Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/847744
In a year of remarkable performances, both by teams and individuals, these were the ones that stood out F or a lot of Penn State fans, any year in which the football team does well is, by definition, a good athletic year. This past year, the football team did very well indeed, stun- ning onlookers by winning nine in a row en route to the Big Ten championship and the program's first Rose Bowl berth since the 2008 season. But although Penn State's football resurgence was the above-the-fold headline from the 2016-17 sports year, it was by no means the university's only athletic success story. Nit- tany Lion teams won seven Big Ten championships this past year. In addition to the dramatic football title they claimed by rallying past Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game, they won crowns in field hockey, women's soccer, women's indoor track and field, men's ice hockey and men's outdoor track and field. In addition, the men's volleyball team won its conference, the EIVA, for the 18th time in the past 19 years. Oddly, the one national championship that Penn State cap- tured this past year was courtesy of a team that didn't win its league tournament. The Nittany Lion wrestlers fell behind on the first day at Big Tens and weren't able to catch up to Ohio State on day two. But they did make it close in the end, shaving the deficit to four at one point after trailing by 22 points to start the day, and that surge continued at nationals. Boy, did it continue. The Lions dominated the competition from start to finish, scoring 146.5 team points and claiming five individ- ual titles en route to their sixth NCAA championship in the past seven years. With all five of those individual champs returning next sea- son, it's highly likely that the wrestlers will be dominating these pages again in 2018. But for now, let's focus on the year that just concluded. Because for Penn State's entire athletic program, it was one to remember. ■ THOSE CHAMPIONSHIP SEASONS THE YEA R IN REVIEW MAKE SOME NOISE A cheerleader gets the crowd fired up at the Rose Bowl. The Nittany Lions hadn't been expected to wrap up their season in Pasadena, but they won nine games in a row en route to the Big Ten champi- onship. Photo by Patrick Mansell