UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For the 14th consecutive year, Penn State Athletics has placed in the top five in the Learfield IMG College Directors’ Cup final winter standings.
Powered by the wrestling team’s eighth NCAA championship in the past nine years, the Nittany Lions are No. 3 in the final winter standings, maintaining their No. 3 ranking after the fall sports season.
Penn State has finished in the top 10 in the final winter rankings in 25 of the 26 years of the Directors’ Cup, with a total of 21 top-five finishes. The last time the Nittany Lions finished outside the top five in the winter standings was in 2004-05.
Penn State and Stanford are the nation’s only institutions to place in the top five in the final winter Directors’ Cup standings in each of the past 14 years. The Nittany Lions and Cardinal also are the nation’s only institutions to place in the top 10 in the final fall Directors’ Cup standings in each of the past 12 years.
Penn State is among only nine institutions nationwide to have finished in the top 25 in all 25 Learfield Directors' Cup final standings.
Stanford leads the Directors’ Cup and is followed by Michigan (912.75), Penn State (830.5), Wisconsin (715.5), Minnesota and Kentucky (tie, 661.75), Ohio State (652.5), Notre Dame (622), Virginia (621) and Florida (603.75). The Big Ten Conference has five institutions in the top seven spots in the final winter standings.
Men’s gymnastics finishes sixth at NCAA Championships with two All-Americans
The final winter compilation included results from the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Gymnastics Championships. Penn State’s men’s team finished No. 6 at the national championships, earning 64 Directors’ Cup points under the direction of Coach Randy Jepson. Stephen Nedoroscik (second, pommel horse) and Noah Roberson (third, rings) earned All-America accolades. Roberson, who owns a 4.0 grade-point average, was selected the NCAA Elite 90 recipient in men’s gymnastics for the third consecutive year.
Jessie Bastardi (beam) and Sabrina Garcia (bars) competed in the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships, earning 51.5 Directors’ Cup points for the Nittany Lions, coached by Sarah Brown.
Wrestling wins fourth consecutive NCAA championship; six Nittany Lions earn winter NCAA individual titles
Led by three national champions, the Penn State wrestling team captured its fourth consecutive and eighth NCAA title in the past nine years. Directed by Coach Cael Sanderson, the Nittany Lions earned 100 Directors’ Cup points.
Bo Nickal (197 pounds) and Jason Nolf (157) captured their third consecutive NCAA individual wrestling national titles, while Anthony Cassar (285) won his first NCAA crown. Nickal finished the season with a 30-0 record (120-3 career) and was selected the 2019 NCAA Most Dominant Wrestler. Nolf finished the season with a 31-0 mark and was 117-3 In his career with a school record 60 pins. Nickal and Nolf were co-winners of the 2019 Hodge Trophy. Cassar delivered a 30-1 season, winning the Big Ten and NCAA titles in his first appearances in both events.
The men’s and women’s fencing team finished second at the NCAA Championships to earn 90 Directors’ Cup points. Senior Karol Metryka won the men’s saber championship to lead the Nittany Lions, coached by Wes Glon. Sophomore Zara Moss was the women’s saber runner-up for the second consecutive year.
Boosted by national champion Danae Rivers, the Penn State women’s track and field team finished in 11th place at the NCAA Championships to earn 66 Directors’ Cup. A junior, Rivers captured the 800-meter crown in a school-record 2:03.69, becoming the program’s first indoor national champion. Directed by Coach John Gondak, the men’s and women’s indoor track and field squads had four first-team All-Americans and combined to earn 98.5 Directors’ Cup points.
Senior Ally McHugh earned the gold medal in the 1650 freestyle at the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships to become the program’s first national champion. McHugh posted a school-record time of 15:39.22, shaving nearly eight seconds off her winning time at the Big Ten Championships. Senior Hector Garcia Boissier became the men’s program’s highest finishing diver, placing second in the one-meter. Guided by Coach Tim Murphy, the men’s and women’s swimming and diving team added 90.5 points to Penn State’s Directors’ Cup total.
A total of 15 Penn State teams have participated in their respective NCAA championships thus far in 2018-19.
Penn State among the nation's most comprehensive and successful athletic programs
Under the leadership of Vice President of Athletics Sandy Barbour, Penn State has one of the nation’s most comprehensive and successful athletic programs, featuring 800 student-athletes across 31 varsity programs (16 men’s, 15 women’s).
Nittany Lion students have posted an NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 90 percent the past two years, which ties Penn State’ all-time high. Eight teams earned a 100 percent graduation rate in the 2018 NCAA Graduation Rates Report. The Nittany Lions rank No. 4 among all Division I schools with 204 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans all-time, including Kerry Abello and Emily Ogle (women’s soccer) and Blake Gillikin (football) during the fall semester.
Penn State’s 51 NCAA championships all-time (79 national championships overall) rank No. 5 among all NCAA Division I programs and are the highest total of any college or university east of the Mississippi River. Penn State’s 32 NCAA titles since 1992-93, including a fourth consecutive NCAA wrestling championship in March, lead all Big Ten Conference institutions. The Nittany Lions have won 112 Big Ten championships or tournament titles since capturing their first crown in 1992-93, most recently men’s lacrosse winning its first Big Ten championship earlier this month.