SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Samford University was named the winner of the Southern Conference's Germann Cup, which goes to the top overall women's athletic program in the league, when the conference released its all-sports awards Wednesday morning. Samford also finished third in the Commissioner's Cup standings, awarding the top men's program in the SoCon.
 
"The Germann Cup and Commissioner's Cup standings conclude another successful year for Samford's athletic teams," Samford director of athletics Martin Newton said. "These scores are indicative of the hard work our student-athletes and coaches put in every day. I couldn't be prouder of the way our teams competed throughout this school year."
 
The Germann Cup win was the second for Samford since joining the SoCon in the summer of 2008. The win was the school's first since the 2009-10 school year.
 
A new scoring system was in place for the 2014-15 season, modeled after the one used in determining the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup. Scoring is now done on a percentage basis, with only the top seven sports for each school counting toward its season total. The SoCon sponsors 11 men's sports and nine women's sports. The new scoring format was approved by the SoCon's directors of athletics at the league's annual fall meetings.
 
Each sport is worth 10 points, with each spot in the standings given equal measure relative to how many schools sponsor that particular sport. For sports that determine a regular-season champion, the two-point bonus for winning the league tournament will remain in place. Each school's total for the year will be divided by 70, the maximum number of points possible when counting seven sports, to find its percentage.
 
Samford won the Germann Cup with 66.24 points, good for an impressive .946 percentage. The Bulldogs won the regular-season women's soccer title as well as the tennis regular-season and tournament titles. Samford was the runner-up in volleyball, indoor and outdoor track and field, and softball, and won the volleyball tournament. The Bulldogs finished no worse than third in any of their seven counting sports.
 
The Commissioner's Cup standings were the second closest in the history of the award. Chattanooga won the cup with 51.58 points from their counting seven scores, good for a percentage of .7369. Mercer accumulated 51.57 points for a percentage of .7367. Samford came in third with 50.76 points and a .725 percentage.
 
On the men's side, Samford won the outdoor track and field title, and finished second in football, baseball and indoor track and field.
 
 
Commissioner's Cup (final)
(Men's athletics)
1. Chattanooga: .7369
2. Mercer: .7367
3. Samford: .725
4. ETSU: .703
5. Wofford: .687
6. Furman: .686
7. Western Carolina: .666
8. VMI: .574
9. UNCG: .485
10. The Citadel: .422

Germann Cup (final)
(Women's athletics)
1. Samford: .946
2. Chattanooga: .874
3. Furman: .835
4. ETSU: .769
5. Western Carolina: .656
6. Mercer: .554
7. UNCG: .459
8. Wofford: .327
9. The Citadel: .217
10. VMI: .212