UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State remains in sixth place in the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings as the first set of winter standings were announced.The efforts of coach Beth Alford-Sullivan’s men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams at the NCAA Championships produced 10 All-Americans and boosted Penn State’s 2013-14 total to 415 points, just 10.5 points out of fifth place. The Penn State women’s team captured the Big Ten Indoor Championships in March.Stanford leads the Directors’ Cup standings with 596.25 points, followed by Florida State, Oregon, Michigan State, Colorado and Penn State. Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Arkansas and Duke round out the Top 10.The next release of the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings will be in mid-April and will include points for wrestling and fencing, two of the three NCAA Championships Penn State has captured in 2013-14.Penn State finished the fall sports season in sixth place in the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings. The Nittany Lions are in the midst of another superlative year, having already won seven Big Ten Championships. The Nittany Lions’ three NCAA titles this year (women’s volleyball, wrestling, fencing) are the most since 1999-2000, bringing Penn State’s all-time total to 73 national championships, with 15 since March 2007.
Penn State has won a combined 15 Big Ten Championships the past two years, easily the most in the conference, with Michigan next with nine.The Nittany Lions have finished in the Top 25 in all 20 Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings, placing No. 6 in 2012-13 to earn their 15th Top 15 finish. Penn State is one of only nine programs nationwide to have finished in the final Top 25 in every Directors' Cup standings, along with Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio State, Southern California, Stanford, Texas and UCLA.
The Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings were developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in up to 20 sports -- 10 women's and 10 men's.