Sweet 16 is in sight. We are about two-thirds of the way through the 2009-10 athletics season and again, Stanford is in the lead for the Directors’ Cup. We currently have 792 points, leading Ohio State (703), Florida (648), Penn State (621.50) and Virginia (610.50). These scores include everything through the winter except men’s and women’s gymnastics.

Typically, Stanford has scored around 1,200 points to win the Directors’ Cup. It again will take something over 1,100 to win, which means we probably need at least 350 points from the remaining sports to feel good about our chances.

Stanford still has all the spring sports left to score, and a threat doesn’t look to be coming from any of the schools except for Florida. Only the Gators have the strength in their spring sports to give Stanford a challenge. I will go on record saying that Florida has the only chance to stop Stanford from claiming No. 16.

After the men’s and women’s gymnastics teams compete at NCAAs over the next two weeks, Stanford should increase its lead over all the teams. But spring is crucial for the Cardinal if it wants to win another one.

Florida is having an extremely strong spring. The Gators are ranked higher than Stanford in several spring sports and their teams have the looks of championship contenders. Let’s do a sport-by-sport comparison for the sports that are left to score:

Men’s gymnastics: Florida doesn’t have it, Stanford No. 2

Women’s gymnastics: Florida No. 2, Stanford No. 6

Men’s tennis: Florida No. 6, Stanford No. 7

Women’s tennis: Florida No. 3, Stanford No. 10

Men’s track and field: Florida No. 1, Stanford N.R.

Women’s track and field: Florida No. 5, Stanford No. 18

Baseball: Florida No. 7, Stanford No. 22

Softball: Florida No. 3, Stanford No. 8

Women’s water polo: Florida doesn’t have it, Stanford No. 2

Men’s golf: Florida No. 16, Stanford No. 2

Women’s golf: Florida No. 19, Stanford No. 12

Women’s rowing: No rankings; Florida doesn’t have it, Stanford is defending champ

Men’s volleyball: Florida doesn’t have it, Stanford No. 1

While there is a lot of time left in the season and a lot of things can happen come NCAA time, if Stanford cannot match Florida’s postseason success, the Cardinal could be crossing its fingers come June. Just going off rough estimates from the above rankings, when spring is over Florida has the potential to pick up about 150 points on Stanford (Stanford is currently ahead of the Gators by 144 points). This all depends on how teams finish, but Florida does have the potential to pass Stanford.

The fun part is that both Florida and Stanford have traditionally strong spring sports. The battle will come down to sports where Florida and Stanford are close to evenly matched, like softball, golf, women’s gymnastics and tennis. Any early NCAA exit by either team will give a huge swing to the other side. Any national championship won by a team will be a big 100 points, unless of course it’s Stanford vs. Florida for the title.

Stanford can put Florida away with strong finishes by men’s gymnastics, men’s volleyball, women’s water polo and women’s rowing—four sports that Florida doesn’t have at all. All four Cardinal teams have legitimate potential to win national championships, which would be 400 points to Florida’s 0. That would all but cement Stanford’s 16th. Anything less, though, and Florida could still have a chance.

So the quest for Stanford’s 16th consecutive Directors’ Cup starts now. Men’s gymnastics is currently competing at NCAAs and has the potential to win the title. Women’s gymnastics heads to the NCAAs next week and will face off with Florida. The rest of the spring sports are heating up. Stanford must continue to play well across the board to hold off what will surely be a late charge from the Gators.