainly fits into that.”

With the winter season wrapping up and the spring season underway, the Tommies look to teams such as the 16th-ranked softball team, fifth-ranked baseball team and top 25-ranked men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams to add to their competitive point total.

Posting 10 Tommie squads in the nation’s top 25 for the fall and winter seasons, the athletic department continues to keep its teams near the top of the national stage.

Fritz said many factors weigh into the athletic program’s achievements aside from athletes’ performances.

“To have a good athletic program, you have to have a combination of good people doing good things,” Fritz said. “We’re very blessed to have good student athletes, good coaches and good facilities. You put all those things together, and I think that’s really the recipe for strong programs.”

Softball coach John Tschida said a developed, experienced coaching staff contributes to the continuous success of Tommie teams year after year.

“You don’t see too many new coaches without experience feeling their way through it,” Tschida said. “It’s coaches that have been there, done it before.”

Volleyball defensive specialist Kia Johnson said winning is contagious amongst the Tommies and the feeling pushes each team to reach its potential.

“Once you see someone else be successful, it … really fuels your success, especially when they’re … friends of yours,” Johnson said. “That relationship also becomes competitive … you’re competing with (that) team to get a title. “

With competitive, successful teams returning season-to-season, the Tommies use past athletes as a motivating factor.

Quarterback Matt O’Connell said Tommie teams feed off the success of one another.

“With or without that success, that desire to be the best and to gain that success is there,” O’Connell said. “But to see other programs doing it, I think it just gets you really excited and really enthusiastic at that position in your sport as well.”

Softball player Maria McQuillan said the department strives for its teams to fall within the top 10 spots of the Directors’ Cup’s rankings each season.

“I think there’s definitely a lot of importance placed on athletics,” McQuillan said. “It just shows that we have a very successful program here at St. Thomas.”

Although at the Tommies currently sit in the top-15, Fritz said there is always room for improvement. With its highest fourth-place finish in 2000, the department’s goal is to finish higher, while remaining hopeful for top-10 finishes.

“We’re having a good year again recruiting student athletes. We hope to obviously keep a strong staff, and competitive budgets and certainly great facilities,” Fritz said. “I think we’re on the right track.”

Sean Crotty can be reached at crot0230@stthomas.edu.