Dominant Winter Lifts Milwaukee Into McCafferty Trophy Lead

INDIANAPOLIS -- With Horizon League championships in men’s and women’s swimming and diving and men’s and women’s indoor track and field, Milwaukee vaulted into the lead in the McCafferty Trophy standings after the winter sports season.

Milwaukee trailed after the fall season by a single point but now leads Butler by 20 points in the race for the McCafferty Trophy.

The Panthers grabbed the lead with four championships in the winter sports season as they swept both the swimming and diving and indoor track and field championships. The four titles accounted for 28 of Milwaukee’s 29 winter points.

Of the six women’s championships to this point in the year, Milwaukee has captured four, leading to the Panthers’ commanding lead in the women’s all-sports standings. In the pool, Emily McClellan qualified for her second consecutive NCAA Championships after a dominant run at the Horizon League Championship in helping the Panthers to their first women’s swimming title since 2001.

On the men’s side, Milwaukee won the men’s swimming crown for the third consecutive season. The men’s track and field squad captured its ninth straight indoor title, as the Panthers took the lead in the men’s all-sport standings.

Milwaukee will try and grab its first McCafferty Trophy since 2009 and sixth overall, while Butler and Cleveland State are the Panthers closest pursuers with 25 and 24 points, respectively.

Valparaiso, coming off its first Horizon League regular season men’s basketball championship, trails Milwaukee by three points in the men’s standings and is tied with Loyola for fourth in the overall standings. The Crusaders have never finished better than ninth overall since joining the conference.

Named in honor of James J. McCafferty, who served as the conference’s first commissioner from 1979-80, the McCafferty Trophy is awarded annually by the Horizon League to a member institution compiling the greatest number of performance points, based on their finish in the League’s 19 championship sports.

For the sports of men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, softball and baseball, points are awarded based on combined regular-season (60 percent) and championship (40 percent) finishes.  For all other sports, points are based on performance in the League championships.

McCafferty Trophy Standings
     School, Points
1. Milwaukee, 45
2. Butler, 25
3. Cleveland State, 24
4. Loyola, 18
    Valparaiso, 18
6. Wright State, 16
7. Detroit, 14
8. Youngstown State, 13
9. UIC, 12.5
    Green Bay, 12.5

Men’s Sports Totals
1. Milwaukee, 17
2. Valparaiso, 14
3. Loyola, 13
4. Butler, 11
    Cleveland State, 11
6. Wright State, 8
7. UIC, 7
8. Detroit, 4
9. Youngstown State, 3
10. Green Bay, 2

Women’s Sports Totals
1. Milwaukee, 28
2. Butler, 14
3. Cleveland State, 13
4. Green Bay, 10.5
5. Detroit, 10
    Youngstown State, 10
7. Wright State, 8
8. UIC, 5.5
9. Loyola, 5
10. Valparaiso, 4