UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State Nittany Lion student-athletes Aaron Brooks and Bridget Nemeth have been named Penn State's 2023-24 Athletes of the Year. Brooks recently wrapped up his final season as a Nittany Lion wrestler while Nemeth capped off a stellar freshman campaign on Penn State's softball team. Brooks and Nemeth will now move on as Penn State's nominees for Big Ten Athletes of the Year, joining honorees from the other 13 Big Ten member institutions.
Brooks helped lead head coach Cael Sanderson's team to yet another NCAA Championship, the team's 11th title of the last 13 championships. He joins a group of 11 Nittany Lion wrestlers who have been named Penn State's Male Athlete of the Year a total of 13 times. Two of those wrestlers went on to win Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year laurels.
The Hagerstown, Pennsylvania, native capped off perhaps the greatest career in Penn State wrestling history (to date) by winning the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials held in the Bryce Jordan Center in April. Brooks rolled through the challenger bracket on April 19 and then dominated defending Olympic Gold Medalist David Taylor in the final series, winning two straight matches to earn a trip to Paris where he will represent the United States at 86 kg in the 2024 Paris Games. Brooks became one of Penn State's first two four-time NCAA Champions (with teammate Carter Starocci) earlier in March, dominating the nation throughout the season and capping off his career with a fourth-straight title, this one at 197 pounds.
Brooks ended the 2023-24 season as the most heralded wrestler in the nation and one of the most decorated athletes in any NCAA sport for the 2023-24 athletic season. Brooks went 22-0 on the year, with six pins, 11 technical falls and three majors (20 of his 22 wins were for bonus). He helped lead Penn State to yet another Big Ten Regular Season title, another Big Ten Championship, a perfect 12-0 dual meet record (8-0 in the Big Ten) and the team's 11th NCAA National Championship in the last 13 events. Brooks honors included: NWCA All-Star Classic participant; first-team All-Big Ten; Big Ten Champion (197); 2024 Big Ten Championship Outstanding Wrestler; 2024 Big Ten Wrestler of the Year; NCAA All-American 197); NCAA National Champion (197); 2024 NCAA Most Dominant Wrestler; 2024 Hodge Trophy Winner (nation's top collegiate wrestler); 2024 USA Wrestling Olympic Team Trials Champion; 2024 Olympian – Paris Games.
Aaron's career accolades are also unmatched in Penn State wrestling history. Brooks leaves Penn State with the following career accolades/stats: Five-time All-American; four-time NCAA Champion; member of three NCAA team champion teams; three-time first-team All-Big Ten; three-time Big Ten Champion; 89-3 career record with 16 pins, 20 technical falls and 23 majors; 211 career dual meet points; a 20-0 career record in the NCAA tournament.
Nemeth, who helped spearhead Penn State's first NCAA Tournament appearance in 13 years, picks up Penn State's highest athletic honor for a female student-athlete following a record-shattering campaign that saw her amass a variety of Big Ten Conference and national accolades. The true freshman landed Freshman All-America honors from both D1Softball and Softball America, becoming the first student-athlete in Nittany Lion program history to achieve those accolades.
In addition to her pair of Freshman All-America honors, Nemeth became the first Penn State softball player to earn an individual award from the Big Ten Conference since the Blue & White moved to the B1G in the 1991-92 academic year. The Glendora, California, native was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year for the 2024 season, becoming the first Penn Stater to land any conference Player of the Year honor since Nan Sichler picked up Atlantic 10 Most Valuable Player and Most Valuable Pitcher accolades in 1988. Nemeth was a unanimous first-team All-Big Ten selection according to the league's 14 coaches, marking the third consecutive season with a Nittany Lion on the All-B1G First Team, also a program-first. She garnered Freshman All-Big Ten distinction, a trio of Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Week Awards, and one Big Ten Pitcher of the Week accolade in recognition of her winning decision in PSU's first nationally ranked victory since 2022 in a 2-1, extra-inning upset of then-No. 16 Arkansas.
In the circle, Nemeth finished as the Big Ten's statistical champion in wins, saves and innings pitched, racking up a 23-7 overall record with a quartet of saves in 210.0 innings of effort. Nemeth's 23 pitching victories, highlighted by the winning decision in PSU's 2024 NCAA Regional elimination game against UAlbany, marks a single-season record for wins in a single year. The freshman surpassed the previous record of 22 wins in a single season, last set by Bailey Parshall in the 2022 campaign. Nemeth tossed 202 strikeouts in 2024, the third-most in the Big Ten Conference and 17th-most in the nation, making her the fourth woman in school history to surpass 200 K's in a year.
Thanks in large part to Nemeth's impressive accomplishments in the circle, the Penn State softball program booked its first national postseason appearance in 13 years at the 2024 NCAA Bryan-College Station Regional. PSU finished the season with a 35-20 overall record, marking the third consecutive 30-win season and the first stretch of three or more 30-win seasons at Penn State since logging five from 1999 to 2003. The Blue & White also finished 12-11 in B1G play, churning out three consecutive seasons of .500-or-better softball against Big Ten opposition for the first time in school history.
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