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The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are
navy blue Navy blue is a very dark shade of the color blue. Navy blue got its name from the dark blue (contrasted with naval white) worn by officers in the Royal Navy since 1748 and subsequently adopted by other navies around the world. When this color ...
and white. The school mascot is the
Nittany Lion The Nittany Lion is the eastern mountain lion mascot of the athletic teams of the Pennsylvania State University: Penn State Nittany Lions. Created in 1907, the "Nittany" forename refers to the local Mount Nittany, which overlooks the university. ...
. The intercollegiate athletics logo was commissioned in 1983. Penn State participates as a member institution of the
Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
at the
National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
(NCAA) Division I
Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...
(FBS) level for most sports. It is one of only 15 universities in the nation that plays Division I FBS football and Division I men's ice hockey. Two sports participate in different conferences because they are not sponsored by the Big Ten: men's
volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...
in the
Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association The Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) is a college athletic conference whose member schools compete in men's volleyball. Its member institutions are located in the Northeast United States. The EIVA Tournament champion receives ...
(EIVA) and
women's ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hoc ...
in
College Hockey America College Hockey America (CHA) is a college ice hockey conference in the United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. The conference is made up of five women’s teams, with two in Pennsylvania; two in New ...
(CHA). The fencing teams operate as independents. Penn State has finished in the top 25 in every
NACDA Director's Cup The NACDA Directors' Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the NACDA Learfield Directors' Cup or simply as the Directors' Cup, is an award given annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics to the colleges and univers ...
final poll, a feat only matched by nine other institutions: Stanford,
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
, USC,
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
,
Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...
,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
,
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
, and
Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
. The NACDA Director's Cup is a list compiled by the
National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) is a professional organization for college and university athletic directors in the United States. NACDA boasts a membership of more than 6,100 individuals and more than 1,600 ins ...
that charts institutions' overall success in college sports. Penn State's highest finish came in the 1998–99 standings when the Nittany Lions finished 3rd. PSU finished in 5th place in the 2013–14 standings; it was the fifth time the program finished in the top 5 and the tenth time the program finished in the top 10.


Sports sponsored


Basketball


Men's basketball

Penn State's men's basketball program reached the Final Four once in 1954, though the best postseason finish in recent years occurred in 2001 with a trip to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament after a win over UNC in the round of 32. The most recent postseason championship for Penn State was the
2018 National Invitation Tournament The 2018 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I college men's basketball teams that were not selected to participate in the 2018 NCAA tournament. The first three rounds of the annual tournament we ...
on March 29, 2018. Penn State outscored Utah 82–66 to capture its second men's basketball national title in school history and its third postseason tournament title since winning the
Atlantic-10 The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in s ...
Tournament in 1991. The Nittany Lions lost in the first round of the 2011 NCAA tournament, the team's most recent postseason appearance. Notable alumni include: Frank Brickowski, John Amaechi, Calvin Booth, Mike Costello, Stanley Pringle, Geary Claxton, Jamelle Cornley, Lamar Stevens. Micah Shrewsberry is the current coach.


Women's basketball

The
Lady Lions The Penn State Lady Lions basketball team represents Pennsylvania State University and plays its home games in the Bryce Jordan Center. In 2013, the Lady Lions became just the 12th program in NCAA Division I history to reach 850 wins. Penn Stat ...
, the Penn State women's basketball team and the only athletic team not known as "Nittany Lions," have had more success than their male counterparts, often gaining berths into the women's NCAA tournament, reaching the Final Four once in 2000. The Lady Lions have reached the NCAA tournament more than any other
Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
team with 25 appearances as of 2014. The Lady Lions have won 8 Big Ten Regular Season Championships and 2 Big Ten tournament Championships. The most recent postseason championship won by Penn State was the 1998 Women's National Invitation Tournament.
Carolyn Kieger Carolyn Kieger (born August 17, 1983) is the head women's college basketball coach for the Pennsylvania State University Lady Lions basketball team. Formerly, she was the head coach for her alma mater, the Marquette Golden Eagles, from 2014 to 2 ...
was in her second season as head coach of the Lady Lions in 2020–21.


Cross country

The men's cross country team won NCAA titles in 1942, 1947, and 1950. Before the NCAA began sponsoring the cross country championship in 1938, and unlike today, the annual ICAAAA meet was a premier national championship event for track and field and cross country. The team won ICAAAA championships in 1926, 1927, 1928 and 1930. Penn State runners won the individual ICAAAA titles in 1920 (John Romig), 1927 and 1928 (William Cox, consecutively). PSU men also won ICAAAA team titles in 1950, 1951, 1960 and 2000, as well as individual crowns in 1938, 1946, 1987 and 2004.


Fencing

Penn State has been a
fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, ...
powerhouse, having won a record 13
national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...
in the sport since the NCAA began awarding titles in combined men's and women's fencing in 1990. The team finished as champion or runner-up in 21 of the first 25 years of the combined tournament.NC Fencing Championship History
NCAA.com (2011-02-25). Retrieved on 2013-08-17.
The program won six consecutive NCAA Championships from 1995 to 2000. Emmanuil G. Kaidanov was the coach of the fencing squads during most of that period. The women's fencing team won national
AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and to administer national championships (see AIAW Champions). It evolved out of the Commission on Interc ...
titles in 1980 and 1981, followed by an NCAA championship in 1983. The team recruits both nationally and throughout the world. Penn State Nittany Lions assistant fencing coach George G. Abashidze, after a
United States Center for SafeSport The United States Center for SafeSport is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 2017 under the auspices of the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017. SafeSport is tasked with ad ...
investigation found he had committed sexual misconduct in 2017, was banned by USA Fencing for three years, prompting Penn State to terminate him in 2019. A Penn State investigation into the matter confirmed the woman’s claims against Abashidze, but found that the assistant coach had not violated any university policies. The woman who was the object of the misconduct sued Penn State in 2020, charging that it had tried to cover up the incident. In September 2022, Penn State placed head fencing coach Wes Glon on paid leave pending more information about restrictions imposed on him by USA Fencing. In April 2022, a former Penn State fencer had filed a complaint against Glon and the university alleging physical, verbal, and psychological abuse by Glon. In May 2020, a complaint had also been filed by a female fencing coach after Glon allegedly failed to report sexual misconduct allegations against his assistant coach, George Abashidze; after an investigation by
SafeSport The United States Center for SafeSport is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 2017 under the auspices of the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017. SafeSport is tasked with ...
into the same matter, he was ultimately required to serve a six-month term of probation for such failure.


Field hockey

The women's field hockey team is coached by Char Morett, a former Penn State field hockey player herself and 1984 Olympic bronze medalist. Penn State is one of the premier programs in the nation with 28
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
Tournament appearances, the third most in the nation. Since joining the Big Ten in 1992, the Nittany Lions have been dominant with more Big Ten Tournament titles than any other team and the second most regular season titles behind
Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
. In 2007, the women's
Field Hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...
team reached the National Championship game, but fell to undefeated UNC, 3–0. In their tournament run, they were able to defeat two-time defending champion
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, 1–0, and defending national runner-up Wake Forest, 2–0. Jen Long was nominated for the Honda Award for her efforts. They also finished as NCAA runners-up in 2002, losing to Wake Forest in the title game 2–0 after defeating Old Dominion 3–2 in the semifinals. 2002 marked the first time Penn State reached the NCAA Finals and second time reaching the Final Four. The team won the AIAW national championships in 1980 and 1981. In 2011 the women's field hockey team won its fifth ever Big Ten title after defeating Michigan 3–2, and first since 1998 when they again defeated Michigan 3–1.


Football

Penn State has a large football following and attracts tens of thousands of visitors to its campus; the surrounding area is known as "Happy Valley" for tailgating and games on autumn Saturdays in
Beaver Stadium Beaver Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium on the campus of Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania. It has been home to the Penn State Nittany Lions of the Big Ten Conference since 1960, though some parts of ...
. The largest crowd ever at Beaver Stadium was on October 21, 2017, as 110,823 people watched the Nittany Lions defeat the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
by a score of 42–13. The school has earned a reputation as "
Linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...
U" for the number of high-quality linebackers trained.
Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions from 1966 to 2 ...
was the head coach for the Nittany Lion football team from 1966 until he was fired on November 9, 2011, in the aftermath of the
Penn State child sex abuse scandal The Penn State child sex abuse scandal concerned allegations and subsequent convictions of child sexual abuse committed by Jerry Sandusky, an assistant coach for the Penn State Nittany Lions football team, over a period of at least fifteen years ...
. He was regarded as one of the most successful national coaches, holding the record for wins and bowl appearance. Penn State plays in two football "trophy games" with other members of the Big Ten: the Governor's Victory Bell with the
University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...
and the Land Grant Trophy game versus Michigan State University. Prior to joining the Big Ten, Penn State was one of the strongest of the independent schools in college football. They played a number of schools regularly, including Pitt, Syracuse,
West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...
, Notre Dame,
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, and
Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...
. Penn State has won the prestigious
Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy The Lambert Trophy is an annual award given to the best team in the East in Division I FBS (formerly I-A) college football. In affiliation with the Metropolitan New York Football Writers (founded 1935), the Lambert Trophy was established by brother ...
, awarded for Eastern football supremacy, a record 29 times as of 2013. Penn State has also been named the ECAC FBS Team of the Year for a record 13th time. Penn State won consensus
National Championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...
in 1982 and 1986, both under Coach Paterno. The 1986 team won by defeating the
University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...
in the 1987
Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been pla ...
, which remains one of the most watched college football game in history. The school has had a number of other undefeated teams including 1909, 1911, 1912, 1920, 1921, 1947, 1968, 1969, 1973, and 1994, some of which have been awarded
national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...
Penn State currently has a FBS bowl record of 29–18–2. Penn State is also among the leaders nationwide in terms of players advancing to the professional level. As of 2006, 29 former Penn State players and coaches were on the rosters of NFL teams, the tenth-highest such placement rate in the country. Penn State has been represented in at least one of the teams participating in the Super Bowl 37 of the 41 times the championship game has been played. A report indicated that Penn State's football program ranks 12th nationwide in terms of economic contributions to each program's university, athletic department, conference, and community. The report, based on ticket sales, sponsorships, football program expenses, athletic department expenses (non-football), shared conference profits, and county revenue figures during home football games, revealed that the Nittany Lions are presently worth roughly
US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
63 million. In July 2012, the NCAA announced several punitive measures as a result of the Penn State child sex abuse scandal. In addition to vacating all wins between 1998 and 2011, Penn State was banned from post-season play for four years, and the number of scholarships was reduced. Players were free to transfer during the 2012 season without sitting out a year, but few did so. After details of the case emerged, the NCAA restored all vacated wins and rescinded both the remaining ban on post-season play and scholarship reduction.


Gymnastics

In 2007, the men's
gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...
team won their NCAA record 14th national championship, by defeating powerhouse Oklahoma at
Rec Hall Recreation Building, or Rec Hall as it is more commonly known, is a field house located on the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania State University. It was opened on January 15, 1929, and is still in use. Previously, Penn State's indoor ...
, with the score of 221.000–220.200, denying them a threepeat. The women's team won the AIAW national championship twice, in 1978 and 1980, edging out other dominant teams such as Cal State-Fullerton and Utah.


Ice hockey


Men's ice hockey

Aside from five years in the 1940s, the men's ice hockey program has had varsity status since the 2012–13 season. The team plays in the
Pegula Ice Arena The Pegula Ice Arena is a 6,014-seat multi-purpose arena in University Park, Pennsylvania on the campus of Penn State University. The facility is located on the corner of Curtin Road and University Drive near the Bryce Jordan Center. The arena i ...
Pegulas Commit Historic Gift To Penn State For New Arena And Hockey Program – Penn State Official Athletic Site
. Gopsusports.com (2010-09-17). Retrieved on 2013-08-17.
Penn State men's, women's hockey programs to move from club level to Division I – ESPN
Sports.espn.go.com (2010-09-17). Retrieved on 2013-08-17.
and competed as an independent Division I team in the 2012–2013 season. In the 2013–2014 season, the team began play in the Big Ten conference's first year of sponsorship of men's ice hockey. Recently, the team achieved the number one ranking in Division I men's hockey for the first time in program history. Before becoming a varsity program, the men's
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
team, the Icers, competed at the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Men's Division I level and was a member of the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League (ESCHL) from 2007–08 through 2010–11. Penn State won seven ACHA DI National Championships in 1984, 1990, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003. The Division II men's hockey club team were champions of the
University Hockey League University Hockey League (UHL) was an American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division II club level hockey-only college athletic conference with teams in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. It was fou ...
during the 2003–04 and 2001–02 seasons; they were runners-up during the 2002–03, 2000–01, and 1998–99 seasons.


Women's ice hockey

The women's program moved to the NCAA Division I level beginning in the 2012–13 season and joined
College Hockey America College Hockey America (CHA) is a college ice hockey conference in the United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. The conference is made up of five women’s teams, with two in Pennsylvania; two in New ...
, becoming the fifth member of the conference. The team also plays in the Pegula Ice Arena. Before becoming a varsity program, the women's ice hockey team, the Lady Icers, competed at the ACHA Women's Division I level in the
Eastern Collegiate Women's Hockey League The Eastern Collegiate Women's Hockey League (ECWHL) is an American Collegiate Hockey Association Women's Division 1 club level hockey-only college athletic conference for women's hockey teams. It is one of four ACHA Women's Division 1 conference ...
(ECWHL).


Lacrosse

The Penn State women's lacrosse teams have won two NCAA titles, in addition to three United States Women's Lacrosse Association championships in 1978, 1979, and 1980. The Penn State men's lacrosse team dates to 1913. Penn State has appeared in four NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournaments, including in 2003, 2005, 2013, and 2017. Penn State has had seven alumni and coaches inducted into the
National Lacrosse Hall of Fame The National Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Museum, is located in Sparks, Maryland at the USA Lacrosse headquarters. Prior to moving to its present location in 2016, the hall of fame and museum was located in Baltimore, Maryland, on the Homewood camp ...
, including Mary McCarthy Stefano, Gillian D. Rattray, Barb Jordan, Betsy Williams Dougherty, Candace "Candy" Finn Rocha, Joanne Connelly and Thomas R. Hayes.


Soccer


Men's soccer

Before the NCAA began its tournament in 1959, the annual national champion was declared by the Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association from 1926 to 1958, the result of polls and the subjective opinion of the ISFA administrators. In that time, Penn State shared eight national championships and was selected three times as champion outright (1929, 1938, 1954). The rival College Soccer Bowl was held from 1950–1952 in an attempt to decide a national champion on the field. Penn State gained a last-minute tie in the 1950 championship final. The team won in 1951; however, the ISFA failed to select Penn State that year.


Women's soccer

The women's soccer team won its first NCAA national championship in 2015. The program has been particularly strong in recent years, as the team won 15 straight Big Ten Championships through the 2012 season, which was an all-time Big Ten record for women's teams. The streak surpassed the 12 by Michigan swimming & diving of the 1990s and led the then-ongoing run by Northwestern's women's tennis squad, which had won 14 straight titles through 2011.


Softball

The Nittany Lions softball team began play in 1965. The team has made ten NCAA Tournament appearances in 1983, 1985, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2011. The current head coach is Clarisa Crowell.


Track and field

Before the NCAA began sponsoring a national championship in 1965, the men's indoor track and field team won ICAAAA titles in 1942 and 1959. PSU men also won ICAAAA team titles in 1984, 1987, 2001, 2003 and 2006.


Volleyball

Penn State is home to one of the top men's and women's
volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...
programs. Penn State is one of only 5 schools—and the only school not in California—to win an NCAA Championship for both men and women's volleyball, the others being Stanford, UCLA, USC, and Long Beach State.


Men's volleyball

The men's volleyball team is coached by Mark Pavlik. The program has won two NCAA
National Championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...
in 1994 and 2008 and 16 EIVA titles out of 17 years, including 10 consecutive. They finished as NCAA National runners-up in 1982, 1995 and 2006, to UCLA each time (twice at Rec Hall). They reached the NCAA final four 24 times including 13 out of the last 14 years through the 2008 season and an NCAA record 10 consecutive (1998–2008). The men's first national title came in 1994, when they beat powerhouse
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
in five sets after being down 11–4 in the fourth set and then winning the fourth 15–12 and the fifth with the same score. The win made Penn State the first school outside of California in the then-24 year history to win an NCAA Men's volleyball championship. They won the NCAA title again in 2008, defeating
Pepperdine Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and ...
3–1. With the win, Penn State men and women's programs swept the volleyball championships in the same academic year, joining Stanford from 1996–97 to be the only schools to accomplish the rare feat. Pavlik was named the 2008 AVCA National Coach of the Year.


Women's volleyball

The Penn State women's volleyball team, one of the nation's premier volleyball programs, is coached by Russ Rose, who, since his first season in 1979, has led the Nittany Lions to a record of 1,189 and 186, an .865 winning percentage, through the end of 2015. Rose stands as the NCAA Division I all-time winningest coach, as he owns the NCAA Division I Records for win percentage and total victories. Rose has won all but 51 of the program's wins. On December 17, 2009, Rose earned his 1,000th career victory with a win against
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
in the 2009 NCAA National Semifinals. In all but one season under Rose, there has been at least one AVCA All-American on his team. The program is one of only two DI universities to appear in every NCAA tournament (1981–2015). They have won seven NCAA
National Championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...
, the most all-time, in 1999, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, and 2014. They were the national runners-up in 1993, 1997, and 1998 and also reached the Final Four in 1994 and 2012. The team achieved unprecedented success from 2007–10. The Nittany Lions won four consecutive national titles in that span, the most consecutive titles in NCAA Division I history. In that historic stretch, Penn State won 109 consecutive matches (Sept. 21, 2007-Sept. 10, 2010), 111 consecutive sets (Dec. 15, 2007-Dec. 18, 2008), 94 consecutive home matches (Sept. 1, 2006-Dec. 11, 2010), and 55 consecutive road matches (Sept. 28, 2007-Sept. 10, 2010), all NCAA Division I records. The Lions were extraordinarily successful when Penn State was in the Atlantic 10 conference, as they won the title all 8 years without losing a single conference match before joining the Big Ten. In the Big Ten, the team has won 16 titles since 1991, including a conference record 8 straight (2003–10). During Big Ten play, Penn State went undefeated 6 times (1998, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009).


Wrestling

Before joining the Big Ten, Penn State was a member of the
Eastern Wrestling League The Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) was an NCAA Division I wrestling-only conference. It was made up mostly of schools from the northeastern United States whose primary conferences did not sponsor wrestling as an NCAA-qualifying event. The teams ...
from 1976 to 1992. Before that, Penn State was a member of the
Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association The Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) is an NCAA Division I collegiate wrestling conference. It held its first championship tournament in 1905, making it the oldest wrestling conference in the NCAA; the charter members were Colu ...
(EIWA). In April 2005, Penn State broke ground on a construction project designed to expand and modernize Rec Hall for the students, faculty, and staff who use the facility. As part of this renovation, Intercollegiate Athletics created the Lorenzo Wrestling Complex that ranks among the nation's finest facilities in the sport. Penn State Wrestling, under the guidance of head coach Cael Sanderson, entered the final session of the 2019 NCAA Championships having already clinched their eighth team title in nine years. Sanderson's squad left the National Finals and
PPG Paints Arena PPG Paints Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Pittsburgh, that serves as the home of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). It previously was the home of the Pittsburgh Power of the Arena Football League (AFL) from 2 ...
with three individual National Champions. Penn State had five NCAA finalists for the fourth straight year and won three titles, beginning at 285 with senior Anthony Cassar(Rocky Hill, N.J.) winning his first.
Jason Nolf Jason Michael Nolf (born January 10, 1996) is an American freestyle and former folkstyle wrestler. In freestyle, Nolf is the Pan American Champion at the 79-kilograms division. As a folkstyle wrestler, he is a three-time NCAA Division I Ch ...
(Yatesboro, Pa.) and
Bo Nickal Bo Dean Nickal (born January 14, 1996) is an American professional mixed martial artist, former freestyle and graduated folkstyle wrestler who currently competes in the UFC middleweight division. In freestyle wrestling, he claimed the 2019 U ...
(Allen, Texas) each won their third straight crowns. The Nittany Lions won the team race with 137.5 points, finishing over 40.0 points ahead of second place Ohio State, which had 96.5. Oklahoma State finished third with 84.0. Penn State was the only team to score over 100.0 points. Penn State's national championship win in 2019 extended the program's streak to 4. A team from the Big Ten Conference has won the last 13.


Team sports

Penn State offers a program of "team sports," programs that have not been granted full varsity status, but are members of the Athletic Department and receive greater support than club sports. Penn State team sports "compete nationally at the highest level."The Official Site of Penn State Team Sports, https://www.athletics.psu.edu/teamsports/ Rugby (men's and women's) has been a team sport since 2005. Ice Hockey (men's and women's) was a team sport from 2005 until 2011, and has since been elevated to varsity status.


Rugby

The Penn State rugby program is classified by the university as a "Team Sport" within Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics Department, and therefore receives university support (paid coaches, facilities, health insurance, etc.) equivalent to a varsity program. As of 2011, Penn State rugby was funded 52% by alumni donations, 32% by player dues, and 16% by university contribution. Penn State
rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...
was founded in 1962 and plays in Division 1-A. Penn State has been one of the most successful programs in college rugby. Penn State advanced to the national semifinals 10 times from 1989 to 2007, and reached the finals 5 times from 1989 to 2001. With 76 registered players, Penn State was ranked as the largest college rugby program in the United States in 2009. Penn State made headlines when they defeated favored BYU 48–46 in the 2018 D1A quarterfinal to reach the semifinals. The women's rugby team fields a perennially competitive side, winning national titles in 1997, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. The 2014 Penn State Women's team won their ninth Collegiate National Championship, with a 58–0 semifinal victory over West Chester University and a 38–0 triumph in the championship match against Stanford.


Rugby sevens

Penn State has appeared in three consecutive editions (2010–12) of the
Collegiate Rugby Championship The Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC) is an annual college rugby sevens tournament. The CRC is the highest profile college rugby sevens competition in the United States, with the tournament broadcast live on NBC from 2010–2017, on ESPN News an ...
(CRC). The CRC is played every year in June at
PPL Park Subaru Park (formerly known as PPL Park and Talen Energy Stadium) is a soccer-specific stadium located in Chester, Pennsylvania, located next to the Commodore Barry Bridge on the waterfront along the Delaware River. The venue is home to the Ph ...
in Philadelphia, and is the highest profile college rugby sevens tournament in the US, broadcast on NBC. In the 2011 CRC, Penn State beat
Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...
in a 12–10 match to qualify for the quarterfinals, where Penn State lost to eventual champions Dartmouth 7–12. Penn State has been successful in other rugby sevens competitions. For example, Penn State won the 2011 Subaru 7s tournament, and won the 2012 Halloween 7s tournament led by tournament MVP Blaze Feury. Penn State finished second at the 2012 Big Ten 7s, losing to Wisconsin in the final and missing out on qualification for the 2012
USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships The USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships is an annual competition among the top college rugby teams in the country to decide a national champion in rugby sevens. USA Rugby organized the championship to capitalize on the surge in pop ...
.


Intercollegiate club sports

The university is home to a number of intercollegiate club sports that the university doesn't field at the NCAA level and/or sports not sponsored by the NCAA.


Billiards

Two Penn State students have won the national intercollegiate individual championship in billiards. In 1982 Thomas Golly won the men's title. In 1988 Janet Dordell captured the women's crown.


Crew

Penn State fields an intercollegiate club rowing team that competes on the national level. The team has participated in several regatta events, including the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta and the American Collegiate Rowing Association national championship.


Croquet

Penn State's Club Croquet team was established in 2010 and has been growing since with nearly 150 members. It serves as the sole croquet team at Penn State and competes each year at the
United States Croquet Association The United States Croquet Association (USCA) fosters croquet in all its forms, from the familiar nine-wicket croquet game to the modern sport of six-wicket croquet. There are USCA-affiliated clubs and tournaments across the United States and Canada. ...
(USCA) collegiate championships. In 2017, the team won the USCA Collegiate National Championship in golf croquet.


Cross Country

The Penn State Club Cross Country is a member of th
National Intercollegiate Running Club Association
(NIRCA). The women's team has won five NIRCA National Championships (2006, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016) and the men's team has won one (2019).


Gymnastics

Penn State Club Gymnastics participates in NAIGC (National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs) competition. In recent history both the men's and women's teams have had great success, including national titles for the men in 2009 and 2010. The women have had similar success with top-five finishes every year since 2009.


Ice hockey

In addition to the varsity men's and women's ice hockey teams, PSU fields a men's club team in American Collegiate Hockey Association Division 2 and the
Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association The Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association (MACH) is a college ice hockey league based in the Southeastern region of the United States. The conference is part of the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division 2 and is made up of five team ...
, as well as a women's club team in American Collegiate Hockey Association Women's Division 1 and the
Eastern Collegiate Women's Hockey League The Eastern Collegiate Women's Hockey League (ECWHL) is an American Collegiate Hockey Association Women's Division 1 club level hockey-only college athletic conference for women's hockey teams. It is one of four ACHA Women's Division 1 conference ...
.


Roller hockey

The PSU Roller Hockey team competes in National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association at the NCRHA Division I level. The team is a Division I member of the
Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association The National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association (NCRHA) is an "incorporated not-for-profit corporation" which operates a national collegiate inline hockey Sports league, league consisting of five divisions of competition (Division I, Division II ...
(ECRHA). Penn State also fields a team in the B Division of the NCRHA and ECRHA. The PSU B team won the NCRHA B Division Championship in 2010, the university's first national title in roller hockey.


Squash

Gail Ramsay won the intercollegiate women's squash championship a record four times in 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1980.


Swimming and Diving

Penn State also fields a competitive club swim and dive team that competes throughout the school year. With a membership of 100+, including all talents from former D1 swimmers to beginners, it is one of the more popular club sports at Penn State. The team finished 4th out of 50+ teams at the 2013 East Coast Collegiate Swim and Dive Club National Championships at Georgia Tech.


Men's ultimate

Penn State's team, named SPANK, competes in the
USA Ultimate USA Ultimate is a not-for-profit organization that serves as the governing body of the sport of ultimate (also known as ''ultimate Frisbee'') in the United States. It was founded in 1979 as the Ultimate Players Association, but rebranded itself ...
College Series at the D-1 level. They are in the Ohio Valley region, and face rival University of Pittsburgh at the regional championship every year. The B-team, Love Tap, also competes at the D-1 level, and serves as a developmental team for SPANK.


Men's Water Polo

The Men's Club Water Polo team competes in the Mid-Atlantic Division of the Collegiate Water Polo Association and has won nine Mid-Atlantic Division Championships (1998, 2005, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2022) to qualify for the National Collegiate Club Championship.


Championships


NCAA team championships

Penn State University has won 52 NCAA team national championships. *Men's (28): **
Boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...
(1): 1932 (unofficial) ** Cross country (3): 1942, 1947, 1950 **
Gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...
(12): 1948, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1965, 1976, 2000, 2004, 2007 **
Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...
(2): 1994, 2008 **
Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...
(10): 1953, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022 *Women's (11): **
Fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, ...
(1): 1983 **
Lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...
(2): 1987, 1989 ** Soccer (1): 2015 **
Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...
(7): 1999, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014 *Co-ed (13) **
Fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, ...
(13): 1990, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2014


Other national team championships

Below are 34 national team titles in current and former NCAA sports that were not bestowed by the NCAA: *Men’s (23): **Boxing (4): 1924, 1927, 1929, 1930 **Cross Country (4): 1926, 1927, 1928, 1930 ** Football (2): 1982, 1986 **Gymnastics (1): 1944 **Soccer (11): 1926, 1929, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1949, 1954, 1955 **Wrestling (1): 1921 *Women’s (11): **Bowling (1): 1979 **Fencing (2): 1980, 1981 **Field Hockey (2): 1980, 1981 **Gymnastics (2): 1978, 1980 **Lacrosse (3): 1978, 1979, 1980 **Rifle (1): 1947 Penn State has won 86 national team championships all time, 52 of which are NCAA championships. These Division I NCAA championships rank in a tie for fourth all-time, trailing only
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
, Stanford, and USC. Penn State has the most national championships of any Big Ten school. Most of the women's championships prior to 1982 occurred under the auspices of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW); indeed, four women's teams won national championships in 1980 alone. The NCAA did not start sponsoring women's championships until the 1981–82 academic year. Some of the men's championships occurred prior to the NCAA sponsoring a championship in that sport (for example, the NCAA did not start sponsoring a men's soccer championship until 1959) and some sports have never had recognized NCAA championships (such as Division I FBS football). Below are 36 national team titles won by Penn State sports club teams (and Athletics Department "Team Sports") at the highest collegiate level in non-NCAA sports: *Men's (8): **Downriver Canoe/Kayak (2): 2015, 2016 **Golf croquet (1): 2017 **Shotokan karate (5) ''(Kata)'': 2003, 2004, 2007; ''(Kumite)'': 2007, 2013 *Women's (22): **Archery (1) ''(Compound Bow)'': 2010 **Equestrian (1) ''(English)'': 1989 **Shotokan karate (3) ''(Kumite)'': 2001, 2003, 2007 **Rugby (12): 1997, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 **Rugby 7s (4): ''( CRC)'' 2013, 2014, 2015; ''(
USA Rugby USA Rugby (officially the United States of America Rugby Football Union, Ltd.) is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. Its role is to achieve and maintain “high levels of quality in all aspects of ru ...
)'' 2015 **Team Handball (1) : 2018 *Co-ed (6): **Archery (1) ''(Compound Bow)'': 2010 **Cycling (5) ''(Track)'': 1987, 1989, 1990, 2004, 2005


Big Ten championships

Since joining the Big Ten in 1991, Penn State has won 121 total championships.


Big Ten championships

*1992–93 – Women's Volleyball* *1993–94 – Women's Basketball*, Field Hockey, Men's Soccer, Women's Volleyball *1994–95 – Women's Basketball*, Football *1995–96 – Baseball *1996–97 – Women's Volleyball* *1997–98 – Field Hockey*, Women's Volleyball* *1998–99 – Field Hockey, Women's Soccer, Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Volleyball *1999–00 – Women's Basketball, Women's Soccer, Women's Volleyball *2000–01 – Women's Soccer *2001–02 – Women's Soccer, Women's Swimming & Diving *2002–03 – Women's Basketball, Men's Gymnastics, Men's Soccer, Women's Soccer *2003–04 – Women's Basketball, Women's Soccer, Women's Indoor Track & Field, Women's Volleyball *2004–05 – Women's Soccer, Women's Swimming & Diving, Women's Volleyball *2005–06 – Field Hockey, Football*, Men's Soccer, Women's Soccer, Women's Swimming & Diving, Women's Volleyball *2006–07 – Women's Soccer, Women's Volleyball *2007–08 – Men's Gymnastics, Women's Soccer, Women's Outdoor Track & Field, Women's Volleyball *2008–09 – Field Hockey, Football*, Women's Soccer, Women's Outdoor Track & Field, Women's Volleyball *2009–10 – Women's Cross Country, Women's Soccer, Women's Indoor Track & Field, Women's Outdoor Track & Field, Women's Volleyball *2010–11 – Women's Soccer*, Women's Volleyball *2011–12 – Women's Basketball, Women's Soccer, Wrestling *2012–13 – Women's Basketball, Field Hockey, Men's Soccer*, Women's Soccer, Women's Volleyball *2013–14 – Women's Basketball*, Field Hockey*, Men's Soccer, Women's Indoor Track & Field, Women's Outdoor Track & Field, Women's Volleyball, Wrestling* *2014–15 – Men's Gymnastics, Women's Soccer *2015–16 – Women's Cross Country, Women's Soccer*, Wrestling* *2016–17 – Football, Women's Soccer*, Wrestling, Women's Indoor Track & Field, Men's Outdoor Track & Field *2017–18 – Women's Volleyball*, Wrestling *2018–19 – Women's Soccer, Wrestling*, Men’s Lacrosse *2019–20 – Men’s Ice Hockey *2020–21 – Wrestling*, Women’s Soccer *2021–22 – Men's Soccer, Wrestling *2022–23 – Field Hockey* * denotes shared regular season conference title


Big Ten tournament championships

*1994–95 – Women's Basketball *1995–96 – Field Hockey, Women's Basketball *1996–97 – Field Hockey *1997–98 – Field Hockey *1998–99 – Field Hockey, Women's Soccer *2000–01 – Women's Soccer *2001–02 – Women's Soccer *2002–03 – Men's Soccer *2005–06 – Men's Soccer *2006–07 – Women's Soccer *2008–09 – Women's Soccer *2010–11 – Wrestling *2011–12 – Field Hockey, Wrestling *2012–13 – Field Hockey, Wrestling *2013–14 – Wrestling *2014–15 – Women's Lacrosse *2015–16 – Women's Soccer, Wrestling *2016–17 – Field Hockey, Men's Ice Hockey *2017–18 – Women's Soccer *2018–19 – Wrestling, Men’s Gymnastics, Men’s Lacrosse *2019–20 – Women's Soccer *2021–22 – Men's Soccer


Atlantic 10 championships

During Penn State's years of membership in the Atlantic 10 Conference (1982–91) and earlier when it was known as the Eastern 8 Conference (1976–79), Penn State won 70 total championships.


Atlantic 10 championships (37)

*1976–77 – Men's Basketball (West)* *1978–79 – Men's Cross Country *1982–83 – Men's Cross Country, Baseball (West) *1983–84 – Men's Golf, Men's Swimming & Diving *1984–85 – Women's Basketball*, Women's Volleyball, Men's Swimming & Diving *1985–86 – Women's Basketball*, Women's Volleyball, Men's Swimming & Diving *1986–87 – Women's Volleyball, Men's Cross Country, Men's Swimming & Diving, Men's Golf *1987–88 – Women's Volleyball, Men's Cross Country, Men's Golf *1988–89 – Women's Volleyball, Field Hockey (West), Men's Cross Country, Men's Soccer (West), Men's Golf *1989–90 – Women's Volleyball, Field Hockey, Men's Cross Country, Men's Soccer (West), Women's Cross Country, Men's Golf *1990–91 – Women's Basketball, Women's Volleyball, Field Hockey, Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Baseball (West), Men's Golf * denotes shared regular season conference/division title


Atlantic 10 Tournament championships (33)

*1978–79 – Men's Tennis *1982–83 – Women's Basketball, Softball, Women's Tennis *1983–84 – Women's Basketball, Women's Volleyball *1984–85 – Women's Basketball, Women's Volleyball, Softball, Women's Tennis *1985–86 – Women's Basketball, Women's Volleyball, Men's Tennis, Women's Tennis *1986–87 – Women's Volleyball, Women's Tennis *1987–88 – Women's Volleyball, Men's Soccer, Softball, Women's Tennis *1988–89 – Women's Volleyball, Men's Soccer, Women's Tennis *1989–90 – Women's Basketball, Women's Volleyball, Men's Soccer, Field Hockey, Women's Tennis *1990–91 – Women's Basketball, Men's Basketball, Women's Volleyball, Field Hockey, Women's Tennis


Other conference championships

Of Penn State's 29 varsity athletic programs, several programs are not sponsored by the Big Ten and have competed in other conferences, now and in the past. Men's Volleyball * EIVA: 1972, 1976, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2021 Women's Ice Hockey *
College Hockey America College Hockey America (CHA) is a college ice hockey conference in the United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. The conference is made up of five women’s teams, with two in Pennsylvania; two in New ...
:
2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
(regular season) Wrestling *
Eastern Wrestling League The Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) was an NCAA Division I wrestling-only conference. It was made up mostly of schools from the northeastern United States whose primary conferences did not sponsor wrestling as an NCAA-qualifying event. The teams ...
(member 1975–1992) :Team Dual Meet Champions:1976, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986* (tie), 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992 :Tournament Champions: 1976, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992


Olympians

Athletes (129) and coaches/faculty members (12) from Penn State have won 17 gold medals, 15 silver medals, and 28 bronze medals. The University had its most representatives participating in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games with 21 participants earning eight medals, also the most ever. Five former Penn State student-athletes earned medals in the
2012 London Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
. Women's volleyball stars
Megan Hodge Megan Hodge Easy (born October 15, 1988) is an American indoor volleyball player who won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics with the US team and played for Pennsylvania State University's volleyball team. Currently, she plays in Brazilian ...
and Christa Harmotto earned silver medals after falling to Brazil in the gold-medal match. Additionally, women's soccer players
Erin McLeod Erin Katrina McLeod (born February 26, 1983) is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Stjarnan of the Icelandic Besta deild kvenna. She first appeared for the Canada women's national soccer team at the 2002 Algarve Cup and ...
and
Carmelina Moscato Carmelina Moscato (born May 2, 1984) is a Canadian soccer Manager (association football), coach and former professional Soccer player, player. She currently coaches Liga MX Femenil club Tigres UANL (women), Tigres UANL. She played as a centrebac ...
came home with bronze medals playing for the Canada women's national soccer team. Finally, Natalie Dell earned Penn State's first rowing medal with her bronze-medal performance in the women's quadruple sculls. Penn State sent 19 participants to the 2012 Summer Games, a school record at the time.


Facilities

The football team plays in
Beaver Stadium Beaver Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium on the campus of Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania. It has been home to the Penn State Nittany Lions of the Big Ten Conference since 1960, though some parts of ...
. The men's and women's basketball teams play in the
Bryce Jordan Center The Bryce Jordan Center is a 15,261-seat multi-purpose arena in University Park, Pennsylvania, United States, on the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania State University. The arena opened in 1996 and is the largest such venue between ...
. Most of the other indoor teams play at
Rec Hall Recreation Building, or Rec Hall as it is more commonly known, is a field house located on the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania State University. It was opened on January 15, 1929, and is still in use. Previously, Penn State's indoor ...
, which was previously the long term home for the basketball teams as well. The school also is home to the Ashenfelter Multi-Sport Facility for indoor track. Other indoor facilities include Lasch Building & Holuba Hall for football; White Building houses gymnastics & fencing; and the Lorenzo Wrestling Complex is within Rec Hall. A new
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
stadium named
Medlar Field at Lubrano Park Medlar Field at Lubrano Park is a 5,570-seat baseball stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania, that hosted its first regular season baseball game on June 20, 2006, when the State College Spikes lost to the Williamsport Crosscutters, 5–3. The P ...
opened in June 2006. The stadium is host to both the University baseball team as well as the
State College Spikes The State College Spikes are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in State College, Pennsylvania, and play their home games at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park on the campus of Pennsylvania State University. T ...
, a minor league baseball team. The ballpark is oriented towards the east, offering a view of
Mount Nittany Mount Nittany is the common name for Nittany Mountain, a prominent geographic feature in Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States. The mountain is part of a ridge that separates Nittany Valley from Penns Valley, with the enclosed Sugar Valley be ...
. The softball team plays at its new home, the Nittany Lion Softball Park, which opened in 2011.
Jeffrey Field Jeffrey Field is an outdoor college soccer stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania, United States, on the campus of Pennsylvania State University. It has been home to Penn State Nittany Lions men's soccer and Penn State Nittany Lions women's s ...
is home to the soccer program. The lacrosse teams play at the Penn State Lacrosse Field which opened in 2012 next to the Ashenfelter Multi-Sport Facility. The hockey teams both play at the
Pegula Ice Arena The Pegula Ice Arena is a 6,014-seat multi-purpose arena in University Park, Pennsylvania on the campus of Penn State University. The facility is located on the corner of Curtin Road and University Drive near the Bryce Jordan Center. The arena i ...
. The field hockey team plays at the Penn State Field Hockey Complex which is located adjacent to Bigler Field, and opened in 2005. Additionally, the university operates the
Penn State Golf Courses The Penn State Golf Courses are two 18-hole courses located in State College, Pennsylvania, US, operated by The Pennsylvania State University. The individual 18-hole courses are named after the school colors (blue and white). They, along with the ...
, two courses for the golf teams, students, faculty, and the general public. The Intercollegiate Athletics Department operates the Stone Valley Recreation Area, approximately twenty miles southeast of State College.


Penn State All-Sports Museum

The Penn State All-Sports Museum, a museum honoring all Penn State Nittany Lion athletes, is located near Gate B of
Beaver Stadium Beaver Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium on the campus of Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania. It has been home to the Penn State Nittany Lions of the Big Ten Conference since 1960, though some parts of ...
. The upper level of the museum is dedicated to Penn State basketball and other indoor sports, while the lower level of the museum is dedicated to outdoor sports. The football exhibit on the lower level features a Heisman Trophy—won by
John Cappelletti John Cappelletti (born August 9, 1952) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) with the Los Angeles Rams and the San Diego Chargers. Prior to his professional career, he att ...
—and a collection of several other trophies and awards, in addition to honoring the Penn State football team, the
Penn State Blue Band The Pennsylvania State University Marching Blue Band, known generally as the Blue Band, is the marching band of Pennsylvania State University. Founded in 1899, it is the largest recognized student organization at the University Park campus ...
, Penn State
Cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...
, and the student athletes who have portrayed the
Nittany Lion The Nittany Lion is the eastern mountain lion mascot of the athletic teams of the Pennsylvania State University: Penn State Nittany Lions. Created in 1907, the "Nittany" forename refers to the local Mount Nittany, which overlooks the university. ...
mascot. The museum opened in February 2002.


See also

*
List of college athletic programs in Pennsylvania This is a list of college athletics programs in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Notes: *This list is in a tabular format, with columns arranged in the following order, from left to right: **Athletic team description (short school name and nicknam ...
*
Lacrosse in Pennsylvania Lacrosse has been played in Pennsylvania since the 19th century. There are many respected amateur programs at the club, college, and high school level, as well as several respected past and present professional teams in the National Lacrosse League ...


References


External links

* {{Navboxes , titlestyle={{CollegePrimaryStyle, Penn State Nittany Lions, color=white , list= {{Big Ten Conference navbox {{Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association navbox {{College Hockey America {{Pennsylvania Sports