INDIANAPOLIS – For the fifth straight season and the final time as a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference, Northern Kentucky University has claimed the GLVC Commissioner’s Cup. The Norse athletic department earned the award for the 2011-12 season by posting the strongest finish in the league’s seven core sports.

Points are allocated for the Commissioner’s Cup based on the athletic department’s finish in the GLVC standings and conference tournaments in men’s soccer, women’s soccer, volleyball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, softball and baseball. Each of the league’s members sponsors these sports at the intercollegiate level.

Northern Kentucky, guided by athletics director Dr. Scott Eaton, collected 93.5 total points in the Commissioner’s Cup standings to earn the award for a league-best eighth time. The Norse topped runner-up Indianapolis (90.0) by 3.5 points, which matched the same margin of victory NKU recorded last year when it bested Lewis for the title.

In conference play this year, NKU finished first in the regular-season standings in women’s soccer (12-1-1), second in men’s soccer (11-3), men’s basketball (13-5) and baseball (25-11), tied for third in volleyball (14-4), fourth in women’s basketball (14-4), and fifth in softball (21-13). At the conference championships, the Norse earned a majority of its Cup points by finishing second in baseball and men’s basketball, and tying for third in volleyball.

The Commissioner’s Cup, instituted prior to the 2002-03 season, has had three different institutions stake claim to the award. Northern Kentucky has won the Cup in eight of the 10 years it has been presented.  It earned the inaugural award in 2002-03, claimed back-to-back honors during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 academic years and captured the award again the past four years.

The standings for the 2011-12 GLVC Commissioner’s Cup are as follows: