On the strength of a pair of 10th-place finishes at the NAIA Men’s & Women’s Cross Country National Championships, The Master’s College debuted in fourth place in the first set of Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup fall standings for NAIA institutions.

The Mustangs, who have accumulated 120 points, trail only Lewis-Clark St. (ID) (137), the University of British Columbia (157), and front-runner Cal State San Marcos (190).

The Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today.  Points are awarded based on each institution’s finish in up to 12 sports—six women’s and six men’s.

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Cal State San Marcos leads the first set of Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup fall standings. The Cougars have accumulated 190 total points after taking home the women’s cross country title and finishing second in men’s cross country.

British Columbia (Can.) trails the Cougars by just 33 points after a third place finish in women’s cross country and a sixth place result in men’s cross country, resulting in 157 total points.

Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) is in third place with 137 points. The Warriors finished in fourth place in men’s cross country and earned an 11th place finish in the women’s race.

Master’s (Calif.) currently occupies the fourth spot with 120 points after finishing 10th in both the men’s and women’s cross country championships.

Rounding out the top five is Friends (Kans.) with 117 points. The Falcons placed fifth in women’s cross country and 16th in men’s cross country.

Two of the six fall NAIA championships have been completed with the following institutions capturing titles: men’s cross country – Oklahoma Christian; women’s cross country – Cal State San Marcos.

The Sooner and Cascade conferences each have two institutions in the top 10 – Sooner – Wayland Baptist (6th) and Oklahoma Christian (9th); Cascade – Concordia (Ore.) (8th) and College of Idaho (10th).

The Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution’s finish in up to 12 sports — six women’s and six men’s.

The next NAIA standings will be released Thursday, December 15.

Please note, standings published midseason are unofficial. Official standings will be published upon the completion of the spring season. Complete standings and the scoring structure can be found on NACDA’s website at www.directorscup.org. In addition, please visit www.thedirectorscup.com, like us on Facebook at facebook.com/lsdirectorscup or follow us on Twitter @lsdirectorscup.

About Learfield Sports

The 2011-12 athletics season marks its fourth year as title partner of the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup. A preeminent leader in the collegiate sports marketplace for nearly four decades, Learfield Sports manages the multimedia rights for more than 50 collegiate properties, including flagship Mizzou, which it has represented since 1975. An operating unit of Learfield Communications, the company also operates regional and statewide radio networks, provides exclusive sports programming to more than 1,000 radio stations nationwide and creates nearly 7,000 radio game broadcasts and coaches’ shows each year. These ever-expanding, collegiate relationships also feature comprehensive corporate sponsorship platforms, official university publications, Internet, digital media, hospitality and game-day events. To learn more about Learfield Sports’ expertise, its history and complete collegiate portfolio, visit www.learfieldsports.com.