Two-time Defending Champion Butler Leads McCafferty Trophy Standings After Fall Season

INDIANAPOLIS -- With Horizon League championships in both men’s and women’s cross country, Butler University took the top spot in the McCafferty Trophy standings after the fall sports season.

With 17 points, the Bulldogs hold a one-point lead over Milwaukee.

The two-time defending McCafferty Trophy holder, Butler earned the majority of its points in the first championship of the year, collecting its 14th straight men’s cross country title and third consecutive women’s cross country crown.

Milwaukee, after dominant runs in both volleyball and women’s soccer, leads the women’s all-sport standings with 14 points. Neither Panther team lost in Horizon League play, each rolling to regular season and tournament titles. The Milwaukee women’s soccer team held a national ranking throughout the year and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

On the strength of a men’s soccer tournament championship and runner-up finish in men’s cross country, Loyola leads the men’s sport standings. The Ramblers became the first team in Horizon League history to capture the men’s soccer tournament title as the lowest seed.

The Ramblers sit in a tie for third in the overall standings with Valparaiso, which claimed the men’s soccer regular season crown before falling to Loyola in the tournament semifinals.

Last year, Butler claimed its record eighth McCafferty Trophy, building an insurmountable lead after the fall championship season and winning six postseason championships.

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 (through fall championships)
1.  Butler - 17 points
2.  Milwaukee - 16
3.  Loyola - 11
     Valparaiso - 11
5.  Cleveland State - 10
     Wright State - 10
7.  Detroit - 5
     Youngstown State - 5
9.  UIC - 3.5
10. Green Bay - 1.5

Men’s Sports Totals
1.  Loyola - 8
2.  Butler - 7
     Valparaiso - 7
4.  Wright State - 6
5.  UIC - 3
6.  Cleveland State - 2
     Milwaukee - 2
8.  Green Bay - 1

Women’s Sports Totals
1.  Milwaukee - 14
2.  Butler - 10
3.  Cleveland State - 8
4.  Detroit - 5
     Youngstown State - 5
6.  Valparaiso - 4
     Wright State - 4
8.  Loyola - 3
9.  UIC - 0.5
     Green Bay - 0.5