EIU Second in OVC Commissioner's Cup

Eastern Illinois placed second in this year’s Ohio Valley Conference Commissioner’s Cup race finishing just behind champion Eastern Kentucky in the closest margin of victory under the eight-year old scoring system.  EKU finished with 116.5 points while EIU posted 115.25 points.

It marks the third-straight and fourth overall Cup title in the last five years for the Colonels under the new format which began eight years ago (they also won in 2011-12). The award, which is a symbol of overall athletic excellence in Conference-sponsored championships, will be presented on June 3 at the league's annual Honors Brunch in Nashville.  EIU placed second in the race for the third-straight year.  EIU has won three of the eight OVC Commissioner’s Cups (2010, 2011, 2013) while placing second each of the other five seasons.  

Eastern Kentucky finished the year with 116.5 points, 1.25 points more than second-place Eastern Illinois; that marked the closest margin of victory under the eight-year old scoring system (besting a 1.5 margin by EIU over two schools in 2010-11).  Eastern Illinois finished with 115.25 points while Murray State also eclipsed the 100 point mark (103). The standings were rounded out by Jacksonville State (97), Southeast Missouri (95), Tennessee Tech (93.5), Belmont (93.25), Morehead State (90.5), UT Martin (88.5), Austin Peay and Tennessee State (82.5 apiece) and SIUE (80).
 
This season EIU posted team championships in men’s indoor track and women’s outdoor track.  The Panthers added second place finishes in football, volleyball, women’s cross country, men’s cross country, women’s indoor track, softball and men’s outdoor track.  

The award (which started in 1962-63 for men's sports and 1980-81 for women's sports) was previously divided into a Men's All-Sport Champion and a Women's All-Sport Champion. Points were awarded for each of the 18 sponsored sports and each school was required to count its totals from each sport in its grand total.  The current OVC Commissioner’s Cup format started in 2008-09 academic year.

Under the latest scoring system, schools are required to count point totals for four main sports (football, volleyball, men's basketball and women's basketball) along with their next eight highest point totals from the remaining sports, regardless of gender. Belmont, Morehead State and SIUE, which do not compete in OVC football, count baseball as one of its four required sports.

The points system for scoring is as follows. For all sports (except rifle, men's indoor and men's outdoor track - which have fewer participating teams), the first place team earns 12 points, the second place team earns 11 points, etc. For rifle, men's indoor and men's outdoor track and field, the first-place team earns 12 points and subsequent point increments are calculated by dividing the total number of OVC member institutions by the number of institutions sponsoring the sport (for rifle that number is 2.4 less, for men's indoor track that number is 2.0 less and for men's outdoor track that number is 1.75 less). The scoring system also includes a bonus point for the winner of OVC Tournaments (soccer, volleyball, basketball, tennis, softball and baseball).