BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – After the completion of the winter sport championships, Eastern Illinois University leads the 2009-10 Ohio Valley Conference Commissioner's Cup all-sport trophy standings; the Cup is a symbol of overall athletic excellence in Conference-sponsored championships.
Eastern Illinois has been paced by first-place finishes in each football, women's basketball, women's indoor track and field and men's indoor track and field. No other OVC school has had more than two first-place finishes so far this season. The Panthers were also second in men's cross country and third in women's cross country.
EIU (73.5 total points) has a 7.5 point lead over second-place Eastern Kentucky, who claimed first-place finishes in men's and women's cross country during the fall. Murray State, who had first-place finishes in rifle and men's basketball is third with 61.5 points and followed by Morehead State (50 points, including a first-place finish in women's soccer). Southeast Missouri State and Tennessee Tech are tied for fifth place (45.5 points) and followed closely by Jacksonville State (45), who had a first-place finish in volleyball. Austin Peay (43), UT Martin (36.5) and Tennessee State (24.5) round out the standings.
The 2009-10 season marks the second for the re-formatted Commissioner's Cup, which was previously known as the All-Sports Trophy. The award (which started in 1962-63 for men's sports and 1980-81 for women's sports) was previously divided into a Men's All-Sport Champion and a Women's All-Sport Champion. Points were awarded for each of the 18 sponsored sports and each school was required to count its totals from each sport in its grand total.
Beginning last year only one trophy was awarded (and that went to Murray State University). Schools are required to count point totals for four main sports (football, volleyball, men's basketball and women's basketball) along with their next eight highest point totals from the remaining sports, regardless of gender. Morehead State, which does not compete in OVC football, counts baseball as one of its four required sports. This season Jacksonville State, who was ineligible for the OVC or NCAA Championship due to historical APR occasion three penalties, received zero points for football.
Under the old system current leader Eastern Illinois won three Men's All-Sport Trophies (2001-03) and one Women's All-Sport Trophy (2002).
The points system for scoring is as follows. For all sports (except rifle, men's indoor and men's outdoor track – which do not have six participating teams), the first place team earns 10 points, the second place team earns 9 points, etc. For rifle, men's indoor and men's outdoor track and field, the first place team earns 10 points and each subsequent place earns points equal to 2 less than the team that placed one position higher.
There are eight OVC Championships remaining this year (women's tennis, men's tennis, women's golf, men's golf, women's outdoor track & field, men's outdoor track & field, softball and baseball).
