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Penn State wrestling title helps keep Lions in top 10 of Learfield Cup standings

Greg Pickelby: Greg Pickel04/06/23GregPickel
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Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson speaks at a news conference on Jan. 3, 2023. (Thomas Frank Carr/BWI)

Powered by 100 points from Penn State wrestling’s national championship victory, the Nittany Lions remain in the top 10 of the Learfield Cup standings following the conclusion of the winter sports season.

Penn State sits in seventh with just the spring sports season to go. It accrued a total of 315.5 points in the winter session, its most since 2019. Besides wrestling’s team title, the Lions also had a pair of and individual champions in Carter Starocci and Aaron Brooks.

“That’s why we do this is to help these student-athletes reach their goals,” Lions coach Cael Sanderson said after clinching the program’s 10th team title overall. “So seeing them become a national champion. As you see, obviously, it’s a very difficult thing to do. That’s what we live for. We live to help these guys reach their goals.

“Our assistant coaches are unbelievable. Coach Cody [Sanderson] and Coach Casey [Cunningham] and Coach [Jimmy] Kennedy, they work really, really hard.

And I mean we just gotta keep getting better, and we’ve got a lot of things we can work on moving forward. That’s what you do. You come here and you’ve got to be quick to observe and figure things out, what can we do better. And that’s what we’ll do.”

Who else helped Penn State athletics to seventh in the Learfield Cup winter standings?

Additionally, the men’s basketball team earned points by reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Other point talliers include:

  • Penn State men’s fencing earned 66 with an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Championships
  • The Lions’ women’s ice hockey team earned points for winning the CHA regular season and tournament titles. It also made the NCAA Tournament. On the men’s side, the Lions also added points by making the NCAA Tournament.
  • The men’s swimming and diving team racked up 39 points, and the Men’s Indoor Track & Field team 35. The latter was powered by Handal Roban‘s third-place finish in the 800-meter run at the NCAA Championships.

The Learfield Cup is awarded annually to the nation’s most successful athletic department.

Penn State is one of three Big Ten schools in the top seven of the Learfield Cup standings at this point in time. The top seven looks like this:

Ohio State: 858 points

Texas (758.75)

Stanford (754.5)

North Carolina (686.5)

Alabama (634.25)

Wisconsin (624.75).

The 2022-2023 winner will be announced in July.