CLEVELAND – Postseason success all year long for the Mammoths has resulted in a 10th-place finish for Amherst College in the final NCAA Division III Learfield Directors' Cup standings for the 2025-26 season.

It's the 22nd year that Amherst has finished in the top 10 in 29 editions of the Directors' Cup dating back to 1996, when the cup was first awarded to Division III institutions. The Directors' Cup measures excellence across all sports, awarding points based on NCAA Championship finishes in up to 18 sports.

With less than 15 points separating the Mammoths from 11th-place MIT, every NCAA Championship appearance was key in lifting the Mammoths to a top-10 finish as 16 different teams earned points for Amherst.

This year, the women's ice hockey team was the biggest contributor to Amherst's haul of points, collecting 83 points as the NESCAC champions claimed wins over St. Benedict and Elmira in the NCAA tournament to reach the national semifinals for the third time in the last four years.

Another team of NESCAC champions in women's golf provided the biggest boost in the spring, earning 71.25 points after tying for seventh place at the NCAA Championships in Palm Desert, California, the team's best finish since 2002.

The men's cross country team kicked off the year strong with an 11th-place finish at the NCAA Championships in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the team's best showing at nationals since 2018.

The women's lacrosse, women's tennis, field hockey, women's soccer and men's basketball teams all won games in their respective NCAA tournaments. The Mammoths tallied All-America finishes at NCAA Championships to earn points in women's and men's swimming and diving, men's and women's indoor track and field, and men's outdoor track and field. The women's cross country, men's lacrosse and men's soccer teams also qualified for nationals to earn points for the Mammoths.

This year's Division III Directors' Cup was won by WashU for the first time, edging Tufts for the trophy. This year's placement made it back-to-back top-10 finishes for the Mammoths after ranking seventh last year. Amherst's best-ever finish was second place in 2010.