CLEVELAND, OHIO — The 2025-26 Division I LEARFIELD Directors' Cup Winter Standings have been announced as High Point University ranks No. 72 (out of 365 DI schools) with 214.50 total points to lead every Big South Conference and second among DI-AAA institutions (non-football divisions/101 schools). This is the highest winter ranking for HPU after claiming 12 conference championships and six NCAA Tournament appearances.

"High Point University athletics continues to achieve at the national level of collegiate sports," HPU Vice President and Athletic Director Dan Hauser said. "To finish the winter sports season positioned at No. 72 overall in the Learfield Cup standings represents being in the top twenty-fifth percentile of all 365 NCAA Division I universities. We are so proud of our student-athletes' championship success, and we are focused on additional national achievement with our spring sports as we close out the 2025-2026 year. Go Panthers!"

The Panthers followed up their best fall finish (114.0 points) with a historic winter (100.50 points), while their total points (214.50) trails only St. John's (220.00) in the DI-AAA standings.

Men's basketball led the way in the winter with 50 points after sweeping the Big South Conference regular-season and tournament titles for the second straight year to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament once again. This time, HPU received its highest seed (No. 12) ever and went on to shock the world with an upset of fifth-seed Wisconsin in the first round of March Madness. It marked the men's basketball program's first NCAA Tournament win.

The HPU track & field program brought in 25.5 points as the Panthers had two student-athletes compete at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship. Ricardo Montes de Oca podiumed for a seventh-place finish in the pole vault to become a First Team All-American as Justin Sluijter finished 15th in the long jump for Second Team All-American honors.

Women's basketball repeated as Big South Champions, sweeping the regular-season and tournament trophies to return to the NCAA Tournament for the third time. The Panthers earned their highest NCAA Tournament seed (No. 15) and added 25 points to the winter standings' efforts.

High Point's best fall finish was led by men's soccer and the Panthers' 64 points. The HPU men's soccer team completed a historic season, playing to an undefeated Big South (9-0) record while winning two Big South Championships en route to the program's highest National Seed in the NCAA Tournament (No. 10) and first Round of 32 victory over West Virigina for the first-ever appearance in the Sweet Sixteen.
 
Women's soccer and volleyball earned 25 points each. Women's soccer completed the 'Miracle in Matthews' and upset the top two seeds to win the Big South Championship and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Volleyball followed suit with an upset of the top seed to claim the program's third straight Big South Tournament title after being crowned regular-season champions.

HPU continued to rank higher than multiple Power 4 conference members (SEC, ACC, Big Ten, and Big 12).

High Point's No. 72 ranking was better than Kansas State (Big 12/74), Maryland (Big Ten/80), Houston (Big 12/88), Cincinnati (Big 12/93), Saint Louis (A-10/95), Furman (SoCon/106), Liberty (C-USA/108), James Madison (Sun Belt/123), Mississippi State (SEC/124), Gonzaga (WCC/129), and Creighton (Big East/137), among others.