UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State Athletics continues to maintain its Top 5 position in the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup, earning the No. 3 spot in the first spring rankings.
The Nittany Lions finished No. 2 in the final winter Directors’ Cup standings, posting their sixth consecutive Top 3 ranking in the final winter compilation. Penn State was No. 4 in the final fall 2014 standings, earning its highest fall finish since being ranked fourth in 2009-10.
Penn State is pursuing its 11th Top 10 overall finish in the 22 years of the Directors’ Cup. The Nittany Lions were No. 5 in the final 2013-14 Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings.
Twenty Penn State teams have competed in their respective NCAA Championships in 2014-15, in addition to the football team winning the New Era Pinstripe Bowl, and 30 teams have participated in post-season competition this year. At last weekend’s NCAA East Regional, the men’s and women’s track and field teams qualified eight competitors for the NCAA Championships, June 10-13 in Eugene, Oregon.
Penn State has earned 984 Directors’ Cup points so far to rank No. 3. Stanford leads the Directors’ Cup with 1,349.5 points and is followed by North Carolina (1,119.5), Penn State (984), UCLA (975.25) and Ohio State (874.5). Virginia, USC, Notre Dame, Florida and Wisconsin round out the Top 10.
The Big Ten (three), ACC (three), Pac-12 (three) and SEC (one) claimed the top 10 spots in the latest Directors’ Cup standings.
Penn State won the 2014 NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship and earned Big Ten titles in men’s gymnastics, women’s lacrosse and women’s soccer in 2014-15. The Nittany Lions have won 74 national championships and 92 Big Ten titles all-time, including five NCAA titles and 19 Big Ten crowns since September 2012.
Three Nittany Lions have won individual NCAA Championships so far this season: Senior wrestler Matt Brown won the 174-pound national championship, freshman Thad Lawson captured the individual title on the floor exercise and freshman fencer Andrew Mackiewicz won the men’s sabre national title.
Big Ten Coach of the Year Missy Doherty directed the Nittany Lions to the inaugural Big Ten Women’s Lacrosse Tournament championship, defeating Ohio State in the final. Penn State advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals, falling to No. 2 seed North Carolina, the eventual national runner-up. The Nittany Lions (16-5) were ranked No. 5 in the final IWLCA poll and won 16 games for the first time since winning the national championship in 1989.
The men’s volleyball team was resilient after an 0-6 start, winning 17 consecutive matches before being stopped by top-seeded Lewis in the NCAA semifinals. Led by EIVA Coach of the Year Mark Pavlik, the Nittany Lions won their 17th straight EIVA title and defeated No. 4 seed Hawaii in the NCAA play-in match. Pavlik won his 500th career match April 25 at St. Francis.
The men’s golf team made it 21st NCAA regional appearance and first since 2010. Led by coach Greg Nye, the Nittany Lions placed 11th at the NCAA regional hosted by North Carolina after tying for third place at the Big Ten Championships.
Penn State is one of only nine programs nationwide to have finished in the final Top 25 in all 21 Directors' Cup final standings, joined by Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio State, Southern California, Stanford, Texas and UCLA.
The Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings were developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in as many as 20 sports -- 10 women's and 10 men's.
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