TOWSON, Md. – The final calculations are in and The Catholic University of America held on to claim its first Landmark Conference President's Cup. The Cardinals won four conference titles this year and finished in the top half of the standings in 15 of their 20 sports.

The President's Cup was created in the inaugural year of the conference to recognize the best overall athletics program.

The Cardinals took the early lead after the fall with conference championships in women's cross country and field hockey. After CUA swept the basketball titles, the Cardinals held a slim lead over Moravian. This spring Catholic tied for first in baseball and women's tennis and finished second in women's lacrosse to boost its point total.

Susquehanna University made a late run as defending champions of the Cup. The Cardinals finished with an average of score of 7.82 and the Crusaders were a close second at 7.63. Susquehanna led the regular season and won Landmark Championships in softball and women's lacrosse and added a title in men's lacrosse. They also finished second in both men's and women's outdoor track and field to boost their performance.

Moravian College, which won the first two Landmark President's Cups and three of the first four, was not far behind in third place at 7.28 with Landmark Championships in baseball and men's and women's track. The University of Scranton rounds out the top half of the standings with a 6.93 average after winning the women's tennis championship.

The Cup is awarded based on a formula that rewards institutions for regular season conference standings as well as results in Landmark postseason competition. Each team receives points based on their finish with top seeded teams receiving eight points, second place teams receive seven points, etc. Additional points are awarded for conference postseason victories. The runner-up in the Landmark Tournament receives one point, while the Landmark Champions receive three points.

Individual sports use the championship team standings to award points and then add points for individual finishes. Each individual event champion in swimming and track and field receives 0.25 points while the top seven finishers in cross country each receive 0.50 points.

The Landmark Conference sponsors 20 sport championships, but at the end of the year only the top 15 sport totals from each institution will be included to account for differences in sport sponsorship across the eight institutions. The modification could produce a large variance in institution averages from winter to spring President's Cup standings.

Click here to view the standings for the year.

Release courtesy of Landmark Conference office