June 17, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; June 17, 2013 - Boosted by four top 15 finishes in NCAA spring championships, Penn State firmly remains in the top five in the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings, earning a school record point total.
The Nittany Lions are No. 5 in the Directors' Cup standings and in position to earn their first top five finish since placing No. 5 in the 2002-03 standings. Penn State has four previous top five finishes and is seeking its ninth top 10 finish in the Directors' Cup. The Nittany Lions will remain one of only nine programs nationwide to finish in the Top 25 in all 20 years of the comprehensive survey.
Penn State has 1,100.00 Directors' Cup points to break its previous high of 1,041 points from the 2007-08 academic year. The Nittany Lions were No. 3 in the 2012-13 final winter Directors' Cup standings and No. 8 after the fall standings.
Just one NCAA Championship, the College World Series, remains to be completed. The final Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings will be announced around July 1.
During the spring, six Penn State teams competed in their respective NCAA championships:
- women's lacrosse won a share of the ALC title and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for the second consecutive year; - men's lacrosse won its first CAA championship and earned its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2005. - men's volleyball won the EIVA crown and advanced to the NCAA semifinals for the 15th consecutive year; - men's outdoor track and field placed 14th at the NCAA Championships, earning its first top 15 finish since 1976; - women's outdoor track and field placed 29th at the NCAA meet; - women's golf team earned Directors' Cup points by qualifying for the NCAA regionals.
Stanford has clinched its 19th consecutive Learfield Sports Directors' Cup title, earning 1,261.25 points. Florida is second (1,219.75), followed by Michigan (1,138.25), UCLA (1,127.25) and Penn State (1,100.00). Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Georgia and North Carolina round out the top 10, with the Nittany Lions 18.5 points ahead of the Aggies for fifth place.
Lauren Kenney |
Penn State student-athletes won a school record 11 conference championships in 2012-13, including a record eight Big Ten crowns, adding Big Ten titles in women's outdoor track and field, women's basketball and wrestling to the fall crowns by field hockey (regular season and tournament), men's soccer, women's soccer and women's volleyball. Penn State has won 81 Big Ten Championships all-time.
The Penn State wrestling team, under the guidance of head coach Cael Sanderson, won its third straight NCAA Wrestling Championship, continuing a run of dominance that began in Philadelphia in 2011. The Nittany Lions also crowned two NCAA individual national champions as Ed Ruth (Harrisburg), and Quentin Wright (Wingate) each claimed their second career NCAA titles.
The national wrestling title gives Penn State 12 NCAA Championships (in five different sports) since March, 2007, tied with USC for the most in the nation over the past six years. Penn State has won 23 NCAA Championships since 1993-94, its first full year in the Big Ten Conference, more than double every other Big Ten institution. The Nittany Lions have won 69 team national championships all-time.
Penn State is one of only nine programs nationwide to have finished in the Top 25 in all 20 years, joining 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 up to 20 sports -- 10 women's and 10 men's.
Follow Penn State Athletics on Facebook by clicking here or on Twitter by clicking here.