Rochester, NY – With the completion of the 2017-2018 winter sports championships for the Empire 8 conference, The Sage Colleges' stands in fifth place in the latest standings. The Empire 8 conference office has released the current Commissioner's Cup standings.

Stevens Institute of Technology continues to lead the way with an .883 percentage, staying ahead of second place St. John Fisher College (.755). The Ducks had a strong showing across the board during the winter season winning conference titles in women's basketball, men's swimming for the sixth straight year and women's indoor track and field for the first time ever.

Fisher remained in second place thanks to a conference title in men's indoor track and field for the second time since the program began six years ago. The Cardinals also earned high points from women's basketball that won the regular season title and hosted the E8 Tournament for the first time.

Nazareth (.673) had an exciting winter season as they won the conference title in women's swimming and diving and men's basketball on the same day. The title in women's swimming and diving was the first ever for the Golden Flyers, while the basketball championship was the third in program history and first since the 2009-10 season. 

Utica stayed solid in fourth place with a .528 percentage. The Pioneers made the finals of the men's basketball tournament for the first time since 2007 and matched its program best in women's indoor track and field with a second-place team finish at the conference championship.

Positions 5-8 are separated by .036 percentage points making it a tight race in the bottom half of the standings.

Sage moved up from three spots from the fall standings with a .479 percentage to rank fifth. Both Gator basketball teams made a smooth transition into the league and were competitive with each game, evidenced by the women's team qualifying for the E8 Tournament at the No. 2 seed.

Houghton College ranks sixth in the standings and made its first appearance in the E8 tournament for women's basketball.

Hartwick College, Alfred University and Elmira College complete the standings. The Hawks had a successful swimming and diving championship, while Alfred qualified as the No. 4 seed in E8 tournament in men's basketball.

Commissioner Cup points are awarded based on each team's finish in the Empire 8 standings at the completion of the regular season and post-season. Points are awarded on a scale dependent upon the number of schools that sponsor the sport (affiliate members are not calculated into the point scale). A team's regular season finish will be added to their post-season finish and divided by two for the final total for that sport.  Teams tied for a position in the regular season standings are ranked based on tiebreaker scenarios. The actual amount of points earned is then divided by the amount of possible points for each school based on conference-sponsored sports to determine percentage.

Standings through Winter 2017-2018        

Percentage     Actual Points Possible Points

Stevens                            .883        88.25     100

St. John Fisher                   .755        74           98

Nazareth                           .673        70           104

Utica                                .528        57           108

Sage                                .479        34           71

Houghton                         .467        42           90

Hartwick                           .456        33.75     74

Alfred                              .443        43           97

Elmira                              .293        24           82