Gabe Castano was a member of the Penn State men’s swimming team from 2017 to 2021, competing in the 50-meter, 100-meter, and 200-meter freestyle relay, and 200-meter medley relay.  He finished third at the Big Ten Championships and qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 50-meter freestyle in his sophomore year.  Castano was an All-Big Ten second team selection and an CSCAA All-American in his junior year as he finished second in the 50-meter freestyle at the Big Ten Championships and qualified for the 50-meter freestyle and 200-meter freestyle relay at the NCAA Championships in his junior year.  He was a member of the 200-meter relay team that set a new school record at the 2021 Big Ten Championships.

Castano won a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay and placed fourth in the 50-meter freestyle at the 2019 Pan Am Games. He was selected to compete on the Mexican Olympic team for the men’s 50-meter freestyle at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.  Castano is competing again in the 50m freestyle at the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

 

Samantha Catantan

Samantha Catantan competed in the foil for the women’s fencing team from 2020 to 2024 and finished her career with a 136-39 record.

She was named to the Philippines women’s fencing team in foil for the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

 

 

Miles Chamley-Watson

Miles Chamley-Watson competed on the Penn State men’s fencing team in the foil from 2009 to 2011, then red-shirted his junior year to train for the Olympics, then returned in 2013 for his senior year.  He qualified for the NCAA Championships in all four years, second in 2011 and third in 2009, 2010, and 2013.

He was successful on the international stage as he was a member of the 2010 U.S. Pan American team where he finished in third individually and anchored the team to a gold medal.  Chamley-Watson also won several individual and team medals as a member of the Junior and Senior World Cup teams that year.  He was even better at the 2011 Pan American Games as he won an individual silver medal and helped the U.S. team win the gold medal again.

Chamley-Watson helped the U.S. men’s fencing team to a fourth-place finish at the 2012 London Games and won a team bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Games.  He is competing in foil for the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

 

Olga Chernyak

Olga Chernyak was a member of the Penn State women’s fencing team from 1990 to 1994.  She helped lead the team to the NCAA Championship in 1991 and finished second to teammate Olga Kalinovskaya in 1993 NCAA Finals, helping to win the team championship.  Chernyak was an All-American in 1991, 1992, and 1993 and finished with a dual meet career record of 189-10, the most wins of any woman when she graduated.

Chernyak competed on the U.S. Women’s National team at the World Championships and World University Games in 1993. She was named as an alternate to the U.S. Women’s fencing team for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

 

 

 

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Ken Chertow

Ken Chertow competed on the Penn State wrestling team from 1986 to 1989 and was a three-time All-American in the flyweight division.  He finished his collegiate career with 115 victories, which was third all-time when he graduated. Chertow was highly decorated wrestler before attending Penn State as he was the 1984 U.S. Junior Nationals Champion in both freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. After graduating from Penn State, he attended medical school and was an assistant coach at Ohio State, helping guide the team to a fourth-place finish at the 1991 NCAA Championships and a fifth-place finish in 1992.  He left medical school and returned to Penn State as an assistant coach helping the Nittany Lions second place finish at the 1993 NCAA Championships, their best finish since 1953.

Chertow has operated his Gold Medal Training Camp for more than twenty-five years, and has three former campers, David Taylor, Adam Coon, and Helen Maroulis qualify for the 2021 Tokyo Games.

He competed at the 1988 Seoul Games, the first Penn State wrestler since Katsutoshi Naito in 1924.  Chertow was an alternate on the U.S. Wrestling Team at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

Eduardo Cisternas

 

Eduardo Cisternas began his swimming career at Penn State in the 2022-2023 season and will be entering his junior year in the fall.

Eduardo competed for Chile at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics which was postponed until 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.  He is competing in swimming for Chile in the 400m, 800m, and 1500m freestyle events at the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

 

Dr. Kristine S. Clark

Kristine Clark obtained the first full-time sports nutrition position at a major university in 1991 as an Assistant Professor of Nutritional Sciences from 1991 to 2017.  She served as the Director of Sports Nutrition for Penn State Athletics during this time.  Clark was also the sports nutritionist for several U.S. National teams, including the 1998 U.S. Men’s World Cup soccer team, the U.S. Women’s Soccer team from 1995 to 2005 and the U.S. Women’s Field Hockey team from 1995 to 1997.

Clark’s role as the nutritionist for those teams included the participation of the women’s soccer and field hockey teams at the 1996 Atlanta Games.  She served as a member of the USOC Medical Advisory Board.

Mary Ellen Clark

Mary Ellen Clark was a member of the Penn State women’s diving team from 1982 to 1985 and was the first full scholarship diver to attend Penn State.  She was a seven-time Eastern champion and a six-time All American.  While working on her master’s degree at Ohio State, she focused her training on the 10-meter platform and won national titles in that event in 1987 and 1992.  Clark was named the Woman Athlete of the Year in diving in 1992, 1993, and 1994.

She was a member of the U.S. diving team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and won the bronze medal in the 10-meter competition.  Clark dealt with vertigo at various times of her career and had to take the 1995 season off to overcome symptoms but returned to the sport at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics as the oldest diver to ever win a medal in the 10-meter event at the age of 33 when she took the bronze.

 

Ron Coder

Ron Coder competed as the goalie on the Penn State men’s soccer team in the 1949 and 1950 seasons, helping to lead the Penn State to a national co-championship in 1949.  He was a two-time All-American during his time at Penn State and competed on the track and field team.  He traveled with the team on a good will tour of Iran in the spring of 1951.  After graduation, he served as a pilot in the Air Force.  Once the Air Force administration found out that he played collegiate soccer, they asked him to play on the All-Forces team where he was the starting goalie in the fall of 1955.

Coder was named the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. soccer team at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games but suffered an ankle injury in practice and had to sit out the first-round loss against Yugoslavia.

 

 

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Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen attended Penn State from 1964 to 1967, competing on the men’s gymnastics team.  He helped Penn State win the 1965 NCAA Championships.  Cohen won the 1966 NCAA all-around title with a torn meniscus and won again during his senior year in 1967.  He was honored with the 1967 Nissen Award as the nation’s best gymnast for his season performance.

Cohen helped the U.S. men’s gymnastics team to a seventh-place finish and competed in the all-around at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games.

 

 

 

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Ray Conger

Ray Conger was an Assistant Professor of Physical Education at Penn State from 1937 to 1970.  He began filming Penn State football games in 1938 to help coaches review the players’ performances.

Conger ran track for Iowa State in the 1920s.  He helped the team set world records in the two-mile medley and distance medlay relays in 1927.  Conger was the AAU 1500-meter and mile run champion in 1927, 1928, and 1930 and the AAU indoor 1000 champion from 1928 to 1931.  He was the only American to defeat the famous Finnish long-distance runner Paavo Nurmi, at the 1929 Millrose Games.

Conger competed for the U.S. track and field team in the 1500-meter run at the 1928 Amsterdam Games.

 

Ivan Contreras

Ivan Contreras was a member of the Penn State men’s volleyball team from 1994 to 1997, serving as the team co-captain during his junior and senior seasons.  He helped lead the team to the NCAA tournament all four years.  Contreras set a single match record with 51 kills against Princeton in 1997 and finished his career with a .402 hitting percentage on 2089 kills.

Contreras was as an assistant coach on the Mexican men’s volleyball team at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

 

 

 

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Allison Coomey

Allison Coomey has served as an assistant women’s ice hockey coach since 2017 and was named Associate head coach for the 2020-2021 season.  She was honored as the ACHA Women’s Hockey Assistant Coach of the Year for 2019.

She was a four-year letter winner at Niagara and has experience at the international level, serving as head coach, assistant coach and scout for several US national teams.

Allison was named the US Women’s Ice Hockey team scout for the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

 

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Kathleen Corrigan

Ahead of her junior season at Springfield College, after two straight seasons as the New England intercollegiate all-around champion, Corrigan was selected for the 1964 U.S. Olympic team that traveled to Tokyo. While in Japan, Corrigan finished 52nd in the all-around competition and third among the six women competing for the United States.

After graduating from Springfield College in 1966, Corrigan moved to State College to study for a master’s degree in physical education. While at Penn State, Corrigan coached the women’s gymnastics team for two years in lieu of serving a teaching assistantship.

READ FULL PROFILE

 

 

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Megan Courtney

Megan Courtney competed on the Penn State women’s volleyball team from 2012 to 2015 helping to win the NCAA championship in 2013 and 2014. She is just one of eight players to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in her career. Courtney was the AVCA Mideast Region Freshman of the year and Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2012, was named the NCAA Tournament MVP after leading Penn State to the title in 2014 and selected as an All-American in 2015.

Courtney has competed on the US women’s national volleyball team since 2016. She was an outside hitter in her first season but was moved to libero in 2017. Courtney was selected as an alternate for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed until 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.

 

 

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Bill Cox

Bill Cox competed on the Penn State track and field and cross-country teams from 1926 to 1929 and was named captain of the freshman cross country team and captain of the track team in his senior year.  He won collegiate cross-country titles in 1926 and 1927, helping Penn State to win the cross-country team championships in 1926, 1927, and 1929.

Cox competed at the 1924 Paris Olympics while still attending the Mercersburg Academy.  He helped the U.S. team win the bronze medal in the 3,000-meter race, finishing eighth out of 44 runners, and as the second of six Americans for the U.S. team.

 

 

 

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Peter Cox

Peter Cox was a member of the Penn State men’s fencing team from 1986 to 1989 and was an NCAA champion in 1989. He was a four-time All-American with a 137-21 career record in dual meets.

Cox competed with his fellow Penn Stater Thomas Strzalkowski in individual and team sabre at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

 

 

 

 

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Shana Cox

Shana Cox was a member of the Penn State women’s track and field team from 2005 to 2008.  She finished second in the 400-meter at the 2007 NCAA Championships and won the 400-meter and was part of the winning 4×400-meter relay at the 2008 NCAA Championships.  Cox was honored as a seven-time All-American and nine-time Big Ten champion.  She held eight Penn State records at the end of her collegiate career.

Cox served as a volunteer assistant coach during the 2008-2009 season. She competed for Great Britain in the 4×400-meter women’s relay at the 2012 London Olympics, helping the team to a fourth-place finish.

 

 

 

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Matthew Cramer

Matthew Cramer attended Penn State from 1994 to 1998 and was a member of the Cycling Club.  He was named USA Cycling’s National Mountain Bike Director in 2003. Cramer left the director position in 2007 to work with the United States Olympic Committee involved in athlete and sport development working with about a dozen sports.

Cramer coached the U.S. mountain biking team at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

 

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Jean Cronstedt

Jean Cronstedt attended Penn State from 1952 to 1954.  As an orphan in Sweden, was he was chosen by the American Field Service to attend school in the United States at the Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania, then continued onto Penn State.  He was the NCAA all-around champion in 1952 and 1953, the high bar champion in 1952 and the parallel bars champ in 1953. Cronstedt was elected captain of the team for his senior year but decide to leave school to begin medical school in Sweden.  He is ranked number 24 in the Penn State Top 100 Athletes as of 2020.

Cronstedt competed for Sweden in the men’s gymnastics individual all-around and team competitions at the 1960 Rome Games.

 

 

 

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Jim Culhane

Jim Culhane competed on the Penn State men’s gymnastics team from 1963 to 1965, helping the team to win the NCAA Championships in 1965.  After graduation, Culhane was a member of the U.S. National men’s gymnastics team from 1965 to 1975.  He served as an assistant coach at Southern Connecticut University and the U.S. Military Academy and was the head coach at East Stroudsburg State and Cal State Northridge.

Culhane was named an alternate for the men’s gymnastics team at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and competed in the men’s all-around at the 1972 Munich Olympics, helping the team to a tenth-place finish.

 

 

 

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Casey Cunningham

Casey Cunningham has served as an assistant coach with the wrestling team since 2009. He wrestled at Central Michigan and won an NCAA championship at 157 lbs. in 1999. He was a two-time All-American and named the MAC wrestler of the year in 1998 and 1999, finishing his career with a 134-19 record.

Cunningham competed internationally, winning a silver medal at the 2008 Pan American Games and was a two-time US Nationals and World Team Trials runner-up. His wife Tara won a gold medal in weightlifting at the 2000 Sydney Games.

He served as an assistant coach at Central Michigan from 2001 to 2008, then was the head assistant coach at Iowa State in 2009. He moved to Penn State with Cael Sanderson in 2009 as an assistant coach. Cunningham served as the personal coach for former Penn State wrestler David Taylor at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed until 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.  He is participating in his second Olympics as a personal coach at the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

Jeri Daniels-Elder

Jeri Daniels-Elder was an assistant coach at Penn State, working with the hammer and weight throwing athletes on the men’s and women’s track and field team from 1984 to 2003 and then from 2011 to 2012.

Daniels-Elder served as an assistant coach for U.S. track and field team at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

 

 

 

 

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Salima Davidson

Salima Davidson-Rockwell was the setter on the Penn State women’s volleyball team from 1991 to 1994.  She was an All-Big Ten selection in all four years, Big Ten Player of the Year in 1993, and an All-American 1992, 1993 and 1994.  Davidson-Rockwell was an all-around player as she finished her career with 421 kills, 1278 digs, 382 blocks, and 5,455 assists.

After her playing days were over, Davidson-Rockwell served as assistant coach on the women’s volleyball team from 2007 to 2009, helping guide the team to back-to-back national championships in 2007 and 2008.  She moved to Texas as an associate head coach from 2010 to 2013 and helped guide the Longhorns to an NCAA championship in 2012.  Davidson-Rockwell returned to Penn State as associate head coach from 2014 to 2017 and helped win another NCAA title in 2014. She moved to television after her coaching days and currently serves as TV volleyball analyst for ESPN, the Longhorn Network, FOX Sports and the Big Ten Network.

Davidson-Rockwell was a two-time captain of the U.S. Women’s National Team in 1997 and 1998. She was named as an alternate to the U.S. women’s volleyball team for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Alex Dawes

Alex Dawes joined the Penn State women’s ice hockey program in 2013 and served as director of operations until 2016, then switched to the same position with the men’s team from 2016 to the present, performing duties as the video and travel coordinator.

His international experience was with the 2019 Men’s US National Junior Team as video coach for the 2019 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship.

Alex was named as the video coach for the US men’s ice hockey team at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

 

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Natalie Dell

Natalie Dell attended Penn State from 2003 to 2007 and learned to row when she joined the rowing club.  She attended graduate school at Boston University and trained at the Riverside Boat Club from 2007 to 2010 when she was named a Team USA member.

Dell won a bronze medal in the quadruple sculls competition at the 2012 London Games.

 

 

 

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Francis DoDoo

Francis DoDoo is a Professor of Sociology, Demography and African Studies at Penn State in the College of Liberal Arts.

He competed in four Olympic Games: 1984 Los Angeles, 1988 Seoul, 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta, for Ghana in the triple jump competition.  He also served as the President of the Ghana Olympic Committee from 2009 to 2017.

 

 

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Glenn Dubis

Glenn Dubis competed on the Penn State men’s rifle team from 1978 to 1981 and was named an All-American in 1979.  He lead the team to a ninth-place finish at the NCAA championships, the last year of riflery as a varsity sport at Penn State.

Dubis competed at the 1984 Los Angeles Games in the men’s individual 10-meter air rifle and helped the U.S. men’s rifle team finish in sixth place in the 50-meter three positions, small-bore rifle.  He set a world record in the preliminary round and finished in fifth place in the men’s individual 50-meter three positions, small-bore rifle individual competition at the 1988 Seoul Games.  Dubis also competed at the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Olympic Games.

 

 

 

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R. Richard “Dick” Dyer

Dick Dyer attended Penn State as a member of the football team but left before playing to join the fencing team where he competed during the 1949 and 1950 seasons. He went on to compete at the international level, helping the U.S. win a gold medal in team sabre, a silver medal in team epee, and an individual bronze medal in sabre at the 1955 Pan American Games.

Dyer competed for the U.S. fencing team at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, helping the men’s sabre team to a fifth-place finish, and at the 1960 Rome Olympics where the sabre team finished in fourth place.

 

 

 

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Greg Elinsky

Greg Elinsky was a member of the Penn State wrestling team from 1984 to 1987.  He was the Eastern Wrestling League Freshman of the Year in 1984 and team captain during his senior year.  Elinsky was Penn State’s first four time All-American and tied for first in Penn State history with 18 NCAA championship wins when he graduated.

He was named as an alternate to the U.S. wrestling team for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

 

 

 

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Debra Sheaffer Ellis

Debra Sheaffer Ellis currently works in the College of Agricultural Sciences as a conference coordinator.  She started her career at Penn State as an Athletics and Recreation assistant from 1990 to 1995.  She was a volunteer at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics as a press sub-manager for women’ basketball.

 

 

Schuyler Enck

Schuyler Enck competed in long-distance races on the Penn State track and field team from 1921 to 1924.  He was part of the world record winning team in the two-mile indoor relay at the NCAA Indoor Championships during his sophomore season along with fellow Penn State Olympians Alan Hellfrich and Larry Shields.  Named a captain in both his junior and senior seasons, he was a member of the Penn State relay team that set records in the 4×880-yard relay and the two-mile relay at the 1923 Penn Relays. He was also a great individual runner as he won the mile at the 1923 NCAA Championships and the 1924 IC4A indoor and outdoor meets.

Enck won a bronze medal in the 800 meters for the U.S. at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games.

 

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Barney Ewell

Barney Ewell’s Penn State and Olympic careers were interrupted by World War II. Enrolling at Penn State in 1940, Ewell was selected to compete in Helsinki for the U.S. track and field team prior to the cancellation of the 1940 Olympics. Ewell left Penn State after 1942 to join the U.S. Army. Returning to school after the war in 1945, Ewell proved he was still formidable on the track. At the 1948 qualifiers for the U.S. Olympic team, Ewell ran the 100-meter race in a world record-tying 10.2 seconds.

In his lone Olympics appearance in London in 1948, Ewell earned silver medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter races and was part of the gold medal-winning U.S. 4×100-meter relay team after a controversial disqualification was reversed.

READ FULL PROFILE

 

 

Nicole Fawcett

Nicole Fawcett was one of the best women’s volleyball players of all time during her career at Penn State as she played from 2005 to 2008.  She finished her career with 1,943 kills, which was second all time when she graduated.  Fawcett helped lead the team to back-to-back championships in 2007 and 2008.  She won numerous awards as she was an All-American all four years and named the Big Ten Player of the Year, AVCA National Player of the Year, and Honda Sports Award winner as the nation’s top collegiate volleyball player in 2008.  Fawcett is number 34 on the Penn State Top 100 Athletes as of 2020.

Fawcett played on the U.S. National women’s volleyball team from 2009 to 2016. She was named an alternate to the Olympic team for the 2012 London Games.

 

 

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Dr. Virginia L. Fortney

Virginia Fortney was a faculty member at Penn State from 1965 to 1998.  She served as a faculty affiliate at the Gerontology Center and as an associate scientist for the Center for Child and Adolescent Health and Behavior.  Fortney’s research focused on motor patterns of children and biomechanics of Olympic gymnasts.

She attended the 1988 Seoul and 1992 Barcelona Games, conducting research on the biomechanics of gymnasts vaulting.

 

 

 

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Bridget Franek

Bridget Franek was a member of the Penn State women’s cross country and track and field teams from 2006 to 2010.  She was the 2007 Big Ten Freshman of the Year and a ten-time NCAA All-American, two time Big Ten Conference Champion and seven-time school record holder.  Franek qualified for the NCAA women’s cross-country championships all four years.  She was successful in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA Championships as she finished third in 2008 and was the champion in 2010.  Franek was the Big Ten cross-country champion and helped Penn State win the team title in 2009.

She continued racing at the national level and finished third in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the 2009 U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships and second in 2010 and 2011.

Franek competed on the U.S. women’s track and field team in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the 2012 London Olympics.

 

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Ali Frantti

Ali Frantti was a member of the women’s volleyball team from 2014 to 2017.  She was a three-time All-American and the AVCA Freshman of the Year.  Frantti helped lead the team to its seventh NCAA championships in 2014 and finished her career with 1,283 kills and 807 digs.

She joined the U.S. national team in 2022 and was named an alternate for the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

 

 

Emily Frederick

Emily Frederick matriculated at Penn State in 2016 shortly after taking up the shot put as a high schooler in Alabama. Originally banned by parasport rules from competing in track and field events, Frederick successfully lobbied the Alabama High School Athletic Association for the right to compete as a para-ambulatory athlete in throwing events and the 100-meter sprint.

Working with coach Teri Jordan at Penn State, Frederick competed in the women’s shot put F40 classification at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games.

 

 

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Greg Fredericks

Greg Fredericks attended Penn State from 1968 to 1972.  He was an All-American in cross-country in 1970 and 1971 and in track in 1971 and 1972 and held nearly every distance record when he graduated. Fredericks won the 1972 AAU championship in the 10,000-meter and broke the American record by more than ten seconds.  He is ranked number 90 in the Penn State Top 100 Athletes as of 2020.

Fredericks was a member of the U.S. men’s track and field team in the 10,000-meter for the 1980 Moscow Olympics but did not compete due to the boycott.

 

 

 

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Michael Friedman

Michael Friedman attended Penn State Lehigh Valley and raced for the cycling team under coach Jim Young.

He competed in the Madison track cycling race with Penn State Lehigh Valley teammate Bobby Lea at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

 

 

 

Maxwell R. Garret

Maxwell Garret was head coach of the Penn State men’s fencing team from 1973 to 1982 with a record of 113-21.  He came to Penn State from Illinois after serving as their head coach for 28 years with a record of 237-65.  Garret was also an Associate Professor in the Parks and Recreation Department.

At the international level, Garret took a leave of absence from his Illinois position to coach the Israeli National fencing team in 1969-1970 and was the U.S. fencing coach at the eleventh Maccabiah Games in Israel in 1981.  He coached the U.S. fencing team at the 1970 World University Games. Garret served as an assistant coach of the U.S. Men’s Fencing Team at the 1960 Rome Games.

 

 

 

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Sophia Gladieux

Sophia was a four-year starter for the Penn State women’s field hockey team from 2020 to 2023.

She had a highly decorated career as she was a first team All-Big Ten all four years, the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year in 2022 and 2023, and Big Ten Player of the Year in 2022 when she helped the team to the NCAA semi-finals that year.  Gladieux was named was a second team All-American in her freshman year and first team All-American from 2021, 2022, and 2023.  She is fourth in career goals with 74 goals.

She is participating on the U.S. women’s field hockey team at the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

 

 

Alisha Glass

Alisha Glass was the starting setter on the Penn State women’s volleyball team from 2006 to 2009 featuring some of the best teams in collegiate history.  She was a named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team, a four-time, first team All-Big Ten selection, and a three-time All-American, only a few of the honors that she received.  She, along with teammate Megan Hodge, led the team to an incredible 142-5 record and three consecutive championships, the first time that this occurred in NCAA championship history.  Glass is listed at number 42 on the Penn State Top 100 All-Time Athletes as of 2020.

Glass led women’s volleyball team as the starting setter to a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

 

 

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Wieslaw R. Glon

Wieslaw “Wes” Glon has coached the Penn State men’s and women’s fencing teams for 36 years.  He was the assistant coach from 1985 to 2013, when he took over as the head coach.  As assistant coach, he helped guide the teams to twelve NCAA Championships and eight second place finishes.  As head coach, has guided the teams to an NCAA title in 2014 and three second place finishes in 2015, 2019, and 2021.

Glon coached internationally for the U.S. Fencing Team at both the junior and senior levels at the World Championships from 1989 to 1998, and at the 1991 Pan American Games. He coached the U.S. Men’s Fencing team at the 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta Games.

 

 

 

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Herman Goffberg

Herman Goffberg attended Penn State from 1938 to 1942 and was on the boxing and track and field teams.  He was the captain of the freshman boxing team and competed on the boxing team in his sophomore year.  Goffberg ran cross country and track all four years at Penn State.  He helped the cross- country team to a second-place finish at the 1941 NCAA Championships and the track and field team to second place finishes at the 1942 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships.

Goffberg competed on the U.S. Track and Field team in the 10,000-meter run but did not finish at the 1948 London Games.

 

 

 

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Daniel Gómez Tanamachi

Daniel Gomez Tanamachi competed on the Penn State men’s fencing team from 2011 to 2015, compiling a 120-37 record.  He qualified for the NCAA tournament in his junior year and finished tenth with an Honorable Mention All-American status.

He competed in individual foil for Mexico at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Games.

 

 

 

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Harry Groves

Harry Groves was the head coach of the Penn State men’s cross-country and track and field teams from 1968 to 2006.  He previously coached at William and Mary from 1953 to 1968.  Groves finished with a career record of 899-180-3 with ten IC4A titles during his career.  He coached 227 All-Americans and fourteen Olympians.  Groves was a five-time National Coach of the Year in both cross-country and track and field.  He also coached at the national level as he was the head coach of five U.S. National teams and was an assistant coach for seven other teams.  Groves was a member of the Olympic, World, and Pan American Games Coaching Staff Selection Committee from 1996 to 2006 and was inducted into the USTCA Hall of Fame in 2001.

Groves was an assistant coach on the U.S. men’s track and field team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

 

 

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Carlos Guerra

Carlos Guerra was a member of the Penn State men’s volleyball team from 2000 to 2003.  He Led team with 423 kills in his senior year and finished career with 1,837 kills.

He competed for Mexico on the men’s volleyball team at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

 

 

 

 

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Charles Gunderman

Charles Gunderman was an assistant professor of exercise and sports science at the Penn State DuBois campus from 1969 to 2000.  He was the coordinator of athletics at the campus and coached soccer, golf, swimming, wrestling, basketball and baseball from 1969 to the mid 1980s.

Charles served as the head swim coach at the World Youth Championships in Ste. Etienne, France, in 1990.

His work with blind swimmers led to a position as the national swim coach at the 1988 Seoul Paralympic Games.

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Micha Hancock

Micha Hancock competed as the starting setter for the Penn State women’s volleyball team from 2011 to 2014. She was a three time All-American and played on two National Championship teams in 2013 and 2014. Hancock had the best serve in Penn State women’s volleyball history and holds the career records for aces (380) and career aces per set (0.76). She was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and AVCA Mideast Region Freshman of the Year.

She put on a serving clinic against Binghamton in the first round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament as she served 21 straight points with a school record 10 aces in the second set as Penn State won 25-3 and served another 14 straight points in the third set. Hancock was named the AVCA player of the year during the 2014 season. She led Penn State to a 128-16 record in her career.

Hancock has been a member of the US Women’s Volleyball team since 2016, helping lead the team to two gold medals at the Pan Am Cup in 2017 and 2019.  She was named the back-up setter for the 2020 Tokyo Games, but was inserted into the line up when starting setter Jordyn Poulter injured her ankle.  Hancock led the team to five straight victories and helped the team to win the first gold medal for the U.S. women’s team.  She was selected as an alternate for the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

Elizabeth A. Hanley

Over a long career at Penn State, Elizabeth Hanley showed an unwavering commitment to the Olympic ideal. A native of Maryland and graduate of the University of Maryland, Hanley joined the Penn State faculty in 1965. As a professor of exercise science, Hanley taught everything from dance and figure skating to the history of the modern Olympics over a versatile four-decade career in State College before her retirement as an associate professor of kinesiology in 2004.

Hanley’s involvement with the Olympics began in 1977 when she was elected to membership in the International Olympic Academy, the main educational and cultural institution of the IOC. An outspoken critic of the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Hanley attended the games in the Soviet Union in an advisory role to the Liechtenstein Olympic Committee. She returned to the Olympics four years later as a representative of the IOC. Hanley received the honor of serving as a torch bearer at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, running a 15-kilometer stretch of the torch’s long journey from Olympia to Georgia.

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Jeff Hantz

Jeff Hantz attended Penn State from 2000 to 2004. He specializes in throwing events.

Working with Coach Teri Jordan, he finished in sixth place in the men’s discus F56 classification and finished in eighth place in the men’s javelin F55-56 at the 200 Athens Paralympics.

 

 

 

John L. Hargis

John Hargis was a butterfly and backstroke specialist who won a gold medal in the medley relay at the 1996 Olympic Games, swimming butterfly in the heats of the event. Hargis also won a silver medal in the medley relay at the 1998 World Championships.

Hargis served two stints as a swimming coach at Penn State. He first came to the school as an assistant coach from 2003 to 2006, then returned to take over as the head coach from 2008 to 2013.

 

 

 

 

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Christa Harmotto

Christa Harmotto was a member of the Penn State women’s volleyball team from 2005 to 2008, helping to lead the team to two straight NCAA championships in 2007 and 2008 as the starting middle blocker.  She was the recipient of many awards throughout her collegiate career.  Harmotto was a four time All Big Ten selection, a three time All-American, an Academic All-Big Ten, and a Honda Award nominee in 2007 and 2008.  She was second in the NCAA in hitting percentage with a 0.492 average in her junior year and led the NCAA with a 0.486 average in her senior year. Harmotto’s 0.433 average was number one in school history when she graduated.  She is number 38 on list of Penn State Top 100 All-Time Athletes as of 2020.

Harmotto was the team captain leading the team to a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics and helped the team win a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

 

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Emma Harvey

Emma Harvey was on the women’s swimming team from 2019 to 2024.

She swam internationally for Bermuda at the 2021 World Championships and the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the freestyle and backstroke events.  Emma was selected to participate in the 100m backstroke for the 2024 Paris Summer Games.  She is the older sister of fellow Penn Stater and Olympian Jack Harvey.

 

Jack Harvey

Jack Harvey has been a member of the men’s swimming team for the last two years and is entering his junior year at Penn State.

He competed internationally at the Commonwealth Games for Bermuda, swimming freestyle and backstroke.  He was selected to participate in the 100m backstroke for the 2024 Paris Summer Games.  He is the younger brother of fellow Penn Stater and Olympian Emma Harvey.

Mohamed Hassan

Mohamed Hassan was a member of the Penn State men’s fencing team from 2016 to 2019. He finished his career with a 107-70 record in foil. Hassan was a two-time Egyptian World team  member.

He was selected to compete on the Egyptian men’s fencing team for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

 

 

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Mary Jo Haverbeck

When Mary Jo Haverbeck arrived in State College in 1974 as Penn State’s assistant sports information director, she embarked on a 25-year career as a trailblazer in sports communications. In her role, she became the first Penn State official to publicize women’s sports at the university. Haverbeck served on a range of NCAA committees, including as a long-time member of the NCAA Women’s Final Four media coordination committee.

Haverbeck served as the press officer for the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) in Caracas, Venezuela in 1981 and Syracuse, New York in 1983. Three years before her retirement in 1999, Haverbeck’s work culminated in serving as the press operations manager for the USOC at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996.

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Kaitlin Hawayek

Kaitlin enrolled in the World Campus in the fall of 2018 and continues to take classes towards a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology.   She began taking on-line classes in middle school due to her busy figure skating training and competition schedule and selected the Penn State World Campus because of the flexibility to balance her skating career and class work. 

She began skating at the age of three and switched to ice dancing in 2010.  She paired with current skater Jean-Luc Baker in 2012 and they won the World Junior Championships in 2014.  They placed third at the last for US National Figure Skating Championships. 

Kaitlin and her partner Jean Luc-Baker finished in eleventh place in the ice dancing competition at the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games. 

Steven Hayden

Steve Hayden competed on the Penn State cross-country team from 1962 to 1965 and the Nittany Lions track and field team from 1963 to 1966.

Hayden was a member of the U.S. men’s track and field squad in the men’s 50-kilometer walk at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

 

 

 

 

 

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Lennart Hedmark

Lennart Hedmark competed on the Penn State men’s track and field team from 1964 to 1965.  Penn State coach Chick Werner spotted him during a 1961 Scandinavian tour and influenced Hedmark to attend Penn State.  He broke the NCAA freshman record in the javelin in 1964 and finished in second place in the javelin at the 1965 NCAA championships.  He and fellow Swede Karl Burlin, a pole vaulter withdrew from Penn State in January of 1966 and moved to California to continue their international track and field careers.

Hedmark, competing for the Swedish Olympic team, was an alternate in the javelin at the 1964 Tokyo Games and competed in the decathlon at the 1968 Mexico City, 1972 Munich, and 1976 Montreal Olympic Games.

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Alan Helffrich

Penn State track and field star Alan Helffrich traveled with the U.S. Olympic track and field team in 1920 to Antwerp, serving as an alternate in the 4×400-meter relay. Four years later in Paris, shortly after his 1924 graduation from Penn State, Helffrich anchored the 4×400-meter relay team to the gold medal in a new world-record time.

Upon his return to the United States, Helffrich continued to break world records at both 500 meters and 800 meters. Helffrich spent six decades working in the paper industry and enjoyed the distinction for many years as the oldest living Olympian until his passing in 1994.

 

 

 

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Sammie Henson

Sammie Henson was an assistant coach at Penn State from 2000 to 2002.  He wrestled collegiately at Missouri and Clemson and was a three-time All-American, winning NCAA titles in 1993 and 1994 while wrestling for Clemson.

Henson continued his wrestling career after graduation, winning U.S. national titles in 1998 and 2000 and won the world championship in the 119-pound weight class in 1998. He won the silver medal in the bantamweight freestyle wrestling classification at the 2000 Sydney Games.

 

 

 

Ramon Hernandez

Ramon Hernandez was an outsider hitter and middle blocker on the Penn State men’s volleyball team from 1991 to 1994.  He was named to the All-Freshman team in 1991 and broke the single season record for blocks and was named as third team All-American in his sophomore season in 1992.  Hernandez finished his career with 1,693 kills, 497 blocks, and a .383 hitting percentage.  He is ranked #66 in Penn State Top 100 Athletes as of 2020.

Hernandez competed for Puerto Rico in the men’s beach volleyball tournament at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

 

 

 

Darrell Hill

Darrell Hill was a member of the Penn State men’s track and field team from 2013 to 2015, after competing for the University of Houston in his freshman year.  He was at the top of his game during his senior year as he broke C.J. Hunter’s 25-year-old shot put record and set a new mark again two weeks later. Hill won both the indoor and outdoor shot put competitions at Big Ten championships in his senior year.  He was the first Penn Stater to be named Big Ten Athlete of the Year and was named the Mid-Atlantic Indoor and Outdoor Men’s Field Athlete of the Year in 2015.

He was member of the U.S. men’s track and field squad in the shot put at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

 

 

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Holly Hinkle

Holly Hinkle attended Penn State from 1986 to 1990 and received a degree in Foreign Service and International Relations.

She worked as a marketing specialist for the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Committee as part of a sponsor coordination team charged with protecting the intellectual property of the Olympic Games.  Her duties included welcoming official sponsors and finding unauthorized sponsors trying to profit from the Games.

 

 

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Knut Hjeltnes

Knut Hjeltnes transferred to Penn State in 1974 after his freshman year at Western Maryland and competed in the 1975 track and field season.  He placed third in the discus and fifth in the shot put at the 1975 NCAA Championships.

Hjeltnes competed for Norway in the discus at three Olympic Games: 1976 Montreal, where he finished in seventh place; 1984 Los Angeles, where he finished in fourth place; and 1988 Seoul, where he placed seventh.

 

 

 

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Megan Hodge

Megan Hodge was a four-year starter on the Penn State women’s volleyball team from 2006 to 2009 and one of the most accomplished woman athlete in school history, garnering numerous awards during her collegiate career.  She was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and Player of the year, the first Big Ten player to win both awards, a unanimous First Team All-Big Ten all four years, the AVCA National Freshman of the Year, AVCA First Team All-Mideast Region all four years, AVCA First Team All-America all four years, a Honda Award Finalist in her sophomore year, the NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player in 2007, 2008, and 2009, and Honda Award Winner in her senior year.

Hodge led her class, along with fellow Olympian setter Alisha Glass, to a 142-5 career record, best in Penn State history which included a team record of 102 straight victories from 2007 to 2009, part of 109 straight victories, fifth all time longest streak in NCAA history.  She led Penn State to a come from behind 3-2 victory over Texas in the 2009 NCAA Championship finals after being down two sets to none.  Hodge finished second on the all-time list with 2,142 kills and only second Penn State player to accumulate more than 2,000 kills in a career.  She is listed as the number 6 best athlete in the Penn State Top 100 All-Time Athletes as of 2020.

Hodge helped the U.S. women’s volleyball team win the silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics.

 

Max Holt

Max Holt was a starting middle blocker on the Penn State men’s volleyball team from 2006 to 2009. He was name to the First Team All-East in his freshman year as the team finished second in the NCAA, losing to UCLA in the Championship match. Holt was named First team All-EIVA, hitting .447 in his sophomore year. He was an AVCA First team All-American in his junior year, hit .548, and helped to lead Penn State to a 30-1 record and the NCAA championship with a 3-1 victory over Pepperdine.  He finished his collegiate career first in service aces with 207 and ranked fourth in Penn State history in hitting percentage and block assists.

Holt was the starting middle blocker that helped the U.S. men’s volleyball team, with fellow Penn Staters Matt Anderson and Aaron Russell, to win a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.  He participated at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games, which was postponed until 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.  He was selected to compete in his third Olympics at the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

 

 

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Tom Hovasse

Tom Hovasse was a member of the Penn State men’s basketball team from 1985 to 1989.  He averaged 15 points and 7 rebounds per game during his collegiate career. Hovasse was an excellent three-point shooter as he set school records with 172 three-point field goals and most three-point shots made in a game with seven when he graduated in 1989.

Hovasse was an assistant coach for the Japanese women’s basketball team at the 2016 Rio Olympics.  He is the head coach of the Japanese men’s basketball team at the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

 

 

 

 

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C.J. Hunter

C.J. Hunter was a member of the Penn State men’s track and field team in the shot put, discus, and 35-pound weight throws from 1987 to 1990.  He won three indoor and two outdoor IC4A shot put titles and was an indoor and outdoor track and field All-American.  Hunter finished in second in the shot put at the 1990 NCAA Championships.

He won medals in the shot put in several international meets: a bronze medal at the 1991 Pan American Games, a gold medal at the 1995 Pan American Games, a bronze medal at the 1997 World Championships, and a gold medal at the 1999 World Championships.

Hunter competed on the U.S. men’s track and field team and finished seventh in the shot put at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

 

 

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Al Jackson

Al Jackson attended Penn State from 1973 to 1976, competing on the men’s track and field team in the throwing events.  He finished fourth in the 35-pound weight throw at the 1976 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Jackson was named as an alternate on the U.S. Men’s Track and Field team in the hammer throw for the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

 

 

 

 

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Jan-Hendrick Jagla

Jan Jagla was a member of the Penn State men’s basketball team from 2001 to 2004. During his junior season, Jagla led the team with an average 13.4 points per game. He finished his career averaging ten points and seven rebounds per game.

Jagla competed for Germany on the men’s basketball team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

 

 

 

 

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Randy Jepson

Randy Jepson was the assistant coach of the Penn State men’s gymnastics team from 1986 to 1991 under Karl Schier and has served as the head coach of the men’s gymnastics team from 1991 to the present.  He was a three-year letterman with the University of Oregon gymnastics team before transferring to Penn State in 1983 after Oregon dropped their program.  He posted a perfect 10.0 on the still rings against a team from the Soviet Union in a meet at Rec Hall in 1983.

Jepson was named the National Assistant Coach of the Year in 1991.  He has coached Penn State to three NCAA championships in 2000, 2004 and 2007, and named National Coach of the Year in those three years. Jepson has coached 13 NCAA individual event champions and 47 All-Americans in 108 events.

Jepson is heavily involved in national team training camps, helping to prepare teams for the 1999 World Championships and the 2000 Sydney Olympics and served as an assistant coach for the men’s gymnastics team at the 1999 Pan American Games. He was an assistant coach for Penn State’s Kevin Tan on the U.S. men’s gymnastics team, helping the team win a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Teri Jordan

Teri Jordan was the head coach of the Penn State women’s track and field team from 1984 to 2000.  An accomplished distance runner at Kansas State, Jordan a set world record for the ten-mile race, recorded the fourth fastest marathon in the world, finished second in the Pan American cross-country championships, and ran on the national championship AAU cross country team, all in 1973.  She also set the national collegiate record in the mile and established an American record in the 5000-meter in 1977.

As the Penn State coach, she was named Eastern Track Coach of the Year three times (1985, 1986, 1990) and Eastern Cross-Country Coach of the Year twice (1984, 1985). She served as an assistant coach of the U.S. women’s track and field team at the 1991 World Championships and was head coach of the U.S. women’s track and field team at the 1995 World Championships and the U.S. women’s cross-country team at the 1999 World Championships.

After finishing her career as the Penn State track and field coach, Jordan was named the coach for the Ability Athletes in 2000. She was an assistant coach on the U.S. Paralympics track and field team for Jeff Hantz at the 2004 Athens Paralympics and for Emily Frederick at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

Dr. David M. Joyner

Dave Joyner played offensive tackle on the Penn State football team from 1969 to 1971 and was co-captain during his senior year. He was a two-time All-American in 1970 and 1971 and an Academic All-American in 1971. Joyner was also on the wrestling team from 1970 to 1972 and finished second in the heavyweight class at the 1972 NCAA Championships. After graduation, he attended the Penn State College of Medicine and received his M.D. in 1976 and worked as a sports medicine physician. Joyner served as the Athletic Director from 2011 to 2015.

Joyner participated in the Olympic movement as the head physician at the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics and was the chair of the U.S. Olympic Sports Medicine Society and U.S. Olympic Sports Medicine Committee and served as the co-chair of the U.S. Olympic Anti-Doping Committee.

 

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Emmanuil G. Kaidanov

Emmanuil Kaidanov was the head coach of the Penn State men’s and women’s fencing teams for 31 years, posting a record of 444-44 with the men’s team and a 423-58 record with the women’s team.  His teams won an NCAA record twelve championships. Kaidanov coached twenty-eight individual NCAA champions and ten Olympians. In addition to coaching, he published research articles on methods of teaching fencing, specifics for teaching left-handed fencers, teaching fencers with physical disabilities, and exercises for better reaction time.

Kaidanov participated in the 1988 Seoul Olympics as a senior fencing official and judge.

 

 

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Steven Kaplan

Stephen Kaplan was an assistant coach for the Penn State men’s fencing team from 1976 to 1978. He competed in sabre at NYU as an undergraduate and later served as the head coach from 1980 to 1986.

Kaplan was a member of the U.S. men’s fencing team at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, competing in individual and team sabre events.

 

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Dr. Howard G. Knuttgen

Howard Knuttgen has a long history with Penn State and the Olympic Games. He received his undergraduate degree from Penn State in 1953. Knuttgen returned to Penn State as the Director of the newly founded Center for Sports Medicine, a collaborative effort between the College of Health and Human Development, the College of Medicine, and Intercollegiate Sports in 1989 and served in that capacity until 1997.

Knuttgen served on several Olympic committees during his career.  He was chairman of the program committee for the Second IOC World Congress on Sport Sciences held in Barcelona in 1991, chair of the IOC publications advisory group overseeing production of the Encyclopedia of Sports Medicine and the Handbook of Sports Medicine and Science and served as member and chair of publications sub-committees on sports medicine topics at the 1988 Calgary Winter Games, 1988 Seoul Summer Games, 1992 Barcelona Games, 1996 Atlanta Games, and 2000 Sydney Games.

 

 

Cary Kolat

Cary Kolat competed on the Penn State wrestling team from 1993 to 1994.  Wrestling in the 134 lb weight class, he finished second as a freshman at the 1993 NCAA Championships and third at thee 1994 NCAA Championships.  His career record at Penn State was 60-6 including 38-1 in his sophomore year.

He was successful at the international level as he won a silver medal at the 1997 World Championships, a bronze medal at the 1998 World Championships, and finished fourth at the 1999 World Championships.

Kolat was a member of the U.S. men’s wrestling team in the freestyle lightweight division at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

 

 

Bill Koll

Bill Koll was the head coach of the Penn State wrestling team from 1965 to 1978 and finished with a record of 127-22-7. He wrestled at Iowa State Teachers College (now Northern Iowa) and went undefeated (72-0) during his collegiate career, winning NCAA titles in 1946, 1947, and 1948. Koll was the first collegiate wrestler to be honored twice as the NCAA outstanding wrestler in his junior and senior years. He served in the Army from 1943 to 1945 and participated in the landings on Omaha Beach and was awarded the Bronze Star. Koll was elected to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1977.

Koll finished in fifth place at lightweight at the 1948 London Games.

 

 

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Dr. Paavo V. Komi

Paavo Komi was a graduate student at Penn State from 1967 and 1969 and received his PhD in biomechanics.

He was a Professor of Biomechanics at the University of Jyvaskla, Finland as the Head of the Department of Biology and Physical Activity and conducted research at the 1996 Atlanta Games, the 1998 Nagano Winter Games on ski jumping takeoffs, and the 2000 Sydney Games on pole vault kinematics. Komi received the Olympic Order Award in 2001.

 

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Joe Kovacs

Joe Kovacs was a member of the Penn State men’s track and field team from 2008 to 2012. He competed in the shot put and weight throws in the indoor seasons and the shot put, discus, and hammer during the outdoor seasons. Kovacs placed second in the shot put at the 2010 Big Ten Indoor Championships, then third at the NCAA Indoor Championships with the second-best mark in Penn State history. He finished third at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in a driving rain. Kovacs was a volunteer assistant coach in 2013 as he trained for national and international competitions.

He won a silver medal in the shot put at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro  and 2020 Tokyo Summer Games. Kovacs is participating in his third Olympics at the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

 

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Ali Krieger

Ali Krieger was a member of the Penn State women’s soccer team from 2003 to 2006. She helped lead team to the NCAA quarterfinals in 2003 and 2006 and was a first Team All-Big Ten selection in 2004, 2005, and 2006 and first-team NSCAA All-America in 2005 and 2006.  Krieger is the only Penn State player to be given All-America honors at two positions, midfielder, and defender.

She competed with the U.S. Women’s National Soccer team at the 2011, 2015, and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cups. Krieger suffered a serious knee injury and did not recover in time to be selected for the 2012 Olympic team but helped lead the U.S. women’s soccer team to fifth place at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

 

 

 

Young-Hoo Kwon

Young-Hoo Kwan was a graduate research student at Penn State in Exercise and Sport Science from 1988 to 1993 who worked with Professor Virginia Fortney on research and analysis of Olympics men’s vaulting.

He attended the 1992 Barcelona Olympics as a computer specialist and researcher on gymnasts and track and field athletes and continued his research as a faculty member from Japan at 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics on short track speed skating.

 

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Christine Larson-Mason

Chris Larson competed on the Penn State field hockey and women’s lacrosse teams from 1974 to 1977.  She led the field hockey team with seventeen goals in her senior year and finished her career as the second leading scorer with twenty-eight goals in fifty-one games.

Larson first tried out for the Olympic field hockey team in 1976 and competed on the National Field Hockey team until the 1984 Olympics. After her playing career ended, she served as the women’s lacrosse and field hockey coach at Williams College from 1980 to 1982, then 1984 to 1999 with a record of 198-59-10.

Larson was named to the Women’s Olympic Field Hockey team for the 1980 Moscow Olympics but did not participate due to the U.S. boycott. She was able to compete at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games with fellow Penn Staters Char Morett and Brenda Stauffer and helped the U.S. team win the bronze medal.

 

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Bobby Lea

Bobby Lea competed on the Penn State Lehigh Valley cycling squad and graduated in 2006.

He was a member of the U.S. men’s track cycling team at the 2008 Beijing Games, competing in the men’s individual points race and the men’s Madison race with fellow Penn Stater Mike Friedman and in the Men’s Omnium at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Games.

 

 

 

 

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Eddie Lovett

Eddie Lovett served as a volunteer assistant coach for the Penn State men’s and women’s track and field teams from 2015 to 2018. He won the 110-meter hurdles representing the U.S. at the 2011 Pan American Junior Championships and on the 100-meter hurdles representing the U.S. Virgin Islands at the NACAC Under-23 Championships.

Lovett competed in the 110-meter hurdles for the U.S. Virgin Islands at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

 

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Dr. John A. Lucas

John A. Lucas devoted a half-century of service to both Penn State and the Olympic movement. Lucas came to Penn State after completing a Ph.D. at Maryland, taking over as the Nittany Lions track and field coach and cross-country coach and teaching as a professor in the Department of Kinesiology. He coached until 1968, when he stepped down to focus full-time on his faculty position.

Lucas first attended the Olympics in 1960, when he served as a track and field coach for the Turkish national team. He later served as the official historian of the International Olympic Committee beginning at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and was designated an Honored IOC Lecturer in 1991.

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Andrew Mackiewicz

Andrew Mackiewicz competed on the Penn State men’s fencing team from 2014 to 2018. He was the NCAA champion in sabre in his freshman and sophomore years of 2015 and 2016. Mackiewicz finished his career with a 128-38 record as he qualified for the NCAA Championships all four years.

Mackiewicz was successful internationally as he won a team bronze medal at the Junior World Championships in 2014 and an individual silver medal at the 2012 Cadet Worlds.

Mackiewicz was named to for the men’s sabre team by earning three top-64 finishes during the Olympic qualifying period that began in May 2019 as well as a top-32 finish at the Cairo World Cup.

 

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Carl Madera

Carl Madera was a member of the Penn State boxing team from 1922 to 1926 and briefly played football in 1922 before breaking his leg during the Harvard game. He was captain of the 1924 boxing team.

Madera was selected as an alternate in the heavyweight division on the U.S. boxing team at the 1924 Paris Olympics.

 

 

 

 

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Timothy McClung

Tim McClung attended Penn State from 1985 to 1988 and received his degree in Meteorology.

He worked for the National Weather Service as a forecaster and served on the Olympic Weather Support Team for the 1996 Atlanta Games, providing weather information to the Olympic operations center and the media.

 

 

 

 

 

Suzie McConnell

Suzie McConnell played point guard for the Penn State women’s basketball team from 1985 to 1988. She completed her Nittany Lions career as the NCAA Division I record holder for season assist average, total assists in a season, and career assists. Penn State reached the NCAA Tournament all four years that McConnell spent in State College.

McConnell was named to the U.S. Olympic basketball team for the 1988 Seoul Olympics. McConnell played at point guard in all five American victories en route to the gold medal, averaging 8.4 points and 2.2 assists in 18.6 minutes per game. McConnell also featured on the 1992 women’s team that took bronze in Barcelona after a semifinal upset against the Unified Team comprised of the remnants of the Soviet Union.

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Kerry McCoy

Kerry McCoy competed on the Penn State wrestling team from 1992 to 1995, then took a year off to train and compete in the 1996 Olympics, then returned for his senior year.  He qualified to the NCAA Championships all four years of his collegiate career, winning two titles at heavyweight in his sophomore year when he went 47-0 and his senior year when he went 41-0.  McCoy won 88 straight matches at one point, which was the fourth longest in NCAA history at that point.  He finished his career with a 150-18 record, only losing once in his three final years.  McCoy won the Hodge Trophy in 1997 as the nation’s top wrestler.

After graduating, he served as a Penn State assistant coach from 1997 to 2000, then moved onto Stanford and Maryland as a head coach for many years.  He also competed on the U.S. National Wrestling Team for nine years and won silver medal at heavyweight in 2003.  McCoy is ranked number 50 in the Penn State Top 100 Athletes as of 2020.

He wrestled in the freestyle super-heavyweight class, finishing fifth at the 2000 Atlanta Games and seventh at the 2004 Athens Games.

 

Erin McLeod

Erin McLeod was a member of the Penn State women’s soccer team in 2004 and 2005 after playing her first two years at Southern Methodist. She was Penn State’s second goalkeeper to earn All-American honors and was a first-team All-Big Ten selection as she finished second in the nation with a 0.43 goals-against average in her junior year. McLeod posted a 17-2-1 record with 11 shutouts and set a school record with 857 consecutive shutout minutes over eight matches that stretched from October 1 to November 5 in 2004. She had a record of 22-0-2 with 9 shutouts in her senior year and set a new school mark with a .957 winning percentage.

McLeod competed for Canadian women’s soccer team as the starting goalkeeper in the 2008 Beijing Games and won a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics. She was selected as an alternate for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games.

 

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Bill Meade

Bill Meade competed on the Penn State gymnastics team from 1947 to 1949 and helped lead Penn State to the NCAA Championship in 1948.  Meade was the Eastern Intercollegiate tumbling champion in 1949.

After graduation, Meade started the University of North Carolina gymnastics program and was the head coach from 1949 to 1956.  He moved on to Southern Illinois where he coached from 1957 to 1986, leading the team to four NCAA Championships and five second place finishes.  Meade coached four Olympians, fifty-five All-Americans, and two Nissen Award (top men’s gymnast) winners.  He was elected to the Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1974.

Meade served as the manager of the U.S. men’s gymnastics team at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.  He was named an assistant coach for the 1980 Moscow Olympics but did not attend due to the U.S. boycott.  After Bill retired from coaching, he was retained by the USA Gymnastics National Governing Body to serve as a supervisor of podium construction for some 40 international events including the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

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Charles “Chuck” Medlar

Charles “Chuck” Medlar followed a winding path during and in between his time at Penn State.  He competed on the football, basketball, and baseball teams from 1938 to 1941.  Medlar left Penn State to play baseball in the Detroit Tiger’s minor league system, then served in the Navy during World War II.  He returned to finish his Penn State degree in 1946.  Medlar joined the athletic training staff shortly after graduation and was on the staff until 1977.  He was an assistant coach on the baseball team before becoming head coach from 1963 to 1981. Medlar finished his head coaching career with a record of 312-141-6 in his 19 years and his team made the College World Series twice, in 1963 and 1973.  He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Training Hall of Fame in 2000 for his long and illustrious service to the profession.  The baseball field at Lubrano Park is named for Chuck Medlar.

Medlar participated as a trainer in three Olympic Games: 1952 Helsinki, 1964 Tokyo, and 1968 Mexico City, where he was the head trainer for the U.S. team.

 

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Dane Miller

Dane Miller was a member of the Penn State men’s track and field team from 2004 to 2007 in the shot put and discus events. His best finish was third place in the shot put at the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Regionals.

Miller served as a coach for the American Samoa track and field team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics which were postponed until 2021 due to the global pandemic.  He is participating in his second Olympics as a personal coach at the 2024 Paris Games.

 

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Sayers J. “Bud” Miller

Sayers “Bud” Miller was a professor in the Kinesiology Department from 1975 to 1981.  He started Penn State’s Athletic Training option in Kinesiology in 1975.

Miller was selected as a trainer for the U.S. Olympic team for the 1980 Moscow Games but did not participate due to the U.S. boycott.

 

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Sayers Miller III

Sayers Miller III graduated from Penn State with a B.S. in Health and Physical Education in 1980 and earned a Ph.D. in Kinesiology from Penn State in 2001. He is an Associate Teaching Professor in Kinesiology.

Miller was a trainer for the U.S. freestyle skiing team at the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics.

 

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Frank Molinaro

Frank Molinaro was a member of the Penn State wrestling team from 2008 to 2012.  He helped team win NCAA championships during his junior and senior seasons in 2011 and 2012 and was undefeated at 33-0 and won the NCAA championship at 149 pounds during his senior season, finishing his collegiate career as a four time All-American.

Molinaro competed on the U.S. Freestyle National team in 2014 and from 2016 to 2019.  He was successful at the Pan American Games, winning a bronze medal in 2014 and a gold medal in 2016. He finished fifth in the freestyle welterweight division for the U.S. wrestling team at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

 

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Charles Moore

Charles Moore attended Penn State from 1922 to 1926 and ran the sprint events on the track and field team.  He helped set a school record in the 1 ½ mile relay with fellow Olympian Alan Helffrich during the 1923 season and helped win the sprint medley relay at the 1924 Penn Relays with fellow Olympians Alan Helffrich and Schuyler Enck.  Moore was the captain of the team in his sophomore and junior years.

Moore was selected to compete with the U.S. track and field team in the hurdles at the 1924 Paris Games but was not permitted to run when the French committee objected on a technicality.

 

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Connie Moore

Connie Moore was a member of the Penn State women’s track and field team from 2001 to 2004. Moore is one of the most decorated sprinters in Penn State history with seven All-American honors. She was the first Penn Stater to earn indoor All-America honors in sprinting events in 2001. Moore won the 100-meter race at the Big Ten Championships in 2002 and 2003 and held six records when she graduated in 2004.

She helped the U.S. women’s 4×100-meter team to win the gold medal at the 2003 Pan American Games and won the 200-meter at the 2010 U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Moore was named to the 4×100-meter U.S. women’s relay team but did not compete at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

 

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Ed Moran

Ed Moran attended Penn State from 1956 to 1959 and competed on the cross-country and track and field teams, serving as the captain of the track and field team during his senior year.  He set school records in the 880-yard and mile runs in the 1959 season.

Moran was named as an alternate to the U.S. men’s track and field team for the 1960 Rome Olympic Games.

 

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Shawn Morelli

Shawn Morelli completed a bachelor’s degree in history from Penn State-Behrend in 1998. During her time at Behrend, Morelli competed on the women’s soccer team and played softball during her senior year. After her college days, Morelli was commissioned as an engineer officer in the U.S. Army. Permanently injured by an improvised explosive device during a deployment in Afghanistan in 2007, Morelli started riding a bicycle as a form of physical and mental therapy.

At the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Morelli won two gold medals in the C4 3km pursuit event and C4-5 road race and won a gold medal in the C4 time trial, along with a silver in the C4 3km pursuit at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics which were postponed until 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.  Morelli is competing in her third Paralympics at the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

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Char Morett

Char Morett competed on the women’s field hockey team and lacrosse teams from 1975 to 1979.  She played on the 1978 and 1979 U.S. Women’s Lacrosse Association (USWLA) National champion teams and named MVP at 1979 championships.  Morett is Penn State’s only three time All-American in field hockey and scored most goals in school history with 50 by the end of her senior year.

After graduation, was served as a graduate assistant helping the Penn State field hockey team to the AIAW finals and lacrosse team to national championship in 1980.  Her first head coaching position was at Boston College from 1984 to 1986 where she finished with 34-16-8 record.  She returned to Penn State as the head coach of the field hockey team in 1987 and has compiled a record of 503-206-8 with the Nittany Lions through the 2020 season.  Morett is fifth all time with 544 wins and only one of six coaches with more than 400 career victories.

Morett was selected to the U.S. women’s field hockey team for the 1980 Moscow Olympics but did not participate due to the U.S. boycott of the Moscow Games.  She helped lead the U.S. women’s field hockey team win a bronze medal at 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and her 1984 Olympic field hockey team was elected to the National Field Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014.

 

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Carmelina Moscato

Carmelina Moscato competed on the women’s soccer team from 2002 to 2005. She was also a member of the Canadian National women’s soccer team from 2001 to 2015. Moscato took time off from Penn State during the 2003 season to play for Canada at the FIFA Women’s World Cup which placed fourth. She scored seven goals and led the team with ten assists in her senior year.

Moscato played on the Under-19 Canadian national team that advanced to the 2002 FIFA U-19 Women’s World Cup championship game. Moscato later played in three FIFA Women’s World Cups. After her playing days, she served as commissioner of the semi-pro League1 Ontario before becoming the Director of Women’s Football for the Bahamas Football Association.

Moscato helped the Canadian women’s soccer team to a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics.

 

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Alyssa Naeher

Alyssa Naeher was a member of the Penn State women’s soccer team from 2006 to 2009. She was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in 2007 and a first-team Big Ten and All-American in 2007 and 2008.

After graduation, she played professionally in the U.S. and Germany and for the U.S. Women’s National Team. She was the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. team that won the gold medal at the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in 2008 and she played every minute and recorded four shutouts during the run to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup title.

Naeher was the backup goalkeeper for the U.S. women’s soccer team at the 2016 Rio Olympics and helped lead the team to a bronze medal as the starting goalkeeper at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed until 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.  She was named to her third Olympic team as the back up goalie for the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

 

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Katsutoshi Naito

Katsutoshi Naito enrolled at Penn State in 1921 on a foreign student scholarship as the school’s first Japanese student. Earning a spot on the wrestling team as a junior, Naito finished second at the 135-pound weight class in his first year of varsity competition. Selected as captain of the team in his senior season, Naito finished undefeated with only one draw and became the first Japanese wrestler to win the intercollegiate championship.

Naito was selected as one of three wrestlers to compete for Japan at the 1924 Paris Olympics, becoming the Penn Stater to compete for a country other than the United States at the Olympic Games. He became the first Olympic medalist from Japan when he earned a bronze medal in freestyle wrestling.

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Stephen Nedoroscik

Stephen Nedoroscik competed on the pommel horse for the men’s gymnastics team from 2017 to 2020.  He was a three-time All-American, winning the NCAA championship in 2017 and 2018 and finished second in 2019.   Nedoroscik was named the Nissen Emery Award winner as the men’s best collegiate gymnast in 2020.

He joined the U.S. National team in 2019, winning the pommel horse at the 2021 World Championships and helped the team to win the 2023 Pan American Games competition.  Nedoroscik was the last competitor of the men’s team event and solidified the U.S. third place finish at the 2024 Paris Summer Games, which was the first medal for the team since the 2008 Beijing Games.  He also won a bronze medal in the individual event finals.

Dr. Richard C. Nelson

Richard Nelson began his career at Penn State in 1964 as an associate professor in Exercise and Sports Science and retired in 1994. He established the Biomechanics Laboratory in 1967 and helped establish the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB) at Penn State in 1973.  Nelson and the Biomechanics Lab worked with the National Hockey League to create a system to measure the hardest shot at the All-Star Game skills competition.  After his retirement, Nelson joined the field of forensic biomechanics and was an expert witness in over 500 court cases involving personal injuries.

Nelson worked behind the scenes for various sports at five different Olympic Games. He attended the 1984 Los Angeles Games, conducting research and analysis on gymnasts, the 1988 Calgary Winter Games, for research and analysis on cross country skiers, the 1992 Barcelona Games conducting research and analysis on swimmers by coordinating the video all the swimmers for use in research on improving elite swimming techniques, the 1998 Nagano Winter Games, for research and analysis on cross country skiers, and the 2000 Sydney Games as member of the medical commission. Nelson was also a member of the Sub-Commission on Biomechanics and Physiology of the IOC Medical Commission.

 

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Kirsten Nieuwendam

Kirsten Nieuwendam was a member of the Penn State women’s track and field team from 2011 to 2013.  She was accomplished sprinter as she competed indoors in the 60-meter, 200-meter, 400-meter, and 4×400-meter relay and outdoors in the 100-meter, 200-meter, 400-meter, 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relays during her Penn State career.  Nieuwendam was named as a second team All-America as part of the 4×400-meter relay squad at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Championships and advanced to the NCAA Championship quarterfinals in the 200-meter.

Nieuwendam competed for Suriname in two Olympic Games. She ran the 200-meter and 400-meter at the 2008 Beijing Games and in the 200-meter and was the flagbearer at the closing ceremony at the 2012 London Games.

 

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Hachiro Oishi

Hachiro Oishi was an assistant coach on the Penn State wrestling team from 1983 to 1999.  He coached ten national champions, 62 All-Americans and two Olympians during his tenure and was Named National Wrestling Coaches’ Association Assistant Coach of the Year in 1993.

Oishi was named as an alternate on the Japanese wrestling team for the 1972 Munich Olympics.

 

 

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Kurt Oppelt

Kurt Oppelt first participated in the Olympics in 1952 in Oslo. There, Oppelt finished 11th in the men’s figure skating competition and ninth with partner Sissy Schwarz in the pairs competition. Four years later in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Schwarz and Oppelt took gold in a controversial finish in the pairs event ahead of defending Olympic champions Frances Dafoe and Norris Bowden.

Following his gold-medal performance in Italy, Oppelt relocated to the United States and made his way to State College in 1967. Oppelt wore many hats while in University Park, not all of them involved with figure skating. The Austrian served as a skating instructor, but he also filled the role of freshman soccer coach from 1968 to 1970. Oppelt served as director of the Penn State Ice Skating Club and director of the therapeutic skating program on campus.

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Garland O’Quinn

Garland O’Quinn attended Penn State as a graduate student from 1969 to 1971, earning his PhD in Physical Education.  He competed for the U.S. Military Academy and Southern Illinois before coming to Penn State. O’Quinn helped the U.S. Men’s gymnastics team win the gold medal and he won an individual bronze medal at the 1959 Pan American Games. He was inducted into the U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1995.

O’Quinn competed for the U.S. men’s gymnastics team in the individual all-around and helped the team to a fifth-place finish at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games.

 

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Dick Packer

Dick Packer played on the Penn State men’s soccer team from 1953 to 1955, leading the team as recognized national champion in 1954 and co-champion in 1955.  He was honored as an All-American in 1954 and 1955.  His 24 goals in 1955 are still a school record and he is the second leading scorer in Penn State men’s soccer history with 53 goals in his career.  Packer was a great athlete as he also played baseball in his freshman and sophomore years before deciding to only play soccer.

Packer was a member of the U.S. men’s soccer team at the 1956 Melbourne Games, the only collegiate member of the team.

 

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Nonpatat Panchan

Nonpatat Panchan was a member of the men’s fencing team from 2000 to 2003.  He finished second in the NCAA championships in his freshman year and won NCAA titles in 2002 and 2003. Panchan had a career record of 82-17 in foil.

Panchan competed for Thailand in the men’s individual foil tournament at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

 

 

 

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Suzanne Paxton

 

Suzanne Paxton was a member of the Penn State women’s fencing team from 1988 to 1992.  She was an All-American in the foil in 1991 and finished in third place at the 1992 NCAA Championships.  She helped Penn State win the team titles at the 1992 and 1993 NCAA Championships and finished with a career record of 123-23.

Paxton competed on the U.S. fencing team at the World Championships in 1993 and 1995. She competed on the U.S. women’s fencing team in the individual and team foil events at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

 

 

 

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Jerome Perry

Jerome Perry attended Penn State from 1947 to 1951. He was a long-time member of USA Track and Field and the Athletics Congress, officiating many local, regional, national, and international track meets.

Perry participated as an official starter in the track events at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

 

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Gayle Bodin Plant

 

Gayle Bodin Plant attended Penn State from 1976 to 1980 in journalism and was on the 1977 and 1978 women’s track and field teams.

She joined the United States Olympic Committee in 1983 and served as the senior coordinator of public information and media relations for the USOC at the 1984 Los Angeles, 1988 Calgary, and 1988 Seoul Olympics.

 

 

 

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Mark Powell

Mark Powell was an undergraduate from 1975 to 1978 and received a degree in Meteorology.

As National Weather Service forecaster, Mark served on Olympic Weather Support Team for the Atlanta Games, providing weather information to the Olympic operations center and the media.

 

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Margot Putukian

 

Margot Putukian was an athletic team physician from 1994 to 2004, then moved on to Princeton as their director of athletic medicine from 2005 to 2021.  She played soccer at Yale as an undergraduate and was one of the all-time leading scorers in school history despite numerous injuries throughout her collegiate career. 

 Margot has served at the national level as the team physician for USA lacrosse from 2010 to 2018 and currently is the team physician for USA soccer (since 1994), the Chief Medical Officer of Major League Soccer since 2018, and a member of the Head, Neck and Spine Committee for the NFL. 

 She was a volunteer team physician for Team USA at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics. 

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Jill Radzinski

Jill Radzinski played defense and was a two-year starter on the field hockey team from 1985 to 1988.

She currently works full-time for US Ski and Snowboard.

Jill served as the head trainer the US women’s ice hockey team at the 2010 Vancouver and 2014 Torino Winter Games and was part of the medical staff for the US halfpipe ski team at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

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Romel Raffin

Romel Raffin competed on the Penn State men’s basketball team from 1974 to 1976. He played on the Canadian national basketball team during his summers away from campus. Raffin averaged eight points and six rebounds as the starting center in his junior year before an ankle injury suffered in January forced him to miss the rest of the season. He left Penn State before his senior season to play professionally in Italy.

Raffin competed on the Canadian men’s basketball team in three Olympic Games: 1976 Montreal, where the team finished in fourth place; 1984 Los Angeles, where the team again finished in fourth place; and 1988 Seoul, where the team finished sixth.

 

 

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Tommy Ramos

Tommy Ramos was a member of the men’s gymnastics team from 2005 to 2008.  He earned All-America honors on the still rings and parallel bars at the 2006 NCAA Championships and All-America honors on the still rings, parallel bars, and high bar, helping to win the team title at the 2007 NCAA Championships.

Ramos finished in sixth place for Puerto Rico on the still rings in the men’s individual competition at the 2012 London Olympics.

 

 

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Maggie Redden

Maggie Redden attended Penn State from 2003 to 2007.  She began competing in the Junior National Wheelchair Championships when she was five years old and was on her high school track and field team all four years.  Redden was on the junior national team that traveled to Australia in 2003 and won silver medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter at the 2007 Parapan Games.  She is a certified scuba diver and ski instructor.

Redden competed in the women’s 100-meter T53 race and women’s 200-meter T53 race at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

 

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William Reilly

Bill Reilly competed on the Penn State men’s track and field team from 1965 to 1967 after transferring from Villanova after his freshman year.  He was co-captain and set a school record in the three-mile run in his senior year.  He won the 3000-meter steeplechase at the 1970 AAU Championships.

Reilly was a member of the U.S. men’s track and field team at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and competed in the 3000-meter steeplechase.

 

 

 

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Paul Rekers

Paul Rekers attended Penn State from 1927 to 1931 and competed on the cross-country and track and field teams all four years of his collegiate career.  He helped the cross-country team win the NCAA Championships in his sophomore and senior years and was the captain of the cross-country team in his senior year.

Rekers qualified for the 5000-meter final at the 1932 Los Angeles Games but did not finish the race.

 

 

 

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Zane Retherford

Zane Retherford was on the wrestling team from 2013 to 2018 as he red-shirted his sophomore year.  He finished his career with a 126-3 record and was undefeated in his final three years.  Retherford was a two-time Hodge Trophy winner as the best collegiate wrestler in 2017 and 2018, won three NCAA championships (2016, 2017, 2018), and was a four-time All-American.

He competed internationally while in high school and college, then joined the U.S. National Team in 2019.  Retherford was a 2022 World silver medalist, a three-time Senior World Team member (2017, 2019, 2022), and the 2023 Pan American Championships champion.  He won the 65kg weight class event at the U.S. Olympic Trials to qualify for the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

Melissa Rodriguez

Melissa Rodriguez swam for Penn State from 2016 through 2020, specializing in breaststroke events. She holds Mexican national records at multiple distances and remains the Penn State record holder in the 200-meter breaststroke.

Rodriguez was selected by the Mexican national team to swim the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke events.

 

 

 

 

 

Jenny Rizzo

Jenny Rizzo was a goalie on the field hockey team from 2015 to 2018.  She compiled a 54-23 record and helped the team to three NCAA appearances during her career

She was named an alternate on the U.S. women’s field hockey team for the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

Sue Rojcewicz

Sue Rojcewicz attended Penn State as a graduate student and was an assistant women’s basketball coach in the 1975-1976 season.

She helped guide the U.S. women’s basketball team to a silver medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, the first time that women were represented from the U.S. in basketball.

 

 

 

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John Romig

John Romig competed on the Penn State track and field team in long distance running from 1920 to 1922 and competed on the cross-country team during his junior and senior years and captained the team in 1922.  He was the inaugural NCAA champion in the two-mile run in 1921. Romig set a Penn State record in the two-mile run during his senior year and was named as an AAU All-American for the 1922 indoor track and field team.

Romig finished fourth in the 5000-meter run at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games and ran in the 10,000 meter run at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games but did not finish the race.

 

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Aaron Russell

Aaron Russell started as an outside hitter on the Penn State men’s volleyball team from 2012 to 2014. He was named first-team All-EIVA in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and an AVCA First Team All-American in 2013 and 2014. Russell finished his collegiate career second on the all-time list for service aces with 136.

Russell teamed with fellow Penn Stater’s Matt Anderson and Max Holt to lead the men’s volleyball team to a bronze medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics.  He was an alternate for the 2021 Tokyo Games and was selected to participate in the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

 

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Gerald F. Russell

Gerald Russell served in the Marines in the south Pacific during World War II, was wounded in the Battle of Guadalcanal and fought all thirty-six days in the Battle of Iwo Jima. He was the commander at Guantanamo Bay during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Russell came to Penn State in 1968 as a speech writer and assistant secretary to the Board of Trustees and became the Associate Dean of the College of Health, Physical Education and Recreation from 1977 to 1987.

Russell was involved in the Olympic Games at two points in his life. He was named an alternate on the U.S. men’s track and field team in the 800-meter run for the 1940 Tokyo Olympics which were cancelled due to World War II. Later in the 1960s, he served as a member of the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Committee and served as a military representative at the 1968 Mexico City Games.

 

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Shane Ryan

Shane Ryan was a member of the men’s swim team from 2012 to 2016. He won Swimmer of the Big Ten Championships in his sophomore year after winning the 100-meter freestyle and the 100-meter backstroke. Ryan earned All-American honorable mention as a member of the program record-setting 400-meter medley relay team at the NCAA championships in 2014, then earned All-American honors after finishing in second in the 100-meter backstroke and fourth in the 100-meter freestyle at the 2014 NCAA Championships. In 2015, Ryan earned first-team All-American honors after finishing third in the 100-meter backstroke at the 2015 NCAA championships.

Ryan competed for Ireland at the 2016 Rio Olympics and was first Penn State swimmer to advance out of preliminaries, placing sixteenth in the 100-meter backstroke and advanced to the semifinals with a fourteenth-place finish in the quarterfinals. Ryan represented Ireland again at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 100m butterfly and 4×200 freestyle relay.  He is participating in his third at the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

 

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Cael Sanderson

Cael Sanderson has been coach of the wrestling team since 2010 with a record of 146-14-2 through the 2021 season.  He led Penn State to eight straight NCAA Championships in nine years from 2011 to 2019.  Sanderson has coached 79 All-Americans and 27 NCAA champions to this point in his career.

Sanderson won the gold medal in the light heavyweight wrestling division at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He is the personal coach for personal coach for former Penn State wrestler David Taylor and Nittany Lion Wrestling Club members Thomas Gilman and Kyle Snyder at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

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Cody Sanderson

Cody Sanderson wrestled collegiately at 133 lbs, at Iowa State and finished his career with 116 wins. Sanderson finished second at the NCAA championships in 1999 and 2000, helping Iowa State in second place in 2000.

His coaching career as an administrative assistant at Iowa State from 2001 to 2003. He moved to Utah Valley State where started the program in 2003. He moved back to Iowa State as an associate head coach, then came to Penn State with his brother Cael in 2009 and has served as the associate head coach for the last thirteen years.

Sanderson is the personal coach for Nittany Lion Wrestling Club member Thomas Gilman at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

 

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Michael A. Sands

Mike Sands competed on the Penn State men’s track and field team from 1973 to 1975 and was the first Penn State individual champion at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a victory in the 440-yard dash in 1975 in 45.2 seconds, a Penn State record that still stands.

Sands was the opening ceremony flagbearer for the Bahamian Olympic team at the 1972 Munich and 1976 Montreal Olympic Games.  He competed in three events in 1972: the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 4×100 meter relay.  Sands also competed in three events in 1976: the 100 meters, 400 meters and the 4×100 meter relay, but the team did not start the race.  He served as the manager of the Bahamian track and field team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

 

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Joseph R. Scalzo, Jr.

Joe Scalzo competed on the Penn State wrestling team from 1937 to 1941 and was the honorary captain of the freshman team.  He finished in second place in his weight division at the 1939 NCAA Wrestling Championships, helping Penn State to a seventh-place finish with only three wrestlers.

Scalzo began his coaching career at the Toledo YMCA and lead his teams to undefeated seasons for a decade and won three national titles.  He became the first University of Toledo wrestling coach in 1950 and had a seventeen-year record of 106-32-2.

Scalzo was instrumental in bringing international wrestling to the United States when he organized the first two World Wrestling Championships held in the United States in 1962 and 1966.  He also founded the Freestyle World Cup event in Toledo and hosted the first thirteen World Cup events.  He was heavily involved in the international wrestling community as a referee, coach at more than one hundred continental and world championships.  He was inducted in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1987 and inducted into the United World International Wrestling Hall of Fame during the 2016 Rio Janeiro Olympic Games.

Scalzo participated in the most Olympic Games of any Penn Stater as a referee, coach, official, and administrator in six different Olympics: 1952 Helsinki, 1956 Melbourne, 1960 Rome, 1964 Tokyo, 1968 Mexico City, and 1976 Montreal.

 

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Robin Schafer

Robin Schafer attended Penn State from 1979 to 1983 as an Arts and Architecture student.

She served as an official massage therapist for the swimming events as sports massage therapy was included as an official part of the medical services for the first time at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

 

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Carl Schott

Carl Schott was the Dean of the School of Physical Education at Penn State from 1937 to 1952.  During his tenure, enrollment in the School of Physical Education doubled and facilities for instruction and intercollegiate and intramural athletics expanded greatly.  Schott served on many national athletic committees including the NCAA Council and Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), served as the President of the College Physical Education Association and was a member of the National Council on Physical Fitness.

Schott was a manager for the U.S. boxing team at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics and served on the U.S. Olympic Boxing Committee for the 1948 London Olympics.

 

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Jake Schrom

Jake Schrom started as an undergraduate at the Mont Alto campus from 2006 to 2008 then transferred to University Park where he graduated in 2011.  He lost his leg above the knee due to a truck crash in 2008.  Jake joined the Penn State Ability Athletes team and competed in field events and powerlifting.  He set a national record at his first throwing competition at the Myrtle Beach Southeast Regional Wheelchair Games in 2009.  Jake won a gold medal at the International Paralympic Powerlifting Championships in the Junior (Under 23) 90kg classification in 2010.

Jake was named to USA Paralympic powerlifting team for 2020 Tokyo Olympics which were delayed until 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  He lifted a personal best 480 lbs and finished sixth in his weight class.

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Karl Schwenzfeier (Schier)

Karl Schwenzfeier (Schier) competed on the Penn State gymnastics team from 1952 to 1955, helping to win two NCAA championships in 1953 and 1954, and a second-place finish in 1955.  He was the first gymnast to win the Eastern, NCAA and AAU all-around championships in the same year in 1955.  After graduation, Schwenzfeier spent six years flying in the Air Force Strategic Air Command, totaling 622 combat flying hours and earned the Distinguished Cross, a Bronze Star, and the Air Medal with seven Oak Leaf Clusters.  He returned to the Air Force Academy in 1970 as the men’s gymnastics coach and led the team to four NCAA championships in a row.  He compiled a 69-44-1 record at the Air Force Academy.  Schwenzfeier took over the Penn State program in 1977 from the legendary Gene Wettstone and had his teams qualify for the NCAA championships in every year except his first season.  He retired in 1991 with a 210-78 record at Penn State.  During his collegiate coaching tenure, he coached the U.S. men’s gymnastics team to a gold medal at the 1975 Pan American Games. He legally changed his name to Schier in 1982.

He was named as an alternate on the U.S. men’s gymnastics team at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, then served as an assistant coach of the U.S. men’s gymnastics team at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

 

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Edgar Seymour

Edgar Seymour was involved with the Pershing Rifles and Scabbard and Blade student organizations while at Penn State and graduated in 1938 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

He competed in the two-man bobsled with partner Art Tyler and finished in sixth place at the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympic Games.

Seymour became involved in gliding later in life and was inducted into the Soaring Hall of Fame in 1995.

 

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Ian Shelley

Ian Shelley competed on the Penn State men’s gymnastics team from 1984 to 1987.  He was the junior all-around champion in Great Britain in 1982 and 1983.

Shelley competed for Great Britain in the men’s gymnastics all-around event at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

 

 

 

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Larry Shields

Larry Shields competed for the Penn State track and field team and cross-country team in the early 1920s. Shields served as the captain for both teams during his senior season, and he set a school record in the mile run during his junior year.

Shields won a bronze medal in the 1500-meter race at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp. He was also a member of the U.S. 3000-meter relay team that earned gold, though he did not compete in the final. After graduating from Penn State in 1923, Shields spent four decades working in various capacities at Philips Andover Academy.

 

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Mike Shine

Mike Shine attended Penn State from 1972 to 1976 and competed on the men’s track and field team.  He set or helped set four outdoor school records at the 1973 Nittany Lion Invitational and was the co-captain of the team in his senior year.

He competed in several international meets in Europe in 1974 and 1975 to prepare for the upcoming Olympic Games.  Shine finished second in the 400-meter hurdles at the 1976 NCAA Championships as the Olympic Games drew closer.  He qualified for both the 110-meter and 400-meter hurdles at the Olympic Trials but chose not to run compete in the 110-meter hurdles after winning his spot with his placement in the 400-meter race.  He is listed number 17 on the Penn State Top 100 Athletes as of 2020.

Shine won a silver medal in the 400-meter hurdles, behind Edwin Moses, at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

 

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Michael Shuey

Michael Shuey competed on the Penn State men’s track and field team in the javelin from 2013 to 2015, and 2017. He won the Big Ten Outdoor title in 2014 and 2015 and finished in third at the 2017 NCAA Championships.

Shuey set the javelin school record at the 2014 NACAC Championships as a member of the USA team and finished third at USA Track and Field Championships in 2017. He placed second in the javelin at the US Olympic track and field trials and qualified for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

 

 

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Gerald Smith

Gerald Smith was a graduate student from 1987 to 1989 and received a PhD in sports biomechanics.

He conducted research on short track speed skaters at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.

 

 

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Ray Sorensen

Ray Sorensen competed on the Penn State men’s gymnastics team in 1943, then served in the military until 1947 when he returned to finish school in 1947 and 1948.  He was the NCAA champion on the parallel bars and the all-around in 1948.

Sorensen competed in the men’s individual all-around and helped the U.S. gymnastics team to a seventh-place finish with fellow Penn Staters Bill Bonsall, Lou Bordo, and coach Gene Wettstone at the 1948 London Olympics.

 

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Brenda Stauffer

Brenda Stauffer was a member of the Penn State field hockey team from 1978 to 1982.  She helped the team to win AIAW titles in 1981 and 1982, leading the nation in scoring with fifteen goals and thirty-one assists in 1981.  Stauffer was the Collegiate Player of the Year in 1982 and finished her career as the second leading scorer in Penn State history with forty-three goals and first in career assists with fifty-two.  She is ranked number 79 in the Penn State Top 100 Athletes as of 2020.

As the youngest member of the U.S. women’s field hockey team, she helped win the bronze medal with fellow Penn Staters Char Morett and Christine Larson at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

 

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Pete Steinberg

Pete Steinberg began his coaching career at Penn State as an assistant of the women’s rugby team from 1991 to 1995.  He was the head coach from 1995 to 2015, leading the team ten national championships in fifteen player rugby and another title in rugby sevens in 2015.

Steinberg was an assistant coach of the U.S. women’s rugby team at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

 

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Curt Stone

Curt Stone competed on the Penn State track and field team in long distance events in 1942 and 1943. He served in the Army Air Corp in England during World War II and returned to Penn State to compete again in 1946 and 1947.  He finished second at the 1946 NCAA Cross-Country Championships and competed on Penn State championship teams in 1945 and 1947.

Stone won thirteen AAU championships in distance running, including four consecutive titles in the 10,000 meters from 1951 to 1954 and three titles in the 5,000 meters in 1947, 1948, and 1952. He won gold medals at the 1951 Pan American Games in the 10,000 meters and 3000-meter steeplechase.

Stone competed in three different Olympic Games.  He finished sixth in the 5000 meters at the 1948 London Olympics, finished twentieth in the 10,000 meters at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, and finished seventh in his preliminary heat at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

 

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Thomas Strazlkowski

Thomas Strzalkowski competed on the Penn State men’s fencing team from 1990 to 1994.  He helped lead Penn State to the NCAA championship in 1991 and won the individual sabre titles at the 1991 and 1992 NCAA championships.  Strzalkowski was a second team All-America in 1991 and a first team All-American in 1992 and 1993.  He finished his career with a 109-10 record.  He is ranked number 57 on the Penn State Top 100 as of 2020.

Strzalkowski was a member of the U.S. men’s fencing team, competing in the individual and team sabre events at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

 

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Kaito Streets

Kaito Streets was a member of the Penn State men’s fencing team from 2012 to 2016. He was an All-American in 2014, 2015 and 2016 and was the NCAA Champion in sabre in 2014. Streets finished his career with a 124-55 record.

He was selected to compete on the Japanese men’s fencing team at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

 

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Arthur Studenroth

Arthur Studenroth attended Penn State from 1919 to 1921 and competed on the cross-country team in 1920.

He placed sixth in the individual cross-country race and helped the U.S. cross-country team win the silver medal at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games.

 

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Edward A. Sulkowski

Ed Sulkowski began his collegiate experience at the Penn State Altoona campus in 1941.  He left school to serve in the Army during World War II.  Sulkowski returned to Penn State in 1946 and graduated in 1949.  He began his training career while he was a student in 1948, as an assistant under trainer Chuck Medlar.  Sulkowski served on the Penn State training staff for football, boxing, wrestling, gymnastics, lacrosse, soccer, and track and field until his retirement in 1983.  He was the boxing coach from 1949 to 1954, when Penn State discontinued the sport at the varsity level.  While coaching the boxing team, Sulkowski was the Director of the NCAA Boxing Coaches Association from 1950 to 1953 and served as president of the organzation in 1954.  In addition to his coaching and training positions, he taught a full roster of physical education classes.  Sulkowski conducted boxing and training clinics throughout Europe and the Pacific during the 1950s.  He was elected to the Athletic Trainers Hall of Fame in 1975.

Sulkowski served as a member of the U.S. Olympic Boxing training staff at the 1972 Munich Olympics and the 1976 Montreal Olympics, helping train boxers Sugar Ray Leonard and Leon and Michael Spinks.

 

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Kevin Szott

Kevin Szott joined the Penn State football staff as a graduate assistant in 1987, earning a master’s degree in exercise physiology in 1989. He continued to work with the football team as a strength and conditioning coach through the 1996 season.

Szott is the only Paralympian to win medals in four different sports. He won gold medals in goalball and wrestling and a silver medal in the shot put at the 1984 Los Angeles Paralympics. Szott later focused on judo, winning a silver medal in Atlanta in 1996, a gold medal in Sydney in 2000, and a bronze medal at 41 years old in 2004.

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Lee Talbott

Lee Talbott attended Penn State from 1910 to 1911 and competed on the track and field team and wrestled at heavyweight.  He broke school records in the shot put and discus during the 1910 season. He also set a new collegiate record in the hammer throw with a toss of 173 feet 6 inches, beating the previous record of 164 feet 10 inches.  He attended Cornell before transferring to Penn State and won the AAU hammer throw in 1909 and the AAU 56-pound weight throw in 1909 and 1915.

Talbott competed in three different events at the 1908 London Olympics, track and field, wrestling, and the tug-of-war competition.  He threw in three events during the track and field competition, finishing in eighth in the shot put, in sixth in the discus, and in fifth in the hammer throw.  He finished in ninth place in the wrestling heavyweight division and helped the U.S. tug-of-war team finish in fifth place.

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Kevin Tan

Kevin Tan was a member of the men’s gymnastics team from 2001 to 2004.  He was the first freshman under coach Randy Jepson to earn All-America honors for the still rings.  Tan finished in second on the rings in the 2002 NCAA championships and won the rings titles at the 2003 and 2004 NCAA championships, helping to lead Penn State to the team championship in 2004.

Tan served as an assistant coach from 2005 to 2012 and continued has training for the U.S. National Team.  He qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was named captain of the team.  He competed in the individual all-around and helped the U.S. win the bronze medal in the team competition.

 

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David Taylor

David Taylor was one of the best Penn State wrestlers of all time from 2010 to 2014 and was a four time Big Ten champion and four-time All-American.  He won the NCAA Championship and was named the Hodge Trophy winner as the nation’s best wrestler in 2012 and 2014.  He helped lead the team to four straight NCAA titles during his career and finished with a 134-3 record.

As a member of the US National Men’s Wrestling Team, he finished third at the World University Games and US World Team Trials in 2013 and finished in second at the US World Team Trials in 2014 and 2017.  Taylor won the World Freestyle Wrestling Club Cup Championship and placed third at the US Olympic Team Trials in 2016.

He won the gold medal in the 86kg weight class, at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games.

 

 

 

 

Khalil Thompson

Khalil Thompson competed on the men’s fencing team from 2014 to 2016, posting a 55-19 record. He qualified for the NCAA tournament in both seasons.

Thompson was named an alternate on the U.S. men’s sabre team for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

 

 

 

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Cheickna Traore

Cheickna Traore competed at Division III Ramapo College in New Jersey before attending Penn State as a graduate student.  He is the Division III record holder in the indoor and outdoor 200m, and has some of the fastest times ever recorded in Division III in the outdoor 100m and 200m, and indoor 200m and 400m.  Traore won the 200m at the 2024 NCAA Championships, becoming Penn State’s first NCAA outdoor sprint champ since former Olympian Barney Ewell won two events at the 1941 championships.

Traore will represent the Ivory Coast (Cote de Ivoire) at the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

 

Katarzyna Trzopek

Katarzyna Trzopek was a member of the women’s fencing team from 2002 to 2006. She was the women’s epee NCAA champion in 2003 and 2006 and named an All-American in 2003, 2004 and 2006.  Trzopek finished her career with a 141-18 record.

Trzopek was a member of the U.S. women’s epee team that won the gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games. She helped the U.S. women’s fencing team to fifth place in the epee tournament at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

 

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Erin Tucker

Erin Tucker started his Penn State tenure as an assistant coach of the men’s and women’s track and field teams in 2015 and is still coaching sprints, hurdles and relays.  He was named 2017 Mid-Atlantic Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year for indoor track and helped coach the women’s team to the Big Ten Indoor Championship and Men’s Outdoor Championship in that same year. Tucker has coached ten Big Ten Conference champions and 21 All Big Ten Selections.

He was an assistant coach on the U.S. track and field team at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

 

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Luis Vargas

Luis Vargas competed on the men’s gymnastics team from 2003 to 2005 after transferring to Penn State from the University of Puerto Rico which did not have a men’s gymnastics team.  He earned All-America status on the high bar and parallel bars at the 2003 NCAA Championships.  Vargas was the 2004 NCAA all-around champion helping to lead Penn State to the team title and was the 2005 NCAA all-around champion.

He helped the Puerto Rican team finish in third place at the 2001 Pan American Games as he finished in third in the all-around and first on the pommel horse and third on the high bar.  Vargas won a silver medal at the 2003 Pan American Games.

Vargas was a member of the Puerto Rican Olympic team, competing in the men’s gymnastics all-around at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

 

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Armando J. Vega

Armando Vega competed on the men’s gymnastics team in 1956, 1957 and 1959, winning six NCAA titles including the all-around title in 1957 and 1959. In addition to his outstanding Penn State contributions, he won twenty-nine AAU medals from 1957 to 1964 which included twelve gold medals.

Vega began his coaching career with the Mexican men’s gymnastics team in preparation for the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. He was hired as the head coach at Division II Northwestern State in Louisiana, compiling a 43-3 record from 1968 to 1972.  With this success, Vega coached at LSU from 1972 to 1984 and won twelve consecutive league titles. He coached fifty-eight All-Americans, was named NCAA Coach of the Year in 1977 and 1978 and finished with a record of 162-51.

Vega competed in the men’s gymnastics all-around competition for the U.S. at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games and helped lead the team to a sixth-place finish.  He was named an alternate to the gymnastics team for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and served as a judge at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Vega was inducted into the U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1979.

 

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Kurt Vicker

Kurt Vicker graduated from Penn State Harrisburg in 1978.

He was a volunteer at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002, serving as a race official for the bobsled and skeleton competitions and a track sweeper for the luge competition.

 

 

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Margherita Guzzi Vincenti

Margherita Guzzi Vincenti competed on the women’s fencing team from 2009 to 2013 with a career record of 174-24 in epee.  She was a four-time All-American and won the NCAA championship in her freshman season, finished in the top five in her last three years.

After becoming a U.S. citizen in 2019, she joined the U.S. Fencing National team and won at the 2022 Pan American Games.  Guzzi Vincenti was selected to participate in the 2024 Paris Summer Games

Nick Vukmanic

Nick Vukmanic attended Penn State from 1936 to 1940 and competed on the track and field team all four years.  He was the captain of the freshman team and for the varsity team in his senior year.  He broke the school record in the javelin by nine feet at the 1939 Penn Relays.

Vukmanic was selected to the U.S. track and field team for the 1940 Tokyo Games that were cancelled due to World War II.

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Barry Walsh

Barry Walsh competed on the Penn State men’s track and field team from 1987 to 1990, winning the decathlon at the 1988 IC4A championships.  He earned medals at the European and World Junior Championships.

Walsh competed for Ireland in the decathlon at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

 

 

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Erica Walsh Dambach

Erica Walsh Dambach has been the head coach of the women’s soccer team since 2007, with a record of 228-74-1 through the 2021 season.  Her teams have won eleven Big Ten regular season championships and four Big Ten tournament titles.  Walsh guided Penn State to the NCAA championship in 2015 and finished as runner up in 2012.  She was four-time Big Ten Coach of the Year and the National Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2015.  Her teams have claimed ten Big Ten Championships and made sixteen NCAA Tournament appearances.

Walsh was an assistant coach for the U.S. National Team in 2008 and helped coach team to win gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  Her main responsibility was team defense, which held Brazil scoreless in the gold medal final. She has been named as an assistant coach at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

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Haleigh Washington

Haleigh Washington competed on the women’s volleyball team from 2014 to 2017. She helped the team win the NCAA championship in her freshman year and was on two other teams that advanced to the Final Four. Washington was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, hitting .463 and honored as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the year, leading the NCAA with a .503 hitting percentage as a senior. She finished her career in second in career hitting percentage with a .458 average and seventh in total blocks with 580. She was selected as an All-American in 2015, 2016, and 2017.

She has competed on Team USA since 2018 and helped lead the team to a gold medal at the 2018 Pan American Cup. Washington helped the U.S. to win its first gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed until 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.  She is competing in the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

 

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Alexander Weber

Alexander Weber competed on the Penn State men’s fencing team from 2001 to 2003 and was captain during his junior year.  He was an All-American in 2002 and 2003.

Weber helped Germany win a bronze medal in the men’s fencing team sabre competition at the 2003 World Championships. He was a member of the German men’s fencing team and helped win a bronze medal in the team sabre competition at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

 

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Gregor Weiss

Greg Weiss competed on the men’s gymnastics team from 1960 to 1962 and won the NCAA gymnastics all-around title in 1961.  Before attending Penn State, he won gold medals in the team competition and pommel horse and silver medals in the parallel bars and vault at the 1959 Pan American Games.

After graduation, Weiss joined the Air Force and continued his gymnastics career, serving as a gymnastics coach at the Air Force Academy and winning AAU titles on the pommel horse in 1963 and the parallel bars in 1966 and was a member of the U.S. team at the 1966 World Championships.  He was inducted into the U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1991.  His son, Michael, competed in men’s figure skating at the 1998 Nagano and 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games.

Weiss was a member of the U.S. men’s gymnastics team at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, competing in the individual all-around and helping the U.S. men’s team to a seventh-place finish.

 

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Rich Weiss

Rich Weiss was a graduate student from 1987 to 1989 and received a master’s degree in hydrogeology.

He competed in the kayaking slalom event at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics.  Rich placed sixth in kayaking slalom at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics and was named Kayak Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

 

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Christie Welsh

Christie Welsh was a member of the Penn State women’s soccer team from 1999 to 2002 and one of the most decorated Penn State athletes of all time.  She was an All-American, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, All Big Ten and Big Ten Player of the Year and helped lead the team to its first NCAA Final Four appearance in her freshman season in 1999.  In 2001, she was the Penn State Athlete of the Year, a First Team All American, the Big Ten Player of the Year, a First Team All-Big Ten, and the runner-up for the Hermann Trophy for 2000-01.  Welsh was Penn State’s first ever winner of the Hermann Trophy, the best soccer player in the nation, was a first Team All American, First Team All-Big Ten, Honda Sports Award Nominee in 2001.  She led the Big Ten in every offensive category and broke the conference career records for goals (69), assists (39), points (177) and game winning goals (22) in 2001.  Welsh finished her career with 82 goals, 42 assists, 216 points, and 431 shots on goal.

She served as a volunteer assistance coach from 2004 to 2006 and played on the U.S. Women’s National Team, scoring her first ten goals faster than any other player in American soccer history.

Welsh was named as an alternate to the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

 

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Charles D. “Chick” Werner

Charles “Chick” Werner was coach of the cross-country and track and field teams from 1933 to 1962. During his tenure at Penn State, he coached eight Olympians and seven NCAA individual champions.

As a lieutenant commander in the Navy during World War II, he served as a coach and physical training instructor from 1942 to 1945. Werner traveled to Europe, Asia, and Australia after the war to conduct athletic clinics.  He served as the head coach of the U.S. track and field team at the 1959 Pan American Games.

Werner competed at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in the high hurdles for the 1928 Amsterdam Games but did not qualify.  He finally participated in the Olympics as an assistant coach of the U.S. track and field team at the 1952 Helsinki Games with Horace and Bill Ashenfelter and Curt Stone.

 

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Eugene Wettstone

Eugene Wettstone built a legendary career at Penn State and is remembered as the “Dean of College Gymnastics.” Between his arrival at the school in 1939 and his retirement in 1976, Wettstone’s Nittany Lions teams had captured nine NCAA team championships—a record that still stands as of 2021. Penn State gymnasts won 25 individual titles under Wettstone’s tutelage, and he coached nine Olympic athletes during his tenure and three Nissen Award winners as the male college gymnast of the year. Wettstone was also instrumental in relaunching the Nittany Lion mascot for Penn State athletics, wearing the costume himself in 1939 before students took over the role.

Wettstone first became involved with the Olympics in 1948 when he was named the coach of the U.S. gymnastics team for the London Olympics. Four years later, Wettstone returned to the Olympics in Helsinki as a gymnastics judge, a position he served in again at the 1968 Mexico City Games. Wettstone again coached the American gymnasts in 1956 at Melbourne and served as the U.S. team manager for the Montreal Olympics in 1976.

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Gene Whelan

Gene Whelan competed on the men’s gymnastics team in 1975 and 1976 after transferring from the University of Massachusetts.  He tied for second in the all-around and won the parallel bars, helping Penn State win the 1976 NCAA Championships.  He was honored with the Nissen Award as the top male collegiate gymnast in his senior year.

Whelan finished in sixth place at the Olympic Trials held at Rec Hall in June of 1976, behind Olympic greats Kurt Thomas and Bart Conner and fellow Penn Stater Wayne Young. He was named an alternate to the U.S. men’s gymnastics team for the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games.

 

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Ryan Whiting

Ryan Whiting, from Harrisburg, PA, was a six-time NCAA champion while attending Arizona State. After graduation, he served as a volunteer coach with the Penn State men’s track and field team from 2010 to 2015 while training for international events.

Whiting won the gold medal in the shot put at the World Indoor Championships in 2012 and 2014, and a silver medal in 2013. He competed in the shot put on the U.S. men’s track and field team at the 2012 London Olympics.

 

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Adam Wiercioch

Adam Wiercioch was a member of the men’s fencing team in his freshman and sophomore years from 2000 to 2002.  He compiled an 56-11 record and was an All-American both years, finishing second at the NCAA championships in 2001 and fourth in 2002.

Wiercioch competed individually and on the men’s epee team for Poland at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, helping the team win a silver medal.

 

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Doris Willette

Doris Willette competed on the women’s fencing team during her freshman year, then red-shirted her 2007-2008 season to train for the World Fencing Championships and returned to Penn State to complete her final three years to 2011.  She won NCAA championships in 2007 and 2009, finished in second in 2010 and in third place in 2011, finishing her career with a 117-14 record in foil.  Willette is ranked number 60 in the Penn State Top 100 Athletes as of 2020.

Willette was an alternate for the U.S. women’s fencing team at the 2008 Beijing Games and helped U.S. women’s foil team to a sixth-place finish at the 2012 London Games.

 

 

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Mohamed Yasseen

Mohamed Yasseen will participate on the men’s fencing team in the fall of 2024

He is #2 in the junior world rankings and #14 in the senior world rankings in epee.  He will represent Egypt in epee at the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

Wayne R. Young

Wayne Young attended Penn State as a graduate student from 1975 to 1977, after completing his degree at BYU.  He was the 1975 NCAA individual all-around champion while at BYU.

Young helped the U.S. men’s gymnastics team finish seventh and competed in the individual all-around at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

His son, Guard, born in State College, PA was a BYU gymnast and helped the U.S. Olympic men’s gymnastics team win the silver medal at the 2004 Athens Games.

 

 

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Sam Zakutney

 

Sam Zakutney was on the men’s gymnastics team from 2017 to 2020.  He was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2017 and was an All-American on the parallel bars in 2017 and 2018 and on the high bar in 2018.

He is competing for the Canadian men’s gymnastics team at the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

 

Dr. Vladimir M. Zatsiorsky

Vladimir Zatsiorsky was a Professor of Kinesiology and director of the Biomechanics Laboratory, conducting research in sports biomechanics and the conditioning of athletes.

The International Olympic Committee appointed him editor in chief of the volume of The International Olympic Committee Encyclopedia of Sports Medicine titled Biomechanics in Sport in 1998.

 

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