MCLEAN, Va., April 13, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --

Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF), an official NCAA(R) Corporate Champion, announced today the official winter standings for the Capital One Cup, a program rewarding NCAA Division I athletics programs for their cumulative on-field performance across multiple men's and women's sports.

Following a highly competitive winter championship season that featured eight championships and saw 30 men's and women's athletics programs earn their first points in the race for the Capital One Cup, there is a change at the top of the women's standings. Stanford, as a result of its Top 5 finishes in basketball and swimming and diving, has opened up a six point lead on 2nd Notre Dame and California, which won the swimming and diving championship. Penn State, which led after the winter season, is currently 5th in the standings.

On the men's side, Auburn's 6th place finish at the swimming and diving championship was enough to give the Tigers sole ownership of first place, 10 points ahead of Eastern Washington and Connecticut, which claimed the basketball national title. The Top 5 in the men's standings is rounded out by Stanford and California, which vaulted into 4th and 5th places in the standings, respectively, after each program posted strong finishes in swimming and diving.

Below are the official Capital One Cup standings for the 2010 - 2011 fall and winter athletics seasons, with only the Top 10 point earners in men's and women's Division athletics listed. Note that the standings in their entirety can be found at CapitalOneCup.com/standings.

"The winter athletic season was full of excitement, culminated by Texas A&M's first-ever women's basketball national championship," said Capital One Cup Advisory Board member and former NCAA basketball National Player of the Year Lisa Leslie. "The athletic programs that have experienced success across multiple sports in the fall and winter sports, such as Stanford and Notre Dame, are starting to rise to the top of the women's Capital One Cup standings. We're in for a thrilling finish this spring with six women's Championships still remaining to be played."

"Capital One strives to recognize student athlete achievements both on and off the playing field, with the $200,000 scholarship that goes to the winning schools for student athlete post-graduate studies," said Capital One Cup Advisory Board member and former Ohio State basketball standout Clark Kellogg. "It's great to see a variety of schools such as Auburn and California competing against the likes of Eastern Washington and Akron for the Capital One Cup. We're in for a truly exciting spring season as the race for the men's Capital One Cup goes down to the wire."

NCAA Division I men's national championship winners during the winter season were California (swimming and diving), Penn State (wrestling), Florida (indoor track and field), Connecticut (basketball) and Minnesota-Duluth (hockey). Women's national championship winners were California (swimming and diving), Oregon (indoor track and field) and Texas A&M (basketball).

Highlights from the Capital One Cup after the fall and winter seasons:

• 63 men's athletic programs have earned points and 47 women's programs have earned points
• 27 schools have points in both the men's and women's standings, including Stanford and California, who are ranked in the Top 5 in both standings
• Eight of 13 men's sports and seven of 13 women's sports have completed their seasons so far

With only one more season of sports left in the inaugural year of the Capital One Cup, schools will be racing to finish to see who will take home the Cup. Division I men's and women's athletics programs are competing to win the Capital One Cup trophy and $200,000 to fund graduate scholarships for student-athletes. One men's and one women's Capital One Cup winner will be determined at the end of the spring season and honored at the ESPY Awards in July, to be televised live by ESPN.

About Capital One

Capital One Financial Corporation (www.capitalone.com) is a financial holding company whose subsidiaries, which include Capital One, N.A. and Capital One Bank (USA), N. A., had $119.2 billion in deposits and $196.9 billion in total assets outstanding as of September 30, 2010. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One offers a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients. Capital One, N.A. has approximately 1,000 branch locations primarily in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. A Fortune 500 company, Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "COF" and is included in the S&P 100 index.

Capital One, an NCAA Corporate Champion, began its affiliation with college sports with the sponsorship of the 2001 Capital One Florida Citrus Bowl (now the Capital One Bowl) and ESPN's Capital One Bowl Week. In addition, Capital One sponsors the ABC College Football Halftime Report, Capital One All-America Mascot Team, Capital One Academic All-America Program, and supports all 88 NCAA Championships including the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships, and numerous other collegiate athletics programs.

NCAA is a trademark of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. All other licenses or trademarks are property of their respective holders.

Contact: Sukhi Sahni, 703-720-2390
sukhi.sahni@capitalone.com

SOURCE Capital One Financial Corporation