WE ARE!

• There are more than 800 Penn State student-athletes, participating in 31 varsity programs (16 men's, 15 women's), tied for the fourth-highest number of sports sponsored by a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) institution.
• The Nittany Lions finished 2023-24 ranked No. 23 in the Learfield Directors’ Cup standings, while finishing with one National Championship, seven conference championships and 22 teams making appearances in their respective NCAA Championships, WBIT or bowl games.
• A total of 19 teams were ranked during their season for the 2023-24 athletic year.1 NAT

1 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

5 INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

• Penn State Wrestling under head coach Cael Sanderson continued its dominance by winning its 11th NCAA title in the last 13 championships held, and 12th in program history.
• Levi Haines, Carter Starocci, Aaron Brooks and Greg Kerkvliet all won individual NCAA Wrestling titles. For Starocci and Brooks, they became sixth and seventh four-time NCAA Champions in NCAA history.
• Cheickna Traore, had a dominating season for the men’s track & field team, winning the 200-meter individual national crown at NCAA Outdoor Championships, after finishing second in the event at NCAA Indoor Championships.

7 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS

CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS

• Jeff Cook led the men’s soccer program to its seventh Big Ten regular-season title and second in his six years at the helm.
• Wrestling claimed the Big Ten Dual Meet Championship and Big Ten Tournament crown. The Nittany Lions had five individual champions at the Big Ten Tournament – Brooks, Braeden Davis, Haines, Kerkvliet and Mitchell Mesenbrink.
• Women’s hockey, led by Jeff Kampersal, won their third-straight CHA regular-season title and second-straight CHA Tournament crown with a 22-13-3 record.
• Men’s volleyball, led by Mark Pavlik, won both the regular-season and tournament EIVA titles for the 37th and 34th times, respectively.
• Mariano Lazzerini won the 100 breaststroke for the men’s swimming and diving team at the Big Ten Championships to become the first Nittany Lion to win the event and the first Penn Stater individual champion since 2021.
• The men’s indoor track & field squad pulled in four conference individual championships with Traore winning the 60- and 200-meters, Handal Roban winning the 600-meters and the 4x400 relay team of Austin Gallant, Korbin Martino, James Onwuka and Traore earning the top spot.
• For the women’s indoor track & field team, Hayley Kitching won the female Big Ten Athlete of the Championship with victories in the 600- and 800-meters, while Chloe Royce took home the pentathlon title.
• Women’s track & field’s Florence Caron won Big Ten titles in the 10,000- and 5,000-meter events at the conference outdoor championships and won Big Ten Athlete of the Championships honors. In addition, Kitching won the 800-meters at the Outdoor Championship.
• Men’s gymnast Michael Jaroh won the Big Ten Championship High Bar title for the first time in his career. He is the first Nittany Lion to win the high bar crown since 2016 (Trevor Howard).

FALL HIGHLIGHTS

• Football posted its second-straight 10-win season and earned the program’s first berth into the Chick-fil-a Peach Bowl. Olumuyiwa Fashanu was a consensus All-American and Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year before becoming a first-round draft pick of the New York Jets in the 2024 NFL Draft. 
• Women’s volleyball made its 43rd consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and advanced to the NCAA Regional Semifinal on the way to a No. 12 final ranking in the AVCA poll.
• Erica Dambach and the women’s soccer team extended the nation’s second-longest NCAA Tournament appearance streak to 29-straight years where they advanced to the Elite Eight. The program had a record five players selected in the NWSL Draft.
• Peter Mangione earned Academic All-America accolades to go along with his second Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year honor for the Big Ten regular-season champion men’s soccer program.
• The women’s cross country squad reached the NCAA Championships where they finished 31st.

WINTER HIGHLIGHTS

• Aaron Brooks claimed the Hodge Trophy for the nation’s top collegiate wrestler to become the program’s fifth wrestler to claim the honor (seven awards won).
• Women’s hockey advanced to the NCAA Tournament and finished the season ranked 13th. Tessa Janecke, who was the CHA Player of the Year, earned a spot on the Team USA roster for the IIHF World Championships where they won the silver medal.
• Men’s volleyball had four All-American selections and advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals, while finishing eighth in the final AVCA rankings.
• Men’s track & field head coach John Gondak was the Indoor Track & Field Mid-Atlantic Regional Coach of the Year.
• The fencing program under first-year head coach Matteo Zannaro finished fifth in the NCAA Championships. Neil Lilov finished second at NCAAs in the sabre for the men’s squad.
• Sarah Brown guided the women’s gymnastics to the NCAA Regional Final with a school-record 197.050 team score and finished the season ranked 15th. Amani Herring qualified for the NCAA Championships in balance beam.
• Women’s basketball, led by Makenna Marisa and Ashley Owusu, reached the WBIT Semifinal. Owusu went on to be drafted in the 2024 WNBA Draft by the Dallas Wings.
• Josh Karnes of the men’s gymnastics team earned the bronze medal in the parallel bars at the NCAA Championships.
• Men’s basketball had a solid first season under Mike Rhoades with a pair of top 15 wins and nine conference victories, the second most for a first-year head coach in program history. Ace Baldwin Jr. won Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year to become the third Nittany Lion to do so.
• Men’s hockey’s Dylan Lugris was named the 2024 Hockey Humanitarian Award winner given to college hockey’s finest citizen – a student-athlete who makes significant contributions not on to their team but the community at large through volunteerism. Lugris played a huge role in the State College sled hockey community during his time in Happy Valley.

SPRING HIGHLIGHTS

• Women’s lacrosse toppled No. 1 Northwestern during the regular season for their first win over the No. 1 team since 2005. Missy Doherty’s squad reached the Big Ten Championship game for the third time in program history and made their 27th NCAA Tournament.
• Softball’s Bridget Nemeth won Big Ten Freshman of the Year and Freshman All-America honors as she led the program to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011 and 13th overall.
• The men’s lacrosse program reached the Big Ten Championship game and made a second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance, led by Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year TJ Malone.
• Under first-year head coach Mike Gambino, the baseball team reached the Big Ten Tournament championship game for the first time since 2000. The program also had three All-Region selections, the most since 1973.
• Men’s track & field assistant coach Brandon Rizzo was the Outdoor Track and Field Mid-Atlantic Regional Assistant Coach of the Year.
• Penn State hosted two noteworthy events this April with the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials in the Bryce Jordan Center and the Luke Combs Concert at Beaver Stadium. The concert was a record-breaking evening for Combs.

ACADEMIC SUCCESS

• Penn State student-athletes earned a record 93% NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and 12 programs earned perfect 100% ratings in the 2023 report. This is the seventh consecutive year the Nittany Lions have posted a record or record-tying performance in the classroom.
• Penn State is one of only six schools that have won at least 10 NCAA Championships since 2013 and earned at least a 90 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in the 2023 NCAA report (California, Florida, Stanford, USC, Virginia).
• Nine Nittany Lions earned CSC Academic All-America accolades – men’s soccer’s Peter Mangione and women’s soccer’s Cori Dyke, Kate Wiesner and Kat Asman, women's track & field/cross country athlete Florence Caron, women's hockey's Tessa Janecke, field hockey's Phia Gladieux, men's gymnast Michael Artlip and wrestler Levi Haines.
• Football offensive lineman Olumuyiwa Fashanu was named a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy, college football’s “Academic Heisman”. Fashanu owned an impressive 3.45 GPA in the supply chain and information systems major through Penn State's Smeal College of Business and earned his degree in December 2023.
• In the classroom, Penn State student-athletes had an outstanding fall semester with a 3.24 GPA across all 31 sports. Eighty students recorded a perfect 4.0 semester GPA with 581 student-athletes earning a 3.0 or better semester GPA and 298 of them claiming Dean’s List accolades.
• In the spring, student-athletes had a 3.29 GPA across all 31 sports with 596 student-athletes earning a 3.0 or better, 296 on Dean’s List and 69 with a 4.0 GPA, including 17 with a cumulative 4.0 GPA.

2024 PARIS OLYMPICS SUCCESS

• Penn State sent a school-record 30 current and former student-athletes or club athletes, representing 13 countries, to compete at the Paris Olympics. Among those, six current student-athletes represented their respective Nittany Lion teams in Paris.
• A school-record 12 former Nittany Lion student-athletes won medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Penn Staters earned 13 total medals in Paris - two gold, three silver, and eight bronze - with United States gymnast Steven Nedoroscik leading the count with a pair of bronze medals to his name.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

• Athletics announced a 15-year multimedia rights agreement with Pennsylvania-based Playfly Sports Properties. This relationship marks a new chapter for Penn State in the ever-changing collegiate landscape and provides resources to support all student-athletes.
• A number of construction projects have broken ground for Athletics, including an All-Athlete Performance Dining and Student Wellness Center in the Greenberg Indoor Sports Complex, East Area Locker Room, Jeffrey Field Soccer Operations Center and Indoor Practice Bubble. These projects are student-athlete-focused and will enhance the student-athlete experience.
• The Penn State Board of Trustees approved a $700 million renovation of Beaver Stadium, which will grow revenue-generating opportunities, transform the fan and community experience, and fuel the future funding for all 31 athletics programs at Penn State.
• Penn State student-athletes gave back to the community to the tune of more than 3,200 hours of service and more than 7,300 hours of student-engagement.