UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; May 2, 2007 ?C Working on its 14th-straight Top 25 finish, Penn State is currently ranked No. 5 in the U.S. Sports Academy Directors?? Cup after the final winter standings. The Nittany Lions have amassed 704.33 points on the strength of two winter national championships, the 10th in school history for fencing and the 12th for men??s gymnastics. Penn State only sits behind standings-leader Stanford (997.5 points), California (761.5), Wisconsin (753.5), and Michigan (731.25). Penn State is one of five Big Ten institutions in the current Top 10. In the 13-year history of the Director??s Cup, the Nittany Lions have finished in the top 10 seven times and the top five a total of four times.
The U.S. Sports Academy Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. The United States Sports Academy, based in Daphne, Ala., is the program's sponsor. More than 300 Division I institutions are eligible to be ranked in the standings. Points are awarded based on each institution??s finish in up to 20 sports ?? 10 men??s and 10 women??s.
Leading Penn State??s point brigade, head coach Emmanuil Kaidanov??s fencing teams claimed their record 10th combined national championship, winning the crown on March 25 at Drew. Freshman Doris Willette (Lafayette, Calif.) won the individual national championship in the women's foil as well. Penn State had a total of 11 All-Americans (six women and five men). The team earned a perfect 100 Director??s Cup points with the championship, as did the national champion men??s gymnastics squad.
Led by 2007 NACGC National Coach of the Year Randy Jepson, the Penn State men's gymnastics captured its NCAA-record 12th national championship on its home floor in historic Rec Hall in mid-April. The Nittany Lions posted a season-high score of 221.000 to outdistance two-time defending champion Oklahoma. Individually, Nittany Lions earned six All-America honors at the national collegiate championships, including three by junior Tommy Ramos (Guaynabo, P.R.) on the still rings, parallel bars, and high bar. Junior Vladi Klurman (North Miami Beach, Fla.), sophomore Casey Sandy (Brampton, Ont.), and freshman Nick Virbitsky (Harrisburg, Pa.) captured the first All-America honors of their careers. Also highlighting the 2007 season was the presentation of the prestigious Nissen-Emery Award to senior captain Matt Cohen (Agoura Hills, Calif.). Bestowed in recognition of outstanding athletic achievement, academic excellence, and sportsmanship, it is the highest honor presented in collegiate gymnastics.
Additionally, women??s gymnastics earned 59.33 points after falling just shy of advancing to the team National Championships. Steve Shepard's Nittany Lions placed third at regionals by a slim .050 margin. Freshman gymnast Brandi Personett (Katy, Texas) finished ninth in the all-around with a score of 39.100 in the second session of the NCAA Women??s Gymnastics Championships in Salt Lake City. She earned the right to advance to the NCAA Gymnastics Championships after she finished second with a career-high-tying 39.425 at regionals.
Previously during the winter, the wrestling team grabbed 66 points after a strong showing at NCAAs. That total leads the Nittany Lions?? winter efforts through eight of the 15 sports. National runner-up Aaron Anspach (Columbia, Pa.) ended his 2007 season with a 22-4 record at heavyweight. Junior 197-pounder Phil Davis (Harrisburg, Pa.) became Penn State??s 15th three-time All-American with his fifth-place finish. Sophomore Jake Strayer (South Fork, Pa.) also earned All-American laurels at the 2007 championships by finishing seventh at 133. All told, Troy Sunderland??s Nittany Lions finished 11th at NCAAs, posting 66 Director??s Cup points.
After finishing 21st at NCAAs, the Penn State??s women??s indoor track & field squad earned 50.5 points. Redshirt-seniors Briene Simmons (Decatur, Ga.) and Shana Cox (Westbury, N.Y.) each brought home individual All-America honors. Junior Dominique Blake (Bronx, N.Y.), Simmons, Cox, and redshirt-sophomore Aleesha Barber (Decatur, Ga.) nabbed fourth-place in the 4x400-meters, also earning All-America honors. The squad shattered the previous school standard of 3:34.04, set by the same group last year. Simmons took seventh in the 800-meters, clocking 2:06.27 to earn her first-career All-America honor. Cox claimed her fifth-career All-America honor in the 400-meters, finishing third in her section and seventh overall with a time of 53.25.
With a 26th place finish at NCAAs, the Nittany Lion women??s swimming and diving team added 48 points to Penn State??s Director??s Cup tally. Senior Nikki Collins (Carmel, Ind.) finished seventh in the 1650 freestyle to repeat as an All-American, breaking her own school record in that event. Freshman honorable mention All-American Kailey Morris (Lewistown, Pa.) also picked up 3.5 points for the Nittany Lions as she tied for 13th place in the 200. Freshman Kaitlin O'Brien (Caldwell, N.J.) also earned honorable mention All-America honors after finishing ninth in the 400 IM. The Lions?? 800 free relay of Jessica Barnes (Glenmoore, Pa.), Molly Crispell (Boalsburg, Pa.), Kelly Nelson (West Chester, Pa.) and Collins also earned honorable mention All-America honors. Penn State's 26th place finish with 30.5 points marks the seventh straight year that the Nittany Lions have placed and scored points at the NCAA Championships.
Men??s track & field added 25.5 points to Penn State??s total after finishing 47th at NCAAs. Sophomore Ryan Fritz (Parkesburg, Pa.) was outstanding in his first NCAA appearance, taking fifth in the high jump with a career-best 7-3.25 (2.22m). Fritz became the 42nd indoor All-American for the Nittany Lion men and the first since 2002, when Ryan Olkowski took fifth in the same event, as well as an eighth-place effort in the 200-meters. Fritz also won the Big Ten championship in the high jump and was named Mid-Atlantic Region Field Athlete of the Year.
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