CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The fifth consecutive NCAA women’s swimming and diving championship and runner-up finish in men’s golf propelled Virginia to 12th place with 966 points in the final 2024-25 Learfield Directors’ Cup competition, announced Thursday (June 26) by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).
The 12th-place showing marked UVA’s sixth consecutive top-15 finish (18th overall) in the 32-year existence of the program (not awarded in 2020 due to the pandemic). The Cavaliers finished fifth in 2023-24.
Virginia placed in the top 25 for the 18th consecutive time and is one of 10 schools to rank in the top 30 of the final Directors’ Cup standings in every year of the competition.
Points in the Directors’ Cup standings are awarded by a school’s NCAA postseason finish in 19 sports, four of which must be men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and volleyball.
“This year brought significant change and challenges, yet we continued to excel in both competition and the classroom,” Virginia Director of Athletics Carla Williams said. “Our student-athletes, coaches, and staff consistently performed at the highest level, representing themselves and the University of Virginia with honor, integrity, and unwavering dedication. Their hard work is the foundation of our sustained excellence, and we are truly grateful for the privilege of representing this remarkable institution.”
In addition, men’s indoor track and field tied for sixth, women’s golf finished eighth and field hockey and men’s tennis each advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals and rowing placed 10th. Women’s cross country finished 14th at the NCAA Championships, while men’s soccer, women’s tennis and women’s lacrosse advanced to the NCAA Tournament round of 16. Men’s cross country finished 21st at the NCAA Championships and women’s soccer, softball, men’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s outdoor track and field, women’s indoor track and field made NCAA postseason appearances. Wrestling advanced four wrestlers to the NCAA Championships for the second straight year.
UVA captured three Atlantic Coast Conference championships during the year and its 98 conference titles since the spring of 2002 are the most of any ACC school during that time. In 2024-25, UVA claimed its sixth straight women’s swimming and diving league title, men’s golf earned its first ACC championship and women’s outdoor track and field won its first conference title since 1987.
Individually, Gretchen Walsh was named the Honda Sport Award winner for Swimming & Diving for the second straight year. Walsh earned Division I Women’s Swimmer of the Year honors by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America’s (CSCAA) and was selected as the recipient of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame Steve Guback Sportsperson of the Year Award. Walsh (50 Free, 100 Free, 100 Fly, 200 Free Relay, 400 Free Relay, 200 Medley Relay, 400 Medley Relay), Claire Curzan (100 Back, 200 Back, 200 Free Relay, 400 Free Relay, 200 Medley Relay, 400 Medley Relay), Alex Walsh (100 Breast, 400 Free Relay, 200 Medley Relay, 400 Medley Relay), Anna Moesch (200 Free Relay, 400 Free Relay, 400 Medley Relay) and Maxine Parker (200 Medley Relay, 200 Free Relay) earned gold medals at the 2025 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
The Virginia men’s distance medley relay (DMR) team of Wes Porter, Alex Sherman, Conor Murphy and Gary Martin won the first NCAA title in the indoor DMR in program history, breaking the meet record and facility record crossing the line in 9:15.12. Women’s tennis seniors Elaine Chervinsky and Mélodie Collard won the 2024-25 NCAA Doubles Championship
Todd DeSorbo (women’s swimming), Sara O’Leary (women’s tennis) and Bowen Sargent (men’s golf) earned ACC Coach of the Year honors. DeSorbo earned Women’s Division I Swim Coach of the Year, Vin Lañanna was named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Southeast Region Men’s Coach of the Year and Ria Scott (women’s golf), Andres Pedroso (men’s tennis) and Sargent earned region coach of the year honors. Steve Garland was inducted into the Virginia Chapter National Wrestling Hall of Fame in recognition of his dedication to the sport.
Texas finished first in the NCAA Division I Directors’ Cup standings with 1,255.25 points, while USC was second with 1,253.75 points.
UVA was one of six ACC programs to finish in the top 25 of the Directors’ Cup standings, joining Stanford (3rd), North Carolina (4th), Duke (10th), NC State (20th) and California (24th).
There are five LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup awards, one to honor the institution with the best overall athletics program in each of the NCAA’s Divisions I and I-AAA, II and III, and the NAIA.
Additional highlights of Virginia’s 2024-25 athletics year included:
• Ryan Odom (men’s basketball) and Chris Pollard (baseball) were hired as new head coaches
• Virginia student-athletes matched their highest Graduation Success Rate at 96 percent for the second consecutive year
• Seven Cavalier programs – women’s golf, women’s lacrosse, softball, baseball, men’s cross country, men’s golf and men’s tennis – posted perfect multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores of 1,000.
• Gretchen Walsh was named the CSC Academic All-America Team Member of the Year for swimming and diving
• Walsh was joined on the CSC Academic All-America first team by Alex Walsh and Claire Curzan, while Cavan Gormsen was named to the third team
• Elaine Chervinsky (first team), Melodie Collard (second team) and Annabelle Xu (third team) were named 2025 College Sports Communicators Women’s Tennis Academic All-Americans
• Shortstop Jade Hylton was name to CSC Academic All-America second team*
• Gary Martin (men’s cross country), Jans Croon (field hockey) and Gretchen Walsh (swimming & diving) were named Scholar-Athlete of the Year for their respective sports
• Eden Bigham (softball) and Griffin Schutz (men’s lacrosse) earned 2025 Weaver-James-Corrigan-Swofford Postgraduate Scholarships
• Virginia football received the 2024 American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Academic Achievement Award for the fifth time
• Will Bettridge and Brian Stevens were named to the CSC Academic All-District® Football team for the second consecutive year
• Kymora Johnson was named All-ACC First Team and earned All-America honorable mention accolades from the Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association (WBCA)
• The University of Virginia and the Virginia Athletics Foundation (VAF) announced a $5 million planned gift from the family of Frank Quayle III to Virginia Athletics. In addition to being one of the greatest football players in program history, Quayle served as UVA football’s longtime radio color analyst and is regarded as pillar in the Charlottesville community. In recognition of the gift, the lobby of the forthcoming Olympic Sports Complex will bear the name of Frank J. Quayle III.
• Virginia won the Commonwealth Clash against Virginia Tech, 15-7, for the third straight year and sixth overall
2024-25 Learfield College Directors’ Cup Final Top 25 Point Standings
1. Texas – 1255.25
2. USC – 1253.75
3. Stanford – 1251.00
4. North Carolina – 1195.25
5. UCLA – 1149.00
6. Tennessee – 1078.00
7. Florida – 1072.00
8. Ohio State – 1032.25
9. Oklahoma – 1017.20
10. Duke – 1010.00
11. Arkansas – 966.70
12. Virginia – 966.00
13. Michigan – 928.50
14. Georgia – 920.00
15. Texas A&M – 907.75
16. Penn State – 893.00
17. LSU – 881.00
18. Oregon – 879.75
19. Auburn – 867.50
20. NC State – 854.75
21. Nebraska – 849.75
22. Alabama – 830.50
23. South Carolina – 826.75
24. California – 819.75
25. BYU – 813.75
ACC Schools in Final 2024-25 Directors’ Cup Standings
3. Stanford – 1251.00
4. North Carolina – 1195.25
10. Duke – 1010.00
12. Virginia – 966.00
20. NC State – 854.75
24. California – 819.75
28. Florida State – 776.00
36. Notre Dame – 691.50
37. Louisville – 648.50
41. Wake Forest – 611.00
45. Virginia Tech – 536.00
47. Clemson – 524.25
55. Miami – 472.50
61. Syracuse – 407.00
66. Boston College – 377.50
70. SMU – 321.75
71. Georgia Tech – 320.00
74. Pittsburgh – 312.00
Schools Ranked in the Top-30 of All 29 Directors’ Cup Point Standings (1994-2019, 2021-2025)
Florida
Georgia
Michigan
North Carolina
Ohio State
Stanford
Texas
UCLA
USC
Virginia
Virginia’s Final Position in Each of the Directors’ Cup Rankings
2025 – 12th
2024 – 5th
2023 – 4th
2022 – 11th
2021 – 11th
2020 – N/A
2019 – 8th
2018 – 21st
2017 – 19th
2016 – 8th
2015 – 6th
2014 – 4th
2013 – 20th
2012 – 15th
2011 – 7th
2010 – 3rd
2009 – 8th
2008 – 17th
2007 – 13th
2006 – 26th
2005 – 13th
2004 – 30th
2003 – 19th
2002 – 27th
2001 – 30th
2000 – 13th
1999 – 8th
1998 – 13th
1997 – 22nd
1996 – 21st
1995 – 19th (tie)
1994 – 19th
