Florida's athletic department has finished third nationally in the Director's Cup all-sports standings, the Gators' best showing in six years and matching its second-highest ranking in the award's 16 years.

Football's national championship led the way, but 17 Gators teams earned points for NCAA postseason success, including 12 who earned top-10 finishes nationally: softball and men's indoor and outdoor track finished second in their sports, gymnastics took fourth, men's swimming fifth and women's swimming seventh. Sports in which the Gators earned ninth-place points were baseball, women's tennis, women's outdoor track, women's soccer and volleyball.

Only Stanford and North Carolina amassed more points than the Gators during the 2008-09 season. Florida's best finish was a tie for second with North Carolina in 1998, and the Gators also finished third in 1996, 2002 and 2003, with no years finishing lower than seventh since the standings started in 1994.

The only other schools from the state of Florida to finish in the top 100 nationally were Florida State (15th), Miami (43rd) and Central Florida (90th).

For a full breakdown of the standings and for past years, visit the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics website.

-- Greg Auman, Times staff writer