Blue White Illustrated

WOMEN'S LACROSSE Penn State's 2020 recruiting class has been named the No. 1 class in the nation by Inside Lacrosse in the November issue of its magazine. Head coach Missy Doherty's incoming group is highlighted by four =ve-star prospects, all ranked among the top 18 players in the class by Inside Lacrosse. In August, four members of the class were selected as Under Armour Senior All-Americans: Kayla Abernathy, Gretchen Gilmore, Kristin O'Neill and Kathryn Toohey. The class includes seven mid=elders, one defender and one goalkeeper. It fea- tures three signees each from Maryland and Pennsylvania and one each from Illi- nois, New Jersey and New York. WOMEN'S ICE HOCKEY Freshman for- ward Kiara Zanon was selected to attend the USA Hockey Women's National Team Evaluation Camp October 25-31 at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minn. One of only 53 players invited, Zanon joined an elite group of U.S. athletes, a group that included 17 members of the 2019 gold-medal-winning U.S. national team, 14 members of the 2018 gold- medal-winning Olympic team and 31 current collegiate athletes. The camp was a part of the process in selecting the U.S. women's national team for the 2021 IIHF World Champi- onships. Zanon has already had an impact on USA Hockey at the international level, having scored the winning goal in the gold medal game at the 2020 IIHF World Junior Championships in Slovakia, teaming with fellow Nittany Lion fresh- man Lyndie Lobdell. She also won a sil- ver medal at the 2019 junior championships playing alongside cur- rent Nittany Lion teammate Mallory Uihlein. In other women's hockey news, Allison Coomey has been promoted to associate head coach entering the 2020-21 season a@er spending her =rst three seasons as an assistant with the Nittany Lions. One of the most decorated and accom- plished coaches in the sport, Coomey joined Penn State alongside head coach Je? Kampersal in 2017-18. Coomey has helped turn Penn State into one of the top defensive units in the country, al- lowing just 2.04 goals per game over 108 contests. WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS Former Temple assistant Rachel Inniss joined Penn State's sta? in October as an assistant to head coach Sarah Brown. Innis spent the past two seasons with the Owls. "We are thrilled to add Rachel to the sta?," Brown said. "Her experience on the collegiate level, as well as her strong dance background, will help take our program to a new level. It was clear from the =rst time we spoke that Rachel's philosophy, values and goals aligned perfectly with what Dallas [Becerra] and I are striving for each year." Inniss helped Temple win consecutive ECAC championships. The Owls =n- ished the 2020 season with the confer- ence's highest National Qualifying Score. A 2012 graduate of Auburn, Inniss led Temple's beam and >oor teams, helping the >oor team lead the conference. The beam squad ranked second in the ECAC. The Owls earned the program's second- highest beam score and =@h-highest >oor score in 2020, helping Temple post three of the top six overall scores in pro- gram history. WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD Senior sprinter Brooke-Lynn Williams has been appointed to the Task Force on Policing and Communities of Color, a town-gown task force that includes both Penn State and local community leaders. Penn State president Eric Barron asked the task force to reconvene and expand earlier this year as one of several univer- sity-wide initiatives to advance greater equity, diversity and inclusion. This also includes the creation of a Select Penn State Presidential Commission on Racism, Bias and Community Safety, a full review of the Student Code of Con- duct, and an initiative to work with the Penn State Faculty Senate and other stakeholders to implement bias course- work and training for all students and employees. A recent update on the re- view of the Student Code of Conduct was presented in September to the Penn State board of trustees. The Task Force on Policing and Com- munities of Color was =rst organized in 2015 with the goal of improving the rela- tionship among law enforcement and underrepresented racial and ethnic mi- nority communities. ■ N O T E B O O K of our student-athletes at the forefront of our decisions." In September, the Hockey Commis- sioners Association announced that the start of the 2020-21 men's and women's seasons would be delayed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Decisions about when to resume competition were le@ to the nation's 11 hockey-playing confer- ences. Penn State is coming o? a 2019-20 sea- son in which it =nished 20-10-4 and 12- 8-4 in Big Ten play, claiming the conference's regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the league tournament. The Nittany Lions had been set to host Min- nesota in the semi=nals of the tourney on March 14, but that game was called o? when the Big Ten shut down competition in all sports for the remainder of the ac- ademic year. The Lions =nished the sea- son ranked eighth in the =nal USCHO.com poll, tying their highest- ever ranking. As of late October, Penn State had not unveiled schedules for either its men's or women's hockey teams for the upcoming season. The university said that under current state guidance, it will not sell tickets to the public. ■

• Cover