Posluszny awarded with academic honor
Linebacker Paul Posluszny has joined an elite group of Penn State student-athletes with his selection as the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-AmericanĂn of the Year in Division I football.
The senior was selected the Academic All-AmericanĂn of the Year for the University Division in voting by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Posluszny becomes the fifth member of the Nittany Lion football program to earn first team Academic All-AmericaĂn honors twice.
Posluszny is joined on the first team by senior defensive end Tim Shaw, while senior safety Nolan McCready earned second team accolades.
Shaw is the 23rd Nittany Lion under Coach Joe Paterno to earn first team Academic All-AmericaĂn honors, a total of 28 times. The Nittany Lions' total of 37 Academic All-AmericaĂn football players ranks fourth among all Division I-A institutions. Thirty-five of the selections have been under Paterno.
Penn State has had a least one Academic All-AmericanĂn in each of the past five seasons, with Posluszny earning first team accolades in 2005.
Penn State, Iowa and Ohio State were the only schools in the nation to have three players selected a first or second team Academic All-AmericanĂn.
Meet webcast to air on club's Web site
The 2006 Nittany Lion Open is set for Sunday, Dec. 3, in Rec Hall with action beginning at 8:30 a.m.
The tournament, which is run by the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, will feature the bracket updates, in both .pdf and .html form, which will be available periodically either by visiting GoPSUsports.com and following the links or by linking directly to http://www.gimpsoftware.com and clicking on Results Page on the left nav bar.
Jeff Byers, long-time voice of Penn State wrestling, will once again call the finals. The action can be heard locally on WBLF 970 AM and will be streamed free on the web at GoPSUsports.com. The start time for finals is approximately 6 p.m., but that time could vary based on tournament flow, so check GoPSUsports.com often.
Penn State will be sending nearly its entire roster into action, including the starting wrestlers and key reserves. The tournament will crown ten individual champions, an outstanding wrestler and award the grappler with the most falls in the least amount of time.
Swimmer of the Week is the Lions' Williams
Tim Williams of the men's swimming team was named this week's National College Swimmer of the Week by the Web site collegeswimming.com, it was announced on Wednesday. Williams, a sophomore out of North Bend, Ohio, had an outstanding meet at last weekend's Bell Grand Prix in Toronto, Ontario, which was highlighted by him winning the 200 butterfly with an NCAA 'B' provisional qualifying time, the first NCAA cut of his collegiate career.
Williams earned the only first place finish of the meet for either the men or women as he won the 200 butterfly in an NCAA 'B' time of 1:58.96. Williams also had the fastest time in the morning preliminaries out of 46 swimmers.
He was also less than a second off a 'B' cut in the 100 fly, in which he finished seventh. He also finished ninth in the 400 IM and was part of the eighth place 800 freestyle relay team, Penn State's 'B' team in that event. He earned points for the Nittany Lions in all four of his events. The 'B' cut in the 200 fly was the first NCAA cut of his career.
Women's soccer team garners five All-Stars
Five Nittany Lion women's soccer players on head coach Paula Wilkins' squad earned All-Mid-Atlantic team honors yesterday, as announced by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). Senior captain Ali Krieger , and sophomore midfielders Sheree Gray and Allie Long all earned first team honors, while junior defender Denay Riley garnered second team honors and junior striker Aubrey Aden-Buie got third team accolades.
Penn State's five All-Mid-Atlantic region selections were more than any other school, as were the Lions' three first team honorees. Navy (two first team selections), Villanova (one first team selection), and Virginia (two first team selections) all followed Penn State with four honorees.
