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🗞 What You Need to Know. WashU Captures First Learfield Title. Class-Action Lawsuit Filed Against NCAA Over House Settlement. Cardiac Arrest Doesn’t Stop Henkel From National Title

🎶 Your Morning Pick Me Up. Hard to Handle. The Black Crowes

“Washington University in St. Louis becomes just the eighth different institution to take home the Learfield Directors’ Cup, capturing first for the 2025-26 year with 1,266.50 overall points. The Bears have finished as high as second on four separate occasions (2017, 2016, 2012 and 2008). WashU scored in 18 total sports (all 4 countable sports), including 13 teams with top 10 finishes. The Bears claimed the title in women’s soccer and women’s indoor track and field.

Tufts finishes the year in second with 1,252.50 total points. Overall, the Jumbos had 11 top 10 finishes on the year, including national titles in men’s soccer, women’s field hockey, men’s lacrosse and women’s rowing. Third overall goes to Johns Hopkins with 1,180.00 total points.

At the conference level, the UAA (WashU, Emory, Chicago and NYU) has four institutions ranked in the top 10.”

» Overall Top 10. 1-WashU 1266.5; 2-Tufts 1252.5; 3-Johns Hopkins 1180; 4-Emory 1066; 5-Williams 1063.75; 6-Chicago 1045.5; 7-NYU 1029.25; 8-UW-La Crosse 987; 9-Claremont-M-S 888.25; 10-Amherst 863.75.

» Conference Winners. Penn State Behrend (AMCC), Wartburg (ARC), East Texas Baptist (ASC), Marymount (AEC), Illinois Wesleyan (CCIW), Belhaven (CCS), Johns Hopkins (CC), Christopher Newport (C2C), Endicott (CNE), John Jay (CUNYAC), Geneseo (E8), Norwich (GNAC), Transylvania (HCAC), Scranton (LAND), Hobart/William Smith (LL), Southern Maine (LEC), Messiah (MACC), Stevens (MACF), Bridgewater State (MASCAC), Hope (MIAA), Bethel (MIAC), Grinnell (MWC), Aurora (NACC), Denison (NCAC), Tufts (NESCAC), MIT (NEWMAC), Rowan (NJAC), SUNY Delhi (NAC), Whitworth (NWC), Mount Union (OAC), Washington and Lee (ODAC), Grove City (PAC), Trinity (SAA), Colorado College (SCAC), Claremont-M-S (SCIAC), Farmingdale State (SKY), Greenville (SLIAC), Cortland (SUNYA), WashU (UAA), Bethany Lutheran (UMAC), Penn State Harrisburg (UEC), North Carolina Wesleyan (USAS), Wisconsin-La Crosse (WIAC)

» Conference Standings. courtesy of Logan Hansen

“The NCAA's landmark House settlement agreement has its first major legal attack.

Two California football players have filed a class-action lawsuit against the NCAA, the power conferences and the College Sports Commission, claiming those entities created a new enforcement arm whose policies directly contradict state statutes and violate federal antitrust law by illegally price-fixing.”

» Court Awareness. “The plaintiffs are asking for monetary damages as well as an injunction to suspend the NCAA and College Sports Commission's enforcement of athlete NIL deals, or else plaintiffs "will continue to suffer suppression of their NIL compensation" within a price-fixing "scheme," the lawsuit says. The 81-page complaint is the most significant outside legal challenge since the NCAA and power leagues agreed to settle three antitrust cases against a class of former and current athletes, most commonly referred to as House.”

» State of Play. “If certified as a class-action, the case stands to dismantle an enforcement structure created through the settlement that gives the CSC authority to reject certain athlete NIL deals. The CSC, created in an effort to eliminate booster-backed athlete pay, is charged with determining whether NIL deals are legitimate by meeting certain thresholds, such as the payor having a "valid business purpose" and the deal falling within a Deloitte-created "range-of-compensation" algorithm.”

» What They’re Saying. "Should Congress act, it should not do so at the expense of college athletes' lawful NIL rights," said Robert Litan, one of the attorneys.

» Wrestling. “TCNJ Athletics has been informed by the NCAA that Hunter Mays, the 174-pound champion at the 2026 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships, has been declared ineligible due to a violation of NCAA policy. As a result, his individual championship will be vacated in accordance with NCAA procedures.”

» Bowling. “The Division II and Division III Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved a rule change in bowling to allow student-athletes to use the designated warmup lanes after being removed from a match.”

» Investigation. “The U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into the City University of New York system over allegations that one of its student success programs violates civil rights law. The Black Male Initiative program, founded by CUNY in 2005, aims to boost educational outcomes for “students from groups that are severely underrepresented in higher education,” according to the system. The program focuses on Black men and men from Caribbean and Latino backgrounds but is open to all.”

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