Cleveland- Ohio- After a second year of unprecedented success, Denison University's men's and women's intercollegiate athletic programs wrapped the 2025-26 year with three team National Championship titles and had a total of ten programs compete in NCAA tournaments, to help the Big Red finish 19th out of 316 institutions in the LEARFIELD Directors' Cup competition, with 672 points. This is the second time Denison has finished 19th, and the fifth time the institution has finished 20th or better in LEARFIELD Directors' Cup standings.

Denison moved up seven spots from the winter standings after five spring sports competed in NCAA postseason play, with three teams finishing in the top ten nationally in their respective sports. Baseball led the Big Red in the spring program point totals with 100 points. Earning its first NCAA Division III Baseball National Championship title after a walk-off 4-3 victory over Endicott College, under the leadership of head coach Mike Deegan. Two more top-ten finishes helped contribute to Denison's spring program point total surge. The men's tennis team fell in the NCAA quarterfinals, ultimately finishing fifth for 73 points. The women's lacrosse team wrapped its impressive season with a final record of 19-2, after falling to CNU in the Sweet Sixteen, resulting in a ninth-place finish and 64 points to the Big Red's total. Denison grabbed another 55 points after the women's golf team finished 19th in the NCAA tournament. Rounding out the spring postseason competitors was softball, which finished 49th after bowing out of the first round of the NCAA tournament, for an additional 25 points.

With 75 points after fall postseason play, Denison sat tied for 67th place nationally, but jumped to 26th after accumulating 280 points thanks to three teams finishing in the top four at NCAA championships. The women's basketball team and the men's swimming and diving teams each secured 100 points after the women's basketball claimed the program's first NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship Title after beating undefeated Scranton, 55-41, and the men's swimming and diving team grabbed the program's seventh NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Title. Tacking on another 80 points was the women's swimming and diving team, who finished fourth for a second consecutive year.

In the fall, the field hockey team and men's soccer team kicked off Denison's LEARFIELD Directors' Cup run, with both the field hockey and men's soccer teams finishing 17th for 25 and 50 points, respectively, for a total of 75 points.

As in the 2024-25 season, 10 teams represented the Big Red in NCAA competition this academic year. Throughout the historic year, Denison finished with six top-ten finishes, including three team titles. The Big Red's postseason presence made it one of only three schools (Tufts and Wisconsin-Lacrosse) to have three or more team National championships in one year.

WashU, the LEARFIELD Director Cup winner, finished with a point total of 1,266.50, followed by Tufts and Johns Hopkins.

SCORING REMINDER
Overall, 18 sports are counted in the final DIII standings, four of which must be men's and women's soccer and men's and
women's basketball. The next highest (14 max.) sports scored for each institution, regardless of gender, are used in the standings.

Team-by-Team Breakdown:
Women's Basketball- 1st, 100
Men's Swimming & Diving - 1st, 100
Baseball- 1st, 100
Women's Swimming & Diving - 4th, 80 points
Men's Tennis - 5th, 73
Women's Lacrosse - 9th, 64
Field Hockey- 17th, 25
Men's Soccer - 17th, 50
Women's Golf - 19th, 55
Softball- 49th, 25