Gannon led the three Erie County PSAC schools by finishing eighth out of 18 in the final Dixon Trophy standings. It’s the first time the Golden Knights beat out both Mercyhurst (ninth) and Edinboro (10th) in the standings since joining the conference in 2008.
The Dixon Trophy is awarded each year to the PSAC’s most successful institution based on league playoffs and/or regular-season finishes. West Chester won the trophy for the second time, edging runner-up California.
Gannon averaged 10.22 points in the standings, which are based on an average score for every PSAC championship sport that an institution sponsors.
Mercyhurst (10.21) finished .01 behind Gannon, while Edinboro averaged 9.99 points.
The point values distributed are 18 points to each conference champion and descending point values for respective placement. The second- through last-place values vary depending on the number of teams that sponsored the sport.
The Golden Rams captured the Dixon Trophy with a 13.36 overall average. West Chester won conference championships in field hockey, men’s golf, women’s swimming and men’s swimming. Cal averaged 13.06 points, while Slippery Rock was third at 12.12.
The Gannon softball team led the Knights during the spring season, earning 17 points with a runner-up finish. The women’s lacrosse program picked up eight points with an eighth-place finish, while the Gannon baseball team secured 3.5 points.
The Mercyhurst baseball team, Atlantic Regional champion and NCAA Division II Elite Eight participant, led the Lakers in the spring with 15 points. The women’s lacrosse team picked up 16 points, while the women’s tennis team scored 12 points.
Edinboro’s men’s tennis team, the PSAC champion, led the Fighting Scots with 18 points in the spring. The Scots’ softball team scored an 8.5, while the men’s (7) and women’s (8) track teams finished in the middle of the pack.
Eight different institutions have won the Dixon Trophy, led by Shippensburg with seven titles.
The award is named in honor of F. Eugene Dixon, Jr., former chairman of Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s Board of Governors. The trophy is in its 20th year of existence.
View history of the trophy standings at PSACsports.org.