The Aurora University Athletic Department finished the 2022-2023 academic year with a superb showing in the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup Division III standings. The Spartans finished 55th out of more than 420 Division III athletic programs around the United States, the second best finish in the standings all-time for AU athletics. The Learfield Sports Directors' Cup is a comprehensive ranking of intercollegiate athletic departments based on their participation in NCAA Championship events. Once again, AU was the top Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference school in the final Learfield Sports Directors' Cup Division III standings. 

Complete 2022-2023 Learfield Sports Directors' Cup Standings

The Spartans got off to a strong start to the year and were well represented by the fall sports of women's volleyball, men's soccer and football with 25 points each from volleyball and soccer and a year high of 70 from the AU football quarterfinal playoff run. In the winter, AU added points with men's wrestling having the program's first NCAA National qualifier and tournament appearance and scoring 26 points. In the spring, AU exploded to earn 185.5 points through the participation of the women's golf, men's golf, baseball, men's lacrosse and women's lacrosse in the field at NCAA Division III Championship events. Baseball made a run to the Super-Regional to earn 64 points to lead the way for the scoring programs in the 2022-2023 year.  
 
"The strong showing in the Learfield Cup is a testament to the hard work and effort put forth by AU student-athletes, coaches and staff. Our plan to offer Spartan student-athletes an exemplary experience by winning conference championships and succeeding in post-season play is an integral goal of AU," said Vice President for Athletics Jim Hamad. "As proud as we are of the athletic success, the community service and academic achievement of the nearly 700 AU student-athletes is what truly defined the success over the past year. We look forward to building upon this success into the future." 

The 2022-2023 season saw AU have 13 programs have teams or individuals compete at the NCAA Division III Championship level. AU had 10 teams (women's golf, women's volleyball, women's lacrosse, women's cross country, men's golf, football, baseball, men's soccer, men's volleyball and men's lacrosse) win conference championships.

For the ninth consecutive year of Learfield awarding Director's Cup points, AU led the way among Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) programs and was the only program to finish in the top 125, finishing 55th with 331.5 points. Benedictine University had 134.5 points in a distant 127th place, followed by Concordia University Wisconsin (151st with 151 points), St. Norbert College (185th with 92 points), Milwaukee School of Engineering (230th with 55 points) and Concordia University Chicago had 45 points in 274th place.
 
The point total in 2022-2023 set a new high mark with the 331.5 points as the previous best finishes for the AU sport programs came in 2014-2015 (50th with 329.10 points), 2017-2018 (61st with 299 points), 2016-2017 (68th place with 289.75 points), 2017-2018 (75th place with 258.0 points), 2021-2022 (76th with 235.5 points), 2015-2016 (78th place with 201.25 points), 1997-1998 (94th with 70 points), 2004-2005 (96th with 164 points) and 2009-2010 (102nd with 185.5 points). AU finished the 2013-2014 season in 163rd place with 115 points.

The Learfield 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 18 sports in Division III -- nine women's and nine men's.