The Iowa Athletics Department scored 510 points in the annual Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup during the 2010-11 college-sports year, a total good enough for 43rd place among 284 Division-I schools.

Iowa’s 510 points were the most in school history, and the 43rd-place finish was also one of the best results for the Hawkeyes; the Black and Gold’s best overall finish came in 2004-05, when they finished 39th.

The Hawkeyes were among the lowest-ranked teams in the Big Ten, though; Iowa finished ninth of 11 in the conference.

Points in the competition are distributed to each Division-I institution based on the school’s finishes in 20 different national-championship competitions.

The bulk of Iowa’s points came from the winter sports season, when the Hawkeyes pulled in 372.75 points thanks to its results at the NCAA wrestling (third place), men’s and women’s indoor track (eighth and 50th, respectively), men’s and women’s swimming and diving (35th and 30th), and men’s and women’s gymnastics (eighth and 25th) championships.

Iowa also received points in the fall from the football team’s victory in the 2010 Insight Bowl and in the spring by the Black and Gold’s 10th-place finish at the NCAA Division I men’s golf championship.

“The Directors’ Cup is just one of a handful of tools our staff uses to measure success, so it’s exciting to see the hard work of our coaches and student-athletes has been rewarded by this achievement,” Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta said in a release. “The plan now is to take the momentum of this year and build on it.”

Stanford racked up 1,550.25 points to win the Directors’ Cup for the 17th year in a row. Ohio State finished in second place, and California rounded out the top three.

— by Seth Roberts