April 10, 2008
University Park, Pa. - After the completion of 11 winter championships, Penn State is now in fourth place in the Division I U.S. Sports Academy Directors' Cup standings. Penn State, which was previously second in the cup standings after the completion of eight winter championships, still moved up one spot in the standings from their fifth place spot at the conclusion of the fall championships. Penn State also remains the highest in the standings of any Big Ten school following the winter season.
A solid finish by the men's swimming team at NCAA Championships gained more points for the Nittany Lions. With a 23rd place finish by the men's swimming team at NCAA's, the team picked up 50.5 points to put Penn State's winter total at 319.75 points. Cumulatively, Penn State has 622.75 points, which trails third place California by just 6.25 points. The Nittany Lions leads fifth place Ohio State by 33.25 points. Stanford leads the field while Texas is in second place.
The men's swimming team had its best finish at NCAA's since the 2002 season and made history in doing so at Pat Schirk became the first-ever individual NCAA Champion in the sport of men's swimming when he captured first place in the 200 backstroke two weekends ago in Federal Way, Wash. Schirk was also an All-American in the 100 backstroke this year and the 400 freestyle relay team also picked up points with a 16th place finish, becoming the first honorable mention All-Americans from Penn State in a relay event since 2002.
During the winter season, four other teams also picked up points in the cup standings for Penn State, those being the wrestling, fencing, women's indoor track and field, and women's swimming.
The wrestling team picked up 85 points for Penn State with a third place finish at last weekend's NCAA Championships. Seven individual qualifiers contributed to a team total of 75 points, helping Penn State to its highest finish at NCAA's since 1994, the highest finish for head coach Troy Sunderland, and just the ninth top three finish for Penn State since it won the national championship in 1953. The 75 points scored were also the fifth highest team total in Penn State history. Individually, Penn State produced four All-Americans, led by national champion Phil Davis at 197, which was the 21st title in Penn State history. Davis also became just the fourth four-time All-American in program history. Additionally, Bubba Jenkins was the national runner up at 149 while Dan Vallimont finished third at 157 and Mark McKnight finished fourth at 125.
The fencing team, which entered this year's NCAA Championships as the defending national champions, took home 80 points for Penn State with a fourth place finish this year. The fencing team was led by several top 10 finishes in their respective divisions by individuals on both the men's and women's sides. On the women's side, Allison Glasser finished in fifth place with a total of 19 victories in the foil division while in the epee division, Keri Byerts and Anastasia Ferdman placed fifth and sixth, respectively. On the men's side, Penn State represented one fencer in each of the three final four brackets as Arthur Urman placed second in the epee division with 15 victories. In the saber division, Daniel Bak finished in third place with 17 victories in pool play. Franz Boghicev also took fifth in the saber division. In the foil division, Nick Chinman finished fourth, compiling 18 victories in the pool play.
The women's indoor track and field team had one of its strongest NCAA Championship meets ever, as it took home nine All-American certificates, the most in school history. As a team, women's indoor track and field finished with 16 total points at the meet to finish 15th and pick up 59.25 points in the Cup standings for Penn State. Individually for the Nittany Lions, six different athletes earned All-American finishes. Aleesha Barber finished eight in the 60-meter hurdles to post her third career All-American performance. Bridget Franek finished seventh in the 5,000-meters to earn her first All-American honor and also was an All-American in the 3,000-meters. The 4x400 relay team of Dominique Blake, Shana Cox, Barber and Fawn Dorr finished fifth while Cox also individually captured fourth in the 400-meters, her fourth straight All-American showing in that event. Gayle Hunter also placed fifth in the pentathlon, improving on her own school record in that event with 4141 points, which was good for her second career All-American finish and she also became Penn State's first-ever top eight finisher in the pentathlon.
The women's swimming and diving team also contributed 45 points to Penn State in the Cup standings with a 29th place finish at last weekend's NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships. The Nittany Lions have now scored at NCAA's for eight straight years. They were led this year by an All-American finish by Kelly Nelson in the 200 butterfly in which she broke her own school record and also set a new Big Ten record to finish sixth. Seven other individuals earned honorable mention All-American honors. Among those were Kaitlin O'Brien, the school and Big Ten record holder in the 400 IM, who finished 11th in that event to earn honorable mention All-American honors for the second straight year in that event. Kailey Morris finished 13th for the second straight year in the 200 fly to earn her second straight honorable mention All-American honor in that event and two relays teams, the 400 medley relay of Kaitlyn Ferguson, Abby Hoisington, Nelson and Michelle Myers, and the 800 free relay team of Morris, Nelson, Myers and Stephanie Roop each finished 16th to pick up points for Penn State as well.
The final NCAA Division I winter release will be published on May 1 and will include the collegiate sports of women's bowling, men's and women's gymnastics as well as men's ice hockey.
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. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in up to 20 sports, 10 women's and 10 men's.