USTFCCCA Release | Standings

NEW ORLEANS - Thanks to its first ever team appearance at the cross country national championship meet, as well as having a pair of NCAA All-Americans at both the indoor and outdoor track and field championship meets, Bethel University finished 2008-09 among the top 10 teams in the Deb Vercauteren Program of the Year standings.

The NCAA Division III Deb Vercauteren Program of the Year Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding NCAA Division III women's cross country/track & field program.  The award honors the institution that has achieved the most success in each academic year (spanning the cross country, indoor track & field, and outdoor track & field seasons) based on the institution's finish at the NCAA Division III Championships.

Bethel finished seventh in the standings, just ahead of the University of St. Thomas, which was eighth, and Carleton College, which was 14th as the only other MIAC schools on the elite 19-team list.
 
In order to be eligible for the award teams must qualify for the NCAA Championships.  Scoring will be based on the team's finish at each NCAA Division III Championship in cross country, indoor track & field, and outdoor track & field (i.e. 1st = 1 point, 2nd = 2 points, 31st = 31 points) with the lowest total score for all three championships combined determining the award recipient.
 
The NCAA Division III Deb Vercauteren Program of the Year Award is named after USTFCCCA Hall of Famer and current Wisconsin-Oshkosh women's head coach Deb Vercauteren.  Her Titans have won a combined 18 NCAA national titles and her student-athletes have combined to earn 347 All-American performances.  Vercauteren has won an impressive 36 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles (15 cross country, 11 indoors, and 10 outdoors).