In its final year in the NAIA, Shorter University athletics finished ranked second in the final NAIA Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings. Shorter's No. 2 final ranking was the highest in school history. The Hawks scored in 12 sports and claimed the softball and men's outdoor track and field championships – Shorter won an outdoor track title for the second straight year. Shorter also placed second in men's indoor track and field, third in men's basketball, fourth in women's indoor track and field and fifth in women's golf. Shorter's No. 2 final ranking is a culmination of a journey to the top of the NAIA that began to build momentum five years ago. The Hawks managed just 182.00 total points in 2006–07. Shorter ended the campaign ranked No. 87, and a 13th-place finish in softball is all that kept Shorter from finishing in the triple digits. That all changed a year later. Shorter shot up 66 spots to No. 21 with 509.25 points in the 2007–08 final standings behind a record spring that resulted in six programs accounting for 356.25 points. The Hawks dipped to No. 33 in 2008–09, but ascended to No. 11 in 2009–10, finishing for the first time ahead of perennial power and rival Lee University to end the year as the top rated member of the Southern States Athletic Conference. A fourth-place finish in women's outdoor track and field, fifth place in softball and sixth place in men's track and field paved the way for Shorter's highest Directors’ Cup finish to date that resulted in 587.25 points. Shorter climbed all the way to No. 3 last year thanks in large part to its indoor and outdoor double in men's track, setting the stage for a record setting 2011–12 year that helped Shorter depart the NAIA with a bang.