The Duquesne men's and women's teams blocked out the distractions of an unsettled department and the eventual resignation of athletic director Brian Colleary to enjoy one of their best years in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Duquesne University Matt Mehler and the Duquesne soccer team won the school's first regular-season soccer title. Click photo for larger image. Last week revisited Erin Claxton became the first Grove City All-American in women's track and field with an eighth-place finish in the 10,000-meter run in a school-record time of 36:18.74 at the NCAA Division III Championships in Waverly, Iowa. IUP's Ron Jett was third in the decathlon to become a Division II All-American for the third time. He twice earned All-America honors at Northern Colorado. Clarion's Dan Patton was All-American by finishing seventh Mercyhurst was third in the Eights and second in the Fours at the NCAA Division II Rowing Championships. Duquesne freshman Kirk Lang and sophomore Brian DiSalle earned a bronze medal in the men's Varsity Pairs at the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadlephia. Penn State junior Jen Leatherman won the hammer throw with a school-record toss of 209-4 to win the NCAA East Region and qualify for the NCAA Championships June 8-11. Westmoreland County Community College finished fourth on its first trip to the double-elimination National Junior College Athletic Association Division III World Series. Westmoreland CCC defeated three-time defending champion Richland (Texas) College, 13-3. Freshman second baseman Nat Watkiss (Yough) was on the all-tournament team. Freshman pitcher Justin Dickert (Laurel Valley) is second-team All-America and sophomore first baseman Joe Myers (Latrobe) was second team. Mike Draghi is District D coach of the year. Edinboro's Ed Brown was sixth with a school-record throw of 174-11 in the discus and Ryan Coon was eighth in the 10,000-meter run to become All-Americans.last week revisited Some of the top individual and team highlights by district colleges:

Duquesne's 103.5 points in the race for the A-10 Commissioner's Cup is the school's highest total and an increase for the fourth consecutive year. The Dukes competed in 18 of the 21 sports sponsored by the league in 2004-05. Football and wrestling are not included.

The Dukes finished seventh among the 12 member schools, one point out of sixth, 2.5 out of fifth and five out of fourth.

Duquesne's highest finish was fifth place in 2003-04 with 99.5 points.

Points are awarded in descending order of finish according to the number of teams participating in each sport. Regular-season standings are used in round-robin sports: baseball, men's and women's basketball, field hockey, women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, softball and women's volleyball. Tournament finishes are used in the other sports: golf, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and women's rowing.

Richmond won the Commissioner's Cup for the third consecutive year, followed by Rhode Island which was runner-up for the fifth consecutive year. Richmond's women and Rhode Island's men finished first.

However, the overall upgrade of Duquesne's athletic status in the A-10 is again overshadowed by the downward cycle of the men's basketball team that has had 11 consecutive losing seasons. The men tied for fifth and last place in the West Division this season and the women were sixth.

The failure of the headliners to keep pace with the university's other programs continues to put a damper on the growth of Duquesne's athletic department.

Here's a capsule look at Duquesne's 18 teams:

Baseball (20-33) -- Finished third in the West, reached the league playoffs for the third consecutive year under Mike Wilson and won its first playoff game. Was 1-2 in the double-elimination playoff for an all-time record of 1-10. Junior shortstop Steve Maiolo (Mt. Lebanon) was first-team all-league.

Men's basketball (8-22) -- Fourth consecutive losing season under Danny Nee. Guard Bryant McAllister was second-team all-league and center Kieron Achara was named most improved player.

Women's basketball (10-18) -- Nicole Sinclair was A-10 Student-Athlete of the Year.

Men's cross country -- Second place in A-10 meet was best finish.

Women's cross country -- Fourth place tied for team's best finish in A-10 meet.

Golf -- Eleventh in A-10 championships. Freshman John Pratkanis (Butler) had three Top 5 finishes in regular-season tournaments.

Women's lacrosse (13-4) -- Regular-season co-champions for second consecutive season, led by second-team All-American Ginger Flocco.

Women's rowing -- Seventh in A-10 championships with highest point total.

Men's soccer (13-6-1) -- Won school's first outright regular-season title and Wade Jean was coach of the year.

Women's soccer (9-10-1) -- Ninth place, with two named to all-rookie team.

Men's swimming -- Backstroker Scott Darwin was the most outstanding performer and team was seventh.

Women's swimming -- Broke eight school records, finished seventh in A-10 meet.

Men's tennis (2-11) -- Eighth place.

Women's tennis (7-11) -- Finished seventh with seven of nine players on roster either freshmen or sophomores.

Women's indoor track -- Fourth place tied for best finish.

Men's outdoor track -- Chuck Moran was meet's most outstanding field performer and third place was highest finish. Bryan Delsite was coach of the year.

Women's outdoor track -- Kirsten Micsky was most outstanding field performer and Amy Ruffalo was most outstanding rookie performer and second place was highest finish. Bryan Delsite was coach of the year.

Women's volleyball (15-16) -- Finished fourth to reach A-10 playoffs for the first time.