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Stanford totaled 1,010 points, 350 more than the University of North Carolina and the University of Florida, which tied for second. The Cardinal won five national championships in 1997-98, in men's cross-country, men's tennis, women's volleyball, and women's and men's swimming and diving. (Stanford's synchronized swimming team also won a national championship, but it does not count in the Sears program.) Other point-winning Stanford teams were women's cross-country (2nd), men's indoor track and field (2nd), women's tennis (3rd), men's basketball (3rd), fencing (3rd), women's golf (8th), women's softball (9th), women's outdoor track and field (9th), women's gymnastics (14th), men's soccer (17th), baseball (25th), women's basketball (33rd) and wrestling (56th). Stanford earned points in 18 of 20 sports and had 10 of its 33 varsity teams finish in the top four nationally. The award includes $100,000 in postgraduate academic scholarships nationwide, plus the Waterford Crystal trophy. All four trophies are on display in the Hall of Fame in the Arrillaga Family Sports Center on campus. The program is sponsored by Sears and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. "The Sears Directors' Cup is the ultimate overall achievement for a university's athletics program," Director of Athletics Ted Leland said in accepting the honor. "It represents the strength and determined effort of the Cardinal's individual student-athletes and teams."
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For the fourth consecutive year, Stanford won the Sears Directors' Cup, awarded to the nation's top athletic programs since 1993.
