Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1462941
1 6 A P R I L 2 0 2 2 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 4 Penn State student-athletes who participated in THON as dancers this year. Two members of the men's soccer team — sophomore Femi Awodesu and freshman Ben Liscum — and two members of the field hockey squad — junior Bri- anna O'Donnell and senior Hannah Zemaitis — were among the more than 700 Penn State students who stayed on their feet for 46 hours as part of the dance marathon's 50th edi- tion. This year's event, which took place Feb. 18-20 at the Bryce Jordan Center, raised nearly $13.8 million for the Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital. Since its inception in 1973, the dance marathon has raised more than $200 million for the fight against pediatric cancer. It is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. 9 National championships won by the Penn State wres- tling team since Cael Sanderson took over as head coach in 2010. The Nittany Lions now have claimed 10 NCAA team titles in their history, having won their first in 1953. Only two schools in the country have more. Oklahoma State has won 34 championships, its most recent coming in 2006. Iowa has won 24 NCAA crowns, including last year's title, when it out- distanced PSU by 15.5 points in the team race even though the Lions won four individual titles. 9-0 Record compiled by Penn State's finalists in the past two NCAA Wrestling Tournaments. The Nit- tany Lions went 4-0 last year and 5-0 this year. Senior Ro- man Bravo-Young (133 pounds), super senior Nick Lee (141), sophomore Carter Starocci (174) and junior Aaron Brooks (184) won titles both years. Joining them this year was junior Max Dean (197), who capped a brilliant tournament for the Nittany Lions by defeating Iowa's Jacob Warner, 3-2. The Lions haven't lost in the finals since Mark Hall fell to Arizona State's Zahid Valencia in the 174-pound title bout in March 2019. 12 Consecutive victories by the Penn State men's volley- ball team following a 3-1 win at Princeton on March 18. Ranked second in the American Volleyball Coaches Associa- tion poll, the Nittany Lions were 16-3 heading into a March 20 visit to George Mason and were unbeaten in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association at 9-0. Their winning streak was the program's longest since it won 17 consecutive matches in 2015. 32 Total number of Penn State wrestlers who have claimed individual NCAA titles during Sanderson's tenure as head coach. That run began when ninth-seeded Quentin Wright defeated Robert Hamlin of Lehigh, 5-2, to win the 184-pound title in 2011, a victory that Sanderson called "a small miracle, really." It continued in Detroit on March 19 when half of the 10 individual champs were wear- ing Penn State singlets. Of the 53 individual NCAA champi- onships that Penn State has captured since winning its first in 1935, 21 have come in the past five tournaments. 33 Rebounds by super senior forward JOHN HARRAR in Penn State's three Big Ten Tourna- ment games this year, the most ever by a Nit- tany Lion player in the league tourney. Harrar finished his career with 72 rebounds in nine Big Ten Tournament games, which is also a school record. 645 Points scored by junior guard Makenna Marisa during the Lady Lions' 2021-22 season, the sixth- highest single-season total in Penn State women's basketball history. Marisa's average of 22.2 points per game was second in the Big Ten and eighth nationally. She had five games of 30 or more points, the most in a season by a Penn State player since Kelly Mazzante had nine 30-point games during the 2002-03 season. Marisa, a native of McMurray, Pa., and a first-team All-Big Ten selection this year, has 1,244 career points after three seasons, ranking 24th in Lady Lion history. By The Numbers PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL