Nittany Nation!
As the 2022-23 academic and athletic year draw to a close, I wanted to congratulate you all on an outstanding year! You all play a role in the success of our athletics department and we can't do what we do for our student-athletes without you. I am so proud of how our student-athletes, coaches and staff came together to excel in competition and in the classroom.
We finished ranked No. 15 in the Learfield Directors' Cup standings, which is the highest finish for Penn State since 2018-19. Overall, we had one National Championship, three NCAA Final Four appearances, seven conference championships, a Rose Bowl Championship, 20 teams make appearances in their respective NCAA Championships and 16 teams were ranked during their season. Academically, we had a 3.25 departmental grade point average (GPA) for the academic year, 142 student-athletes graduates, 421 Academic All-Big Ten selections and 174 Big Ten Distinguished Scholars (3.7 GPA during academic year).
Here are a few of our accomplishments from this year.
- The football team finished 11-2, capped off by the second Rose Bowl Championship in program history. The team finished No. 7 in the Associated Press and Coaches polls, which tied for the highest final ranking under James Franklin.
- The field hockey program, led by the legendary Char Morett-Curtiss, won the Big Ten regular-season title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament semifinals for the eighth time in program history. Char and her staff were selected as the NFHCA Mideast Region Coaching Staff of the Year and four of our student-athletes were selected as NFHCA All-Americans.
- Erica Dambach guided women's soccer to its ninth Big Ten Tournament championship, which helped propel them to the round of 16 in the NCAA Championships. Ally Schlegel dominated on the field and in the classroom, earning United Soccer Coaches Association All-America and College Sports Communicators Academic All-America accolades.
- Women's volleyball finished 11th in the AVCA poll and advanced to the NCAA Tournament regional (round of 16) in Wisconsin under first-year head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley.
- Wrestling continued its dominance by winning its 10th NCAA Championship under Cael Sanderson and 11th overall. Carter Starocci and Aaron Brooks both won individual NCAA titles for the third year in a row in Tulsa. In addition, the Nittany Lions claimed the Big Ten Dual Meet Championship and Big Ten Tournament crown thanks in part to four individual champions.
- The men's basketball team put together a terrific season with just the 12th 20-win season in program history. The Nittany Lions won their first NCAA Tournament game since 2001 and made their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011.
- Women's hockey won their second CHA regular-season title and first CHA Tournament crown on the way to earning their first NCAA Tournament bid. Jeff Kampersal and his squad finished 10th in the final USCHO national poll.
- Men's hockey advanced to the regional final in Allentown and finished No. 8 in the final USCHO national poll, which ties for the highest finish in program history. Guy Gadowsky and his crew posted the fifth 20-win season in program history with all five coming in the last eight years.
- Women's gymnastics earned an NCAA Regional selection where they posted a program regional-record 196.825 points in the Pittsburgh Regional. Cassidy Rushlow (bars) and Ava Piedrahita (vault) advanced to the NCAA Championships as individuals based on their outstanding performances in Pittsburgh.
- Men's gymnastics also reached the postseason with a sixth-place finish in the NCAA Championships, which were held in Rec Hall.
- Men's volleyball spent the majority of the season in the Top 4 in the country, peaking at No. 1 and finishing No. 3. Mark Pavlik's squad fell in a five-set thriller in the National Semifinals to Hawaii. The team had seven AVCA All-Americans as they claimed both the EIVA regular-season and tournament titles.
- Men's lacrosse started the season unranked, but proved the doubters wrong by reaching the NCAA Semifinal where they lost a tough OT game to No. 1 seed Duke. The Nittany Lions finished No. 4 in the final Inside Lacrosse poll.
- Women's lacrosse made its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2018 and finished No. 22 in the final Inside Lacrosse/IWLCA poll.
- Track & Field had three regional outdoor athletes of the year with Handal Roban (men's track athlete), Faith DeMars (women's track athlete) and Mallory Kauffman (women's field athlete). Handal won the bronze in the 800 meters at NCAA Outdoors, while Rachel Gearing (women's) and Olivier Desmeules (men's) swept the 800 meters at Big Ten Indoors. Faith won the 5,000 meters at both the Big Ten Indoor and Outdoor Championships.
- Outside of our athletics accomplishments, we have hired our four health & wellness positions to aid our student-athletes with the addition of Heidi Christy, Katy Pohland, Noble Orajiato and Danielle Summers, who are serving as mental health clinicians and providing additional health & wellness resources and support to the student-athletes.
- In addition, we have also signed on with Mantra Health, the nation's leading digital mental health clinic for young adults, to provide clinically comprehensive mental health services to its student-athletes 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Mantra Health partnership has also provided access to a consultant in Toronto Raptors Sport Psychologist, Alex Auerbach.
- We also announced a partnership with WHOOP to positively impact student-athlete wellness via wearable technology and personalized health insights for our student-athletes, coaches and sport performance staff.
- We have upgraded many of our nutrition fueling stations in our facilities to better service our student-athletes and keep them at peak performance during their training and recovery times. East Area Locker Room now has a top of the line Fueling Station, which will house a Gatorade Fountain and Fresh Blends smoothie machine. There are also plans to upgrade the White Building and Multisport station this summer.
- We have had some exciting construction projects that we have received approval to move forward on with an All-Athlete Training Table Student Wellness Center in the Greenberg Indoor Sports Center, East Area Locker Room, Jeffrey Field Soccer Operations Center, Indoor Practice Bubble and renovations to Beaver Stadium. These projects are very student-athlete-focused and will enhance our student-athlete experience and position our teams to continue to be competitive on the national stage.
- In the classroom, our students had an outstanding fall semester with a 3.22 GPA across all 31 sports. We had 74 students with a perfect 4.0 semester GPA. In addition, 584 of our student-athletes had a 3.0 or better semester GPA with 302 of them earning Dean's List accolades.
- In the spring, our student-athletes had a 3.28 GPA across all 31 sports with 571 student-athletes earning a 3.0 or better, 267 on Dean's List and 100 with a 4.0 GPA, including 13 with a cumulative 4.0 GPA.
- We also announced this fall a record-tying 92% graduation success rate.
- Field hockey's Gery Schnarrs and men's volleyball's Will Kuhns won the NCAA Elite 90 Award, which is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's championships.
- Our student-athletes have also given back to our community to the tune of more than 3,200 hours of service. I couldn't be more proud of them!
- We have also spent time proactively navigating the NCAA required DEI review so that a strategic plan is developed to address many of the needs pertaining to DEI within Penn State ICA.
- I would be remiss if I did not recognize the retirement of three of our legendary coaches – Char Morett-Curtiss, Greg Nye and Denise St. Pierre. Those three coaches have been pillars of our Penn State community and have bled Blue & White for many years. Best of luck to Char, Greg and Denise in their next chapters.
I hope you are able to enjoy the rest of the summer and get some time away to refresh as we head into the 2023-24 athletics year, which should be a great one! As always, thank you so much for your support of Penn State Athletics and our 800+ student-athletes. We couldn't do what we do without you!
We are...
Pat Kraft
Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics