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<p>There are no NCAA gymnastics teams at Williams, and gymnastics is not a factor in the Division III Cup rankings anyway. But it’s true that Williams does have NCAA teams in wrestling and women’s rowing, which Midd and Amherst do not. </p>
<p>Those two teams added 167.5 points to Williams’ total this year. Without them, both Midd and Amherst would have outpointed Williams.</p>
<p>But in that case, then Amherst is at an even greater disadvantage, because Amherst doesn’t have an NCAA ski team. So maybe skiing shouldn’t count either. Without skiing, Amherst would have outpointed Midd, as well as Williams. </p>
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<p>In fairness, one other point to consider is that Williams usually outperforms both Midd and Amherst in several varsity NESCAC sports that are not included in NACDA Cup scoring: e.g. football, men’s squash, women’s squash, and men’s rowing. </p>
<p>NESCAC football teams are automatically ineligible for Cup points because they do not participate in the NCAA DIII playoffs. The other teams are ineligible for Cup points because their sports are not administered by NCAA. NACDA only awards points for NCAA sports; this includes tennis, but not squash; women’s rowing, but not men’s.</p>
<p>So the NACDA scoring system is pretty arbitrary in some respects. There could be many defensible alternative ways to evaluate “program-wide” athletic success. But it does seems likely that Williams, Amherst and Midd would consistently rank near the top in any reasonable assessment of Division III athletic programs.</p>