Penn State's Aaron Brooks, left, takes on NC State's Trent Hidlay in their 197-pound match in the finals of the NCAA wrestling championships, Saturday, March 23, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
A letter from Pat Kraft (Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics)
Nittany Nation
The 2023-24 academic and athletic year has come to a close, and once again we had a terrific year in competition and in the classroom. Congratulations and thank you for all your support of Penn State Athletics this season and we look forward to even greater achievements as we roll into 2024-25. We can’t accomplish everything we have without each and every one of you playing an integral role in our success.
We had one team National Championship, five individual National Champions, seven conference championships, 22 teams make appearances in their respective NCAA Championships, WBIT or bowl games, 19 teams were ranked during their season, 19 conference player of the year selections, 36 All-Americans and 120 all-conference honorees. Academically, we had four CSC Academic All-Americans (with at-large and track & field teams still to be announced), a 3.26 departmental grade point average (GPA) for the academic year, 151 student-athlete graduates, 427 Academic All-Big Ten selections and 165 Big Ten Distinguished Scholars (3.7 GPA during academic year).
Here are a few of our accomplishments from this year.
We finished ranked in 23rd in the Directors’ Cup standings.
Wrestling continued its reign by winning its 11th NCAA Championship under Cael Sanderson and 12th overall in dominating fashion, besting the second-place finisher Cornell by 100 points. Levi Haines, Carter Starocci, Aaron Brooks and Greg Kerkvliet all won individual NCAA titles. For Carter and Aaron, they became sixth and seventh four-time NCAA Champions in NCAA history. In addition, the Nittany Lions claimed the Big Ten Dual Meet Championship and Big Ten Tournament crown thanks to an impressive five individual champions.
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). Aaron continued his tremendous year by earning a spot on the US Olympic wrestling team with his victory in 86kg series in the Olympic Trials at the Bryce Jordan Center in April.
Cheickna Traore, who will run in the Paris Olympic Games for the Ivory Coast, had an absolute dominating season for the men’s track & field team, winning the 200-meter individual national championship at NCAA Outdoor Championships after finishing second at NCAA Indoor Championships in the 200 meters. Coach John Gondak was the Indoor Mid-Atlantic Regional Coach of the Year and Brandon Rizzo was the Outdoor Mid-Atlantic Regional Assistant Coach of the Year.
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. The team 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.
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. Peter Mangione earned Academic All-America accolades to go along with his second Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year honor.
Men’s volleyball, led by Mark Pavlik, won both the regular-season and tournament EIVA titles again this season with four All-American selections. The Nittany Lions advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals and finished eighth in the final AVCA rankings.
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 the first-round draft pick of the New York Jets in the 2024 NFL Draft. Ohhh and did I mention, Olu was a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete.
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. The program defeated No. 2 Wisconsin in front of more than 5,000 fans in Rec Hall for their highest-ranked win since beating No. 1 Stanford in 2017.
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 this year’s NWSL Draft. Dambach’s crew also excelled in the classroom with three CSC Academic All-American honorees.
Hayley Kitching paced the women’s track & field team this year after winning a pair of Big Ten individual titles en route to Big Ten Athlete of the Championships during the indoor season and coming in fifth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Florence Caron won Big Ten titles in the 10,000- and 5,000-meter crowns at the conference outdoor championships and won Big Ten Athlete of the Championships honors.
The fencing program under first-year head coach Matteo Zannaro finished fifth in the NCAA Championships.
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.
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 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 Nittany Lions eliminated Albany in the NCAA Regional before coming up short against Texas State.
Women’s basketball led by Makenna Marisa and Ashley Owusu reached the WBIT Final Four. Owusu went on to be drafted in the 2024 WNBA Draft by the Dallas Wings.
The women’s cross country squad reached the NCAA Championships where they finished 31st.
Mariano Lazzerini won the 100 breaststroke 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 gymnastics program had Michael Jaroh win the Big Ten High Bar title, while Josh Karnes earned the bronze medal in the parallel bars at the NCAA Championships. Josh will be competing in the US Olympic Trials from June 27-30.
Under first-year head coach Mike Gambino, the baseball team created quite a stir and captured a bunch of new fans along the way as they reached the Big Ten Tournament championship game for the first time since 2000. While the Nittany Lions came up short in the title tilt, it was a great sign of things to come for this program under Mike. The program also had three All-Region selections, the most since 1973.
Baseball packed Medlar Field with a program-record 5,025 fans against Kent State on April 16, and finished second in the Big Ten in attendance.
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. Dylan has played a huge role in the State College sled hockey community since his arrive to Happy Valley.
Field hockey’s Phia Gladieux earned a spot on the United States Olympic Team and will represent at the Paris Olympic Games.
We hosted two awesome events this April with the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials in the Bryce Jordan Center and the Luke Combs Concert at Beaver Stadium. Those events are just the beginning!
We agreed to a 15-year multimedia rights agreement with Pennsylvania-based Playfly Sports Properties. This relationship will mark a new chapter for us in the ever-changing collegiate landscape and will provide us resources to support all of our student-athletes.
We have had some exciting construction projects with construction underway or soon to be underway with an All-Athlete Performance Dining and Student Wellness Center in the Greenberg Complex, 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 3.24 GPA across all 31 sports. We had 80 students with a perfect 4.0 semester GPA. In addition, 581 of our student-athletes had a 3.0 or better semester GPA with 298 of them earning Dean’s List accolades.
In the spring, our 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.
We also announced this fall a record 93% graduation success rate.
Our student-athletes have also given back to our community to the tune of more than 3,200 hours of service and more than 7,300 hours of student-engagement. I couldn’t be more proud of them.
I hope you have a terrific summer and refresh before we begin our exciting 2024-25 athletics year. 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.
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