UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — With the 2017-18 athletic calendar winding down, Penn State Athletics is in position to earn its fifth top-10 finish in six years in the Learfield Directors’ Cup.
In the first set of spring standings, the Nittany Lions are ranked No. 3. Penn State’s Learfield Directors’ Cup finishes the past five years are: 2012-13 (sixth), 2013-14 (fifth), 2014-15 (eighth), 2015-16 (20th), and 2016-17 (eighth).
Penn State is in position to earn its 13th top-10 finish in the 25 years of the Learfield Directors’ Cup. The final 2017-18 standings will be announced in early July.
Led by Director of Athletics Sandy Barbour, the Nittany Lions placed No. 2 in the 2017-18 final fall and winter Directors’ Cup standings. 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 13 years.
Penn State is among only nine institutions nationwide to have finished in the top 25 in all 24 Learfield Directors' Cup final standings.
Stanford leads the Directors’ Cup and is followed by Michigan (941.5), Penn State (889.25 points), Ohio State (885.75), UCLA (876), USC (735.5), North Carolina State (722.75), Notre Dame (628.5), Minnesota (613.5) and Texas (612.5). The Big Ten leads all conferences with four schools in the top 10.
Total of 21 Penn State teams in NCAA competition or bowl game in 2017-18
A total of 18 Penn State teams have participated in their respective NCAA championships thus far in 2017-18, and the Nittany Lion football team won the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl. A total of 12 Nittany Lions will compete in the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Track & Field Championships June 6-9, bringing this year’s total to 21 Penn State teams in NCAA competition or a bowl game.
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). Penn State student-athletes have an NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 90 percent, which ties the Nittany Lions’ all-time high. Nine teams earned a 100 percent GSR in the NCAA’s November 2017 report.
A school-record 520 Nittany Lion student-athletes earned at least a 3.0 grade-point average during the 2017 fall semester. Penn State ranks No. 4 among all Division I schools with 200 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans all-time, including Emily Ogle (women’s soccer) and Haleigh Washington (women’s volleyball) during the 2017 fall semester.
Penn State’s 50 NCAA championships all-time (78 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 31 NCAA titles since 1992-93, including a third consecutive NCAA wrestling championship, lead all Big Ten Conference institutions. The Nittany Lions have won 107 Big Ten championships or tournament titles since capturing their first crown in 1992-93, including conference titles in women’s soccer, women’s volleyball and wrestling in 2017-18.