Click on image to read NCAC release and view complete standings.

Springfield, Ohio — A tremendous fall sports season, followed by a solid winter sports season, has the Wittenberg University athletics program on top of the second installment of the 2009-10 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) All-Sports standings, newly named in honor of the late Dennis Collins, the NCAC's first commissioner who passed away suddenly in June 2009.

After Tiger teams won or shared three regular season championships and claimed two additional runner-up finishes in the seven fall sports to take an 8.5-point lead over Allegheny. The margin over the Gators, now in third place, expanded to 10.5 points and 9.5 points over Denison in the latest standings.

The standings are updated at the end of the fall, winter and spring seasons each school year, with the Dennis M. Collins All-Sports Trophy given annually to the school that performs the best across the NCAC's 22 sports. Ten points are awarded for a first-place finish, nine for a second, eight for a third, and so on. Men's and women's performances are combined, exemplifying the North Coast's commitment to equity and balance among programs.

Wittenberg won the NCAC All-Sports award in 1996 and has three other runner-up finishes (1995, 2002 and 2003) since joining the conference in 1989. Denison has the most titles with 11, followed by Ohio Wesleyan with nine, including the last three (Denison and Ohio Wesleyan shared the 2008-09 crown), and Wooster with five. Wittenberg is the only one of the four schools to win the All-Sports trophy that was not a charter member of the NCAC, which started competition in 1984.

Leading the way in the winter season was the Tiger women's basketball program, which claimed its 12th NCAC regular season title with a 15-1 record in the 2009-10 title chase. The Tiger men's basketball team added a third-place tie with Allegheny with an 11-5 record.

At the 2010 NCAC Swimming and Diving Championships, the Tigers claimed a fourth-place finish in the women's competition and a fifth-place finish in the men's. Rounding things out, Wittenberg took a fourth in women's indoor track and field and a fifth in men's indoor track and field.

Written by: Ryan Maurer

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