Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1464375
1 6 M A Y 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 14.425 Chase Clingman's title-winning score on the pommel horse at the Big Ten Championships on April 2 at Rec Hall. Clingman, a junior from Leesburg, Va., easily topped his previous career-best score of 13.8, and it was enough to overcome defending national champion Ian Skirkey of Illinois, who scored 14.375. Clingman's Big Ten title was the fifth by a Penn State gymnast on the pom- mel horse since the Nittany Lions joined the conference in 1992. The previous Penn State winners were Mike Dutka (1998), Craig Hernandez (2012 and '13) and Stephen Nedo- roscik (2018). In this year's team competition, the host Lions didn't fare as well, finishing fifth with a score of 395.800. 21st JAHAN DOTSON's spot on Mel Kiper Jr.'s updated Big Board, in which the longtime ESPN draft guru ranks the top 25 prospects, regardless of position. Kiper updated his rankings on April 3 and listed the former Nittany Lion fifth among wide receiv- ers, trailing USC's Drake London, Ohio State's Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave and Alabama's Jameson Williams. Four other Penn State players were listed in Kiper's positional rankings. Arnold Ebiketie was second among outside linebackers (even though he was a defensive end during his lone season with the Nit- tany Lions), Brandon Smith was eighth among inside linebackers, Jaquan Brisker was fourth among safeties and Jor- dan Stout was first among kickers and punters. 26-5 Combined score of the Penn State soft- ball team's three victories over visiting Purdue April 2-3. It was the Nittany Lions' first Big Ten series sweep since 2016. Coming off a 2021 season in which it won only seven games, Penn State has been on a roll this year. The Lions were 23-15 overall and 5-4 in Big Ten play heading into three-game home series against Indiana April 15-17. 35 Regular-season conference champion- ships won by the Penn State men's volley- ball team. The Nittany Lions swept Saint Francis on April 2 to clinch the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association crown for the second season in a row and the 35th time in program history. As the top seed, Penn State won the right to host the league tournament April 20-23 at Rec Hall. The Lions actu- ally have finished atop the EIVA standings 36 times in their history, but the 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic and no champion was crowned. 123 Number of Penn State student-athletes in the winter sports who earned Academic All-Big Ten honors this year. That's the highest total in school history, topping PSU's 106 winter sports honorees in 2020-21. The women's swimming and diving team led the way for the fourth year in a row, with 29 of its athletes winning Academic All-Big Ten honors. The men's swimming and diving team had 22 honorees, while the wrestling squad had 18. 61,000 Estimated attendance of the most recent Blue-White Game in 2019. The Nittany Lions' annual intrasquad game has attracted more than 60,000 fans in seven of the past eight years in which the game has been held, including crowds of 70,000 or more in four of the past six years. The game is returning this year after a lengthy absence. It was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic and was replaced by a pair of lightly attended open practices last April. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL By The Numbers