COD wraps up top spot in PCAC in final NATYCAA Cup standings

College of the Desert finished first against other Pacific Coast Athletic Conference teams in results released recently in the final standings of the 2018-19 NATYCAA Cup.

In 2019, the Roadrunners excelled at the local and state level in both individual and team sports. Women's Golf had an amazing second place finish at the CCCAA State Finals, the Men's Soccer team knocked off the number three team in the nation to open up the season and made it to the 2nd Round of playoffs, Women's Cross Country had a runner qualify for the CCCAA State Finals, Women's Volleyball had some huge milestone victories while winning 11 straight matches and winning 17 consecutive sets during that time, Women's Soccer defeated Miramar for the first time in program history, sweeping the Jets, won at Palomar for the first time in program history, sweeping the Comets this season as well. The Men's Tennis team grabbed a clean sweep at the CCCAA State Championship, winning the team title, the doubles title and the singles championship. The Beach Volleyball team qualified their "One's" team for the CCCAA State Pairs Final, winning a bronze medal and finishing third in the State. Women's Tennis grabbed a Pacific Coast Athletic Conference (PCAC) singles title and qualified all of their doubles teams for the CCCAA State Championship event at Ojai. Men's Golf finished second at the PCAC Championship and played well at the Southern California Final and Softball secured their best season finish since 2015. Men's Basketball had their best season in 11 years, and are among many wonderful stories from the 2018-2019 Winter and Spring sports season.

Desert placed 35th amongst all 109 Community Colleges with sports programs in the state, finishing first in the 13-team Pacific Coast Athletic Conference. In the 14 years since the NATYCAA Cup started COD finished 32nd in 2003-04, 26th in 2004-2005, 47th in 2005-2006, 31st in 2006-2007, 44th in 2007-2008, 33rd in 2008-2009, 54th in 2009-2010, 44th in 2010-2011, 38th in 2011-2012, 44th in 2012-2013, 25th in 2013-2014, 26th in 2014-2015, 38th in 2015-2016, 62nd in 2016-2017, and 59th in 2017-2018.

If NATYCAA subtracted the sports we did not compete in during the 2018-19 season here at Desert (women's track, men's track, men's water polo, women's water polo, wrestling, women's badminton, men's swimming, women's swimming, and men's volleyball) from the points total from other Community Colleges, Desert finishes 19th statewide and 13th in Southern California in the 2018-19 NATYCAA Cup.

The California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA), in association with the National Alliance of Two-Year College Athletic Administrators (NATYCAA) selects a winner via a points system.

A college is awarded points based on its teams' final positions in post-conference competition. Each college's top-five men's and top-five women's team results count toward the school's overall point total. Complete standings, scoring criteria, and a history of the NATYCAA Cup are available on the CCCAA website, www.coasports.org.

NATYCAA is the professional organization of two-year college athletic administrators and membership is open to all two-year institutions from throughout the country. The NATYCAA Awards were designed to recognize and reward overall program excellence at the two-year college level. The criteria for the State Associations division were developed by the CCCAA in conjunction with the California Community College Sports Information Association (CCCSIA).

This is the fifteenth year that NATYCAA has sponsored a State Association's division. Sierra College captured the inaugural award in 2003-04, Fresno City College won the award in 2004-05, Long Beach City College claimed the top spot in 2005-06, Orange Coast won in 2006-07, Fresno City took the award for the second time in the 2007-08 season, Mt. San Antonio won in 2008-09, Orange Coast won for the second time during 2009-10, Mt. SAC won their second Cup in 2010-11, Fresno City earned their third victory in 2011-12, Mt. SAC won their third Cup in 2012-13, Mt. SAC won their fourth Cup in 2013-14, Mt. SAC won their fifth Cup in 2014-15, Mt. SAC won their sixth Cup in 2015-16, Mt. SAC won their seventh Cup in 2016-17, Mt. SAC won their eighth Cup in 2017-2018, and Mt. San Antonio won the award for the seventh consecutive year, and ninth time total, this year.

You can see the NATYCAA Cup 2018-19 Final Leader Board, HERE.

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For additional information, please contact the COD Sports Information Office at 760.423.6641.