Florida Gators win men’s 2011 Capital One Cup

The Florida Gators men’s athletic program won the first-ever Capital One Cup, as announced by the organization on Thursday.

“On behalf of the university, our student athletes and our fans, we are honored to accept the inaugural Capital One Cup trophy and $200,000 scholarship,” athletic director Jeremy Foley said. “Our goal is to strive for overall athletic success, and we’re extremely proud of our men’s program winning the Capital One Cup and our women’s program placing fourth. Thank you to Capital One and its affiliated companies for their support of intercollegiate athletics.”

Awarded annually to each of the top men’s and women’s Division I college athletic programs in the country, the winner of the Capital One cup is determined by a scoring system in which points are awarded sport-by-sport depending how respective teams finish NCAA Championships and the final official coaches’ polls.

Florida (93 points) won by an 11-point margin over Virginia (82) and finished 23 points above the next team from the Southeastern Conference, Auburn (70).

The Gators did not place in the top 10 in any fall sports but found much greater success in the winter and spring with the performances of indoor track & field (first), baseball (second), outdoor track & field (third) swimming & diving (fifth), tennis (ninth) and basketball (10th) earning them the honor.

The University of Florida’s women’s athletic program was the highest ranked in the SEC but came in No. 4 overall, 35 points behind the winner Stanford (121).

The men won UF a total of $200,000 to go toward student-athlete graduate-level scholarships. The Gators will be presented with the Capital One Cup at the 2011 ESPY Awards on July 13 at 9 p.m.