CLEVELAND, OHIO — The 2025-26 Division I LEARFIELD Directors' Cup Standings have been announced as High Point University ranks in the top 25th percentile at No. 88 (out of 365 DI schools) with 236.50 total points to lead the Big South Conference and rank fourth among DI-AAA institutions (non-football divisions/101 schools). This is the second-highest finish for HPU after claiming a department-best 16 conference championships and nine NCAA Tournament appearances.
"High Point University student-athletes and coaches are proving that we are a national caliber athletic program by finishing in the top 25th percentile of the Learfield Directors' Cup Standings at No. 88," HPU Vice President and Athletic Director
Dan Hauser said. "Our focus and strategic positioning are on advancing in the NCAA Tournament and competing at a national level. HPU finished the year with multiple teams winning tournament games and securing a new record of 16 conference championships. Congratulations to our student-athletes for this record setting championship success and the future of High Point University is limitless. Go Panthers!"
HPU finished fourth in the DI-AAA Standings behind only Denver (Summitt/#66), Pepperdine (WCC/#68), and St. John's (Big East/#76). The Panthers ranked higher than multiple Power 4 conference members (ACC, Big Ten, and Big 12) within the overall Division I Standings:
- HPU was #5 in the state of North Carolina behind: UNC (#4), Duke (#11), NC State (#22), Wake Forest (#54), and HPU (#88)
- HPU finished above ACC member Georgia Tech (#90), Big 12 member Cincinnati (#91), and Big Ten member Rutgers (#93)
- HPU finished above members of the Big East Conference (Xavier - #122, Providence - #169, Butler - # 170, Creighton - #173, and Marquette – #225)
- HPU finished higher than every member of multiple conferences including:
- Atlantic-10
- CAA
- Southern
- American
- ASUN
- Big South
- Several other conferences
The Panthers accumulated their second-most points (236.40) behind the university's best fall finish (114.0 points) and a historic winter (100.50 points).
In the spring, women's golf added the final 22 points after the Panthers won the program's first-ever Big South Conference title to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Men's basketball led the way in the winter with 50 points after sweeping the Big South Conference Championships 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 and the sixth in school history.
The HPU track & field program brought in 25.5 points as the Panthers had two student-athletes compete at the NCAA Track & Field Indoor Track & Field Championship. Ricardo Montes de Oca podiumed with 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's highest LEARFIELD Directors' Cup finish was in 2020-21, where HPU ranked No. 77 (237.00 points).
#GoHPU
