Once again, the Ivy League has ranked as the sixth-strongest conference in Division I following the 2023-24 athletics season. In addition to a plethora of nationally-ranked teams, Ivy League programs recorded 21 NCAA Tournament wins and 14 national championships throughout the year. Continuing to provide the Unrivaled Experience, the Ivy League also once again led all Division I conferences in the NCAA Graduation Success Rate and Academic Progress Rate metrics.
2023-24 By The Numbers:
- 1 – top-ranked conference in NCAA Graduation Success Rate
- 1 – top-ranked conference in NCAA Academic Progress Rate
- 6 – sixth-strongest conference in the Learfield Directors Cup standings (trailing only the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, PAC-12 and Big 12)
- 14 – National Champions
- 21 – number of NCAA Tournament wins for Ivy League teams this year
In totality, the Ivy League is currently ranked as the sixth-strongest conference in the country, trailing only the ACC, SEC, Big 12, Pac-12 and Big Ten. Harvard is the highest-ranked school outside of the Power 5, at No. 29, while Princeton also garnered a top-35 ranking (34th). Seven Ivy League schools finished inside the top-100 of the rankings out of 300+ NCAA Division I schools. It is the seventh-consecutive competitive season where the Ivy League as a whole has finished inside the top-six (No. 5 in 2019).
The average rating for all eight Ivy schools is 378.69, the highest amongst non-Power 5 conferences. The next highest average rating for a conference is the Big East at 169.41.
Learfield Cup rankings (by conference):
1. SEC: 800.46
2. Pac-12: 696.38
3. ACC: 657.51
4. Big Ten: 632.14
5. Big 12: 542.41
6. Ivy League: 378.69
7. Big East: 169.41
8. Mountain West: 158.05
9. WCC: 157.71
10. Summit: 151.22
11. Big West: 127.63
12. Sun Belt: 123.18
13. American: 122.00
14. Big Sky: 119.23
15. WAC: 110.21
The Ivy League finished the season with 14 national championships (11 individual and three team). In the fall season, Harvard’s Graham Blanks began the year with a national title in men’s cross country. Then in the winter, nine individual Ivies earned national titles as four fencers — two women (Harvard’s Emily Vermeule and Jessica Guo) and two men (Penn’s Bryce Louie and Princeton’s Tristan Szapary) started the tally. Cornell’s Veer Chotrani and Harvard’s Saran Nghiem won individual titles in men’s and women’s squash, respectively. Then, Harvard’s Kenneth Ikeji (Weight Throw) and Maia Ramsden (Mile) won national title in the indoor track & field season as Ramsden also went on to win the 1,500m title in the outdoor season. Also in the winter season, Cornell’s Vito Arujau successfully defended his 133-pound title in wrestling.
In the team championships, Harvard won the fencing championships while Penn earned the CSA national title in men’s squash. To end the year, the Harvard men’s lightweight rowing team took home the IRA national title.
The league continued to build off of the 2022-23 season (15 wins) with 21 wins in NCAA Tournament competition this season. The fall season was highlighted by four women’s soccer programs (Brown, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton) not only earning bids to the tournament, but winning their first-round matchups. In the winter, an Ivy League basketball team once again recorded a win in the NCAA Tournament as Yale advanced past Auburn in the first round. Then in the spring, three Ivy League programs (Penn women’s lacrosse, Yale women’s lacrosse, Columbia men’s tennis) all made runs to the Elite Eight in their respective tournaments.
