Calhoun finishes 10th in Director’s Cup
Calhoun has finished 10th this year in the annual statewide GADA Director’s Cup.
The Georgia Athletics Director’s Association Regions Bank Director’s Cup recognizes athletics departments who have excellent and display superior performances throughout previous GHSA athletics and this past year was an outstanding one for the folks at Calhoun High School.
The final team results are determined by cumulative outcomes of all high school activities in a given year.
And based on that criteria, with its chase of 5A state championships in several sports, the school on Yellow
Jacket Drive did very well, putting it in the top 10 of all 5A athletic programs in the state.
And Calhoun was not the only Gordon County school to fare high in the Director’s Cup standings as Sonoraville was also listed in the top 20 of the ratings in the 3A division.
First conceived and awarded in 1999, the Cup is awarded to the top boys and the top girls’ programs in the state in their respective classifications as well as the top overall programs in Georgia.
A total of 26 sports in the GHSA are counted in the standings each year and each school’s eight highest scoring sports for each gender is counted in the Regions Bank Directors Cup standings to determine the winner at the end of each school year.
Points are available to teams in every classification that make the playoffs with Georgia starting all of its team playoffs with a Round of 32.
Teams in a particular sport is awarded points and they can keep on accumulating those points the farther their team goes with anyone winning a state championship securing 100 points. Second place means 90 and then the number drops for each team all the way down to the ones that don’t advance beyond the round of 32.
Gymnastics, track and field, golf, swimming, wrestling (traditional), cross country, cheerleading, and riflery are sports in which individuals
can place first as well as the team so the points for those sports are considered non-bracketed.
Soccer, volleyball, football, basketball, wrestling (duals), baseball, tennis, lacrosse, and softball are team sports and go by a bracketed-point system. The first place winner gets 100 points and second place is worth 90 but then the two teams that reached the state semifinals secure 83 points each and the four teams that didn’t advance in the Elite Eight earn 70 points.
The points go all the way down to the first 16 teams that are eliminated in the opening-round of 32 with each one receiving 25 points.
Based on their success in the recently-completed school year on both sides, Calhoun had 852 points total to finish 10th overall in the 5A classification with 511 points on the boys’ side and another 341 on the girls side.
The Yellow Jacket boys earned 90 points by placing second in the state in football and 90 more by placing second in boys swimming. They were third in Georgia in track and field for 85 more tallies and made it to the Final Four in basketball for 83 points.
The boys golf team was seventh in the state to bring them 60 more and in team and duals wrestling, they earned 53.
The soccer, tennis, baseball and cross country teams each brought in 25 apiece, giving the Calhoun boys 511 points in the Director’s Cup.
On the girls’ side, the Calhoun cheerleaders had the most points with 72 but the softball team, with its trip to the Elite Eight last fall, secured 70 more.
The basketball team, which had some historical moments this year, like their first road playoff win since the program began, reached the Sweet 16 to bring in 53 more.
The swimming and diving team had a top 10 finish at state for 50 points in the standings and the volleyball, cross country, and track and field teams all brought in 25 markers apiece, giving the Calhoun girls 341 points and a 17th place showing.
Broken down even farther, Calhoun was seventh overall in the public school listings overall in the Director’s Cup as Blessed Trinity swept the top spot in the team category by placing first
in the boys and girls division. St. Pius X was second with Woodward Academy fourth and the highest listing by a public school was Starr’s Mill in third place.
On the boys side, Calhoun was fifth with its 511 points, but second among public schools after Starr’s Mill, which had 594. BT was first, the Mill second, and then private schools Woodward Academy was third with 594 and St. Pius X was fourth, and the last school above the Yellow Jackets, with 568 points.
The Blessed Trinity boys won the 5A Director’s Cup by scoring 626 points and their girls won it by scoring 674.
Going into the end of March, it looked like Calhoun might be the Cup winner as they were third in the state behind just Blessed Trinity and St. Pius X, but first among all public schools.
For Sonoraville, the Phoenix were 16th in the state overall in the 3A division in the Director’s Cup with their points pretty evenly split between the boys and girls.
The Phoenix boys had 257 points and the Lady Firebirds contributed 259 for their accumulative score.
For the girls, the softball team brought in the most points with their trip to the 3A state finals last October and the second place showing was worth 90.
They had 72 more from the
cheerleading squad and then had 25 points each from the basketball, tennis, volleyball and track squads.
The boys listings were led by the Sonoraville matmen, who were third in the state in both the team and duals wrestling events. They had 70 more points from an outstanding tennis team and the baseball team earned 53 with its trip to the Sweet 16.
The soccer team made the playoffs for 25 more and the track and field team finished with 24 points.
The Phoenix actually finished 14th in the state when the final Director’s Cup standings are broken down to the 3A public schools.
Westminster Academy was the overall 3A winner with an astounding 1,464 points by sweeping the boys and girls competition. On the boys side, the Academy had 726 points and 758 more on the girls side.
Greater Atlanta Christian was a distant second overall with 1,209 points and they too were second in both the girls and boys listings. The GAC had 565 points in the boys’ verdicts and another 644 from its girls team.
After that, Oconee County, which Sonoraville saw in a few different sports in the playoffs, was third overall with 1,157 points and way ahead of fourth-place school Cherokee Bluff, which had 901.