June 20, 2017 UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.ââ'¬" With the 2016-17 athletic year nearing completion, Penn State is poised to earn its fourth Top 10 finish in the past five years in the Learfield Directors' Cup.
In the latest spring standings, the Nittany Lions are ranked No. 7. Penn State's Learfield Directors' Cup finishes the past four years: 2012-13 (6th), 2013-14 (5th), 2014-15 (8th) and 2015-16 (20th).
Penn State is in position to earn its 12th Top 10 finish in the 24 years of the Learfield Directors' Cup. The final 2016-17 standings will be announced in early July.
Stanford leads the Directors' Cup and is followed by Ohio State (1,391.75 points), USC (1,251.25), Michigan (1,174.25), Florida (1,152.50), North Carolina (1,123.50), Penn State (1,046.75), Oregon (1,027), UCLA (1,022) and Texas (1,017.75). The Big Ten is second among all conferences with three schools in the Top 10.
Twenty-one of Penn State's 31 teams participated in their respective NCAA Championships in 2016-17 and the Nittany Lion football team won the Big Ten Championship and played in the Rose Bowl to bring the total to 22 squads in post-season competition.
Penn State won the 2017 NCAA Wrestling Championship, its sixth in seven years, and nine conference titles (7 Big Ten, 2 EIVA) in 2016-17. The Nittany Lions led all Big Ten institutions by winning conference championships in seven different sports this year.
The Nittany Lions are among only nine programs nationwide to have finished in the Top 25 in all 23 previous Learfield Directors' Cup final standings.
Penn State and Stanford are the nation's only institutions to place in the Top 5 in the final winter Directors' Cup standings in each of the past 12 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 10 years.
Led by Director 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). Penn State student-athletes have an NCAA Graduation Success Rate of 89 percent. The Nittany Lions rank No. 4 among all Division I schools with 198 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans all-time, including five this year. A school record 114 Nittany Lion students graduated in May, bringing the 2016-17 total to 142 graduates, with more scheduled to earn their degrees in August.
The Nittany Lions' 49 NCAA Championships all-time (77 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 30 NCAA titles since 1992-93 leads all Big Ten Conference institutions. The Nittany Lions have won 104 Big Ten Championships since capturing their first crown in 1992-93, including seven in 2016-17.
The Learfield Directors' Cup was 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 NCAA Championships.
For Penn State Athletics social media links, go to: GoPSUsports.com/ot/socialmedia.html.