Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1138762
NCAA champs highlight another strong year for Penn State's athletic program F or better and for worse, Penn State's 2018-19 athletic year was mostly on-trend. The wrestling team won another na- tional championship, its eighth in the past nine years. For the second year in a row, the football team lost consecutive games to Ohio State and Michigan State but still ended up playing in a New Year's bowl. The women's volleyball team reached the NCAA regional finals for the 19th time under coach Russ Rose, the men's ice hockey team played in the Big Ten tournament championship game for the second time in the past three sea- sons, and the fencing team finished second at the NCAA tour- nament, crowing an individual champion in the process. That was the good news. But there were also some instances in which the Lions found themselves trending in the wrong direction. The women's bas- ketball team, for instance, suffered its fourth nonwinning sea- son in the past five years, resulting in a coaching change. And the men's basketball team lost its first 10 conference games, digging a hole so deep that an NIT title defense became impos- sible even after a spirited late-season surge. The Lions' 14-18 finish was their third nonwinning season in the past four years. A few teams strayed from their typical storylines, none more spectacularly than the men's lacrosse squad, which led the na- tion in scoring and reached the final four for the first time in the program's history. Also, the men's tennis team qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2016, and the men's gymnastics team won its first Big Ten title in four years. Team results are only part of the story, of course. Penn State has roughly 800 athletes spread out across its 31 varsity pro- grams. Several of those athletes turned in extraordinary per- formances during the past school year. Below are BWI's choices for the best of the best: MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR BO NICKAL WRESTLING If you were putting together a short list of contenders for the unofficial title of all-time greatest Penn State wrestler, Nickal would have to be on it – no matter how short that list may be. He finished his career with a 120-3 record, including 59 falls, and won three national championships. The most recent of those titles was at 197 pounds, as he completed an undefeated senior season by pinning three opponents in the first four rounds at NCAAs, then stopping Ohio State's Kollin Moore, 5- 1, for the crown. After the tournament, the Allen, Texas, native was named winner of the Hodge Trophy, which goes to the nation's top collegiate wrestler. It was the third year in a row in which a Nit- INDIVIDUAL EFFORT THE YEA R IN REVIEW tany Lion won the award, so there are definitely some other lu- minaries on that short list of all-time great PSU wrestlers, no- tably Nickal's teammate Jason Nolf and his Hodge-winning predecessor, Zain Retherford. But by stacking a perfect senior season on top of three other great ones, Nickal firmly estab- lished himself as one of the program's brightest lights. "It's really been blessing after blessing," he said. "Since the first time I stepped foot on campus, it's been incredible. And there are so many people who have just put so much time and effort into me – my coaches, my trainers and countless others. I'm incredibly grateful for it." HONORABLE MENTION Grant Ament lacrosse | Set an NCAA record for most assists in a season with 96 and was named a first-team All-American and Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year... Anthony Cassar wrestling | Capped a stunning 30-1 sea- son by winning Big Ten and NCAA championships at heavy- weight, with a 10-1 major decision over top-seeded Derek White of Oklahoma State in the national final... Karol Metryka fencing | Went 19-4 at the NCAA tournament, becoming the seventh fencer in school history to win a men's saber national title... Jason Nolf wrestling | Racked up a fall, two technical falls and a major decision en route to his third consecutive national championship at 157 pounds... Lamar Stevens basketball | Ranked second in the Big Ten in scoring (19.9 ppg) and eighth in rebounding (7.7 rpg) and won first-team All-Big Ten honors as a junior. FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR DANAE RIVERS TRACK AND FIELD As she entered the last turn in the 800-meter final at the NCAA indoor championships in March, Rivers didn't know how many runners were ahead of her. Did it even matter? "I think I was like fourth? Fifth? I don't know," she said. "But I've been in that position before, and if you're right there, my coaches tell me, everybody can close down the same. So I was like, I can close down the same, too. Let's go." Rivers did just that, finding an opening as she came out of the turn and blazing to victory in 2 minutes, 3.69 seconds. It was the Nittany Lions' first-ever individual championship at the NCAA indoor meet, and it capped a dazzling season for the jun- ior from Derby, Conn. In the months leading up to nationals, she set a school record in the 800 with a time of 2:02.94, set a collegiate record in the 1,000-meter run (2:38.58) and ran the 10th-fastest mile in collegiate history when she clocked a 4:29.47. Rivers warmed up for nationals by winning her third consec-