By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina is third in the national Learfield Directors’ Cup standings after the winter sports.

Future ACC member Stanford is No. 1 with 977 points, followed by Texas at 746.5 and the Tar Heels at 733.5. The Tar Heels led the standings with a 1.5-point lead over Stanford after the fall sports, but the Cardinal earned 606 points, led by a men’s gymnastics title, from winter sports compared to 361 for the Tar Heels.

The 100 points from the field hockey national championship lead the way for UNC. The top point-getters of the winter sports were men’s indoor track and field (75), men’s basketball (64), women’s swimming (57) and women’s basketball (50).

Carolina’s eighth-place finish for the 2022–23 school year was its fourth consecutive top-10 finish and seventh in eight school years. In the Cup’s 29-year history, UNC has 24 top-10 finishes, bettered only by Stanford and Florida’s 29.

The ACC has seven schools in the top 30, including No. 6 Notre Dame (698), No. 12 N.C. State (651), No. 16 Virginia (524), No. 25 Florida State (444), No. 26 Duke (433), and No. 27 Louisville (431). Clemson (413.5) is at No. 31, just ahead of No. 34 Virginia Tech (393.75) and No. 45 Syracuse (333).