PHOENIX, AZ – With nine of the 11 Pacific West Conference Championships complete, the chase for the 2010-11 Commissioner’s Cup has three schools separated by less than half a point with a fourth waiting in the wings for an opportunity to snare a title.

With the completion of the women’s tennis and men’s golf championships, BYU-Hawaii leads the Commissioner Cup standings through half of the spring sports season with an average finish of 6.9444 – just .0556 ahead of second-place Grand Canyon (6.8888) and .3333 in front of third-place Hawai‘i Pacific (6.6111). Dixie State is in fourth with a 5.7777 average finish.

The Seasiders and Antelopes could have a tough time fending off HPU and Dixie State, however. BYU-Hawaii has just one sport left in softball and its team is locked into either an eighth- or ninth-place finish that will reduce its current average.

Grand Canyon’s baseball team completed its 2011 campaign at 16-16 and is waiting to see how Academy of Art manages in Hawai‘i with eight games vs. HPU and Hawai‘i Hilo. The Antelopes could finish in a tie for second, alone in third or tied for third depending upon the Urban Knights’ success on the islands.

GCU’s softball team also is in a pivotal role – the Antelopes need a sweep of Academy of Art this weekend to secure fourth place, or they could drop to sixth behind NDNU.

Dixie State’s baseball championship this week will give the Red Storm a boost, while its softball team has a chance to win the conference title as it closes out its road trip to Hawai‘i this week.

HPU, meanwhile could finish anywhere from first to third in softball, while baseball would secure second place outright with one victory in four games vs. Art U during their upcoming series. The Sea Warriors could conceivably claim the Commissioner’s Cup without winning one PacWest Championship all season.

The race for the PacWest Commissioner’s Cup is based upon average finish instead of point totals, a change that occurred prior to the 2009-10 campaign. Each school totals its points and then divides it by the number of PacWest athletic programs it offers, giving an overall average finish for the school. BYU-Hawaii, Hawai‘i Pacific and Grand Canyon are averaging better than a fourth-place finish across their entire athletic program.

The standings through nine sports seasons are:

School (Pts. / Ave. Finish)

1. BYU-Hawaii (62.5 / 6.9444)
2. Grand Canyon (62.0 / 6.8888)
3. Hawai‘i Pacific (59.5 /6.6111)
4. Dixie State (52.0 / 5.7777)
5. Hawai‘i Hilo (45.5 / 5.0555)
6. Academy of Art (41.0 / 4.5555)
7. NDNU (30.5 / 3.3888)
8. Chaminade (28.5 / 3.1666)
9. Dominican (CA) (23.5 / 2.6111)

In other movement, Hawai‘i Hilo jumped Academy of Art, moving from sixth to fifth thanks to its PacWest men’s golf title.

Hawai‘i Pacific, Hawai‘i Hilo, Dixie State, Grand Canyon and Academy of Art sponsor all 11 PacWest programs, while Dominican (CA), BYU-Hawaii, NDNU and Chaminade compete in 10 (no baseball).

In the 10 sports sponsored by all nine PacWest schools - men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s golf, softball, men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball and women’s tennis - the first-place team receives nine points, followed by the second-place team receiving eight and so forth in descending order.

Baseball features five programs with the winner earning nine points, followed by the runner-up claiming seven, third place taking five, and fourth and fifth registering three and one, respectively.

When teams are tied in the standings, the points awarded to those positions are added together then distributed evenly among the schools.

The spring season, which began on Feb. 1, will conclude May 4 with the final baseball games of the year. Softball wraps up Sunday, May 1.

In 2009-10, HPU became the third different winner in the three-year existence of the PacWest Commissioner’s Cup. Hawai‘i Hilo claimed the inaugural trophy in 2007-08 and BYU-Hawaii earned the title in 2008-09.