Penn State finished third in the 2024-25 fall Learfield Directors’ Cup rankings, led by a national championship from the women’s volleyball team.

The Nittany Lions furthered their success in the spring semester with their second national championship of the year, as well as a pair of semifinal appearances.

Those deep playoff runs, along with some other moments, make up the top-five moments from the 2025 spring semester.

No. 5 – Men’s gymnastics NCAA championship finish

Josh Karnes took the floor for the 2024 Olympic qualifiers last June but fell short by 15 places.

While his Olympic dreams were postponed, he returned to Penn State to help the Nittany Lions to their best finish since 2016, earning fifth place at the NCAA championship.

Along the way, Karnes picked up two All-American honors where he finished sixth in All-Around.

No. 4 – Men’s volleyball’s EIVA championship

Penn State lifted the EIVA championship trophy for the third consecutive year and once again made the NCAA Tournament.

The duo of Matthew Luoma and Will Kuhns led the way for the blue and white, helping the team navigate its less-than-ideal 15-16 record.

In the postseason, however, the Nittany Lions came alive, sweeping their way through each of their three games in the EIVA Tournament.

In the championship against Princeton, Penn State took the first and third sets easily with 25-20 and 25-19 victories, but struggled through the second set, playing to a 27-point win.

No. 3 – Men’s lacrosse in NCAA semifinals

In Matt Traynor’s first full season with the blue and white, he led the team to the NCAA semifinals against Duke, where it lost 16-15 in overtime.

Two years later, the Nittany Lions were back in the same game, this time against Cornell.

After coming back from a one-point deficit against Colgate and a four-point deficit against Notre Dame, Penn State pushed ahead for a 4-2 lead over the Big Red before ultimately falling 11-9.

No. 2 – Wrestling’s fourth straight national championship

On May 1, 2024, four-time national champion Carter Starocci announced his return to Penn State in his quest to become the first five-time NCAA champion.

Less than a year later, Starocci fulfilled his dreams as he took down Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen 4-3 victory.

In addition to the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championship Outstanding Wrestler’s historic season, sophomore Mitchell Mesenbrink earned Penn State’s second individual championship, and coach Cael Sanderson won his 12th team title for the Nittany Lions.

As a team, Penn State finished with 177.0 points, 60 points ahead of No. 2 Nebraska.

No. 1 – Penn State’s 1st Frozen Four

In his 14th season, coach Guy Gadowsky led the blue and white to the Frozen Four for the first time in the program’s history.

After a 4-7 start to the season, the Nittany Lions got hot, earning their fourth-ever bid to the NCAA Tournament.

With wins over Maine and UConn, Penn State found itself in St. Louis for the team’s first-ever Frozen Four appearance.

The Nittany Lions ultimately fell 3-1 against Boston University, but has used its historic season to recruit several top names in the hockey world this offseason.

MORE SPORTS CONTENT

BEMIDJI – Travis Winter wasn’t expecting to get the call, but he wasn’t surprised he got it either.

On Wednesday, USA Hockey announced that Bemidji State’s men’s hockey associate head coach would serve on the American bench as an assistant for the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship. Winter got the call from head coach Bob Motzko “a few weeks ago.”

Winter will officially serve as a video coach. Boston College’s Greg Brown, Augustana’s Garrett Raboin, USA Hockey’s David Lassonde and Minnesota’s Steve Miller and Jacob LeRoy are also on staff.

“I’m very grateful for the opportunity,” Winter said. “It’s very exciting. Anytime you can participate in a tournament like that and represent your country, it’s something that you don’t want to take for granted. You get excited for it; how can you not?”

The World Junior Championship begins in the Twin Cities on Dec. 26 at the Xcel Energy Center and at the University of Minnesota’s 3M Arena at Mariucci. The WJC runs through Jan. 5, 2026.

Winter will get the best of both worlds when the calendar flips to 2026. While Bemidji State typically plays a series on the second weekend in December, and on the first weekend in January (or a New Year’s Eve game), the Beavers are off from Dec. 6 to Jan. 9.

Scheduling luck allows Winter to serve on Team USA’s staff with the potential of not missing a BSU game, save for an exhibition against the Gophers on Jan. 2.

More importantly for Winter, with the WJC being in Minnesota, it’ll become a family event for the St. Cloud native.

Courtesy / Brent Cizek Photography

“It’s the State of Hockey, and our state’s going to knock it out of the park with how they handle it,” Winter said. “They’re going to put on a great show. It’ll be an experience I get to share with my family, with it being in the Twin Cities. They’ll get to be a part of it, too, which is special.”

Winter will enter his 12th season on the Beavers’ staff this fall. He was an assistant head coach for eight seasons, then spent the last three seasons with the title of associate head coach under Tom Serratore.

Winter played for BSU from 2005-09, serving as a captain in his final two seasons. After he graduated, Winter was hired as an assistant for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in the United States Hockey League for four seasons, then spent a year as the head coach for the North American Hockey League’s Aberdeen Wings in 2013-14

Winter came back to Bemidji State in 2015 for his first season as an assistant, and he hasn’t left since.

“I think this honor is a testament to the respect of our program, what people think of our program and the things we’ve been able to accomplish over the years,” Winter said.

Motzko is one of college hockey’s most revered coaches. Since being hired by Minnesota prior to the 2018-19 season, he’s posted a record of 161-82-21. Combined with his previous 13 seasons at St. Cloud State, Motzko has a career record of 437-274-70, with 13 trips to the NCAA Tournament, including three Frozen Four appearances.

Motzko replaces Denver’s David Carle as Team USA’s WJC head coach. Carle led the Americans to back-to-back WJC titles in each of the last two tournaments.

“(Motzko) asked if I’d be interested in helping out and went over the expectations for different roles,” Winter said. “He asked if I’d be comfortable doing that, and I said, ‘Yeah, of course.’

“I don’t know if you ever expect that call to come. With Bob being the head coach and being part of his circle in the hockey world, you’re kind of thinking you might get a call. But there’s a lot of other qualified guys, so you don’t spend too much time pondering that. When he called, it was awesome.”

Motzko and Bemidji State head coach Tom Serratore have a long-standing relationship. Their relationship helped Winter build rapport with Motzko over the years, ultimately leading to Winter’s selection as an assistant.

“Typically, when these coaching staffs get assembled, they’re put together with people they’re familiar with,” Winter said. “They’re familiar with their expertise and strengths as coaches. They want to make sure they cover all areas. Obviously, in working with Tommy, he’s had a big influence on that.”

Like many Bemidji residents, Winter has been hard at work on community restoration following the severe thunderstorm and 100-plus mile-per-hour winds.

On Tuesday, Winter, BSU assistant coach Joe Wegwerth and members of Bemidji Covenant Church and Bemidji Youth Hockey helped clean up Paul Bunyan Park.

“I’ve never seen anything like this; not even close,” Winter said. “Joe and I were there, along with some members of our church and Bemidji Youth Hockey. We have a pretty good group. We were just old-school raking, making piles.”

Before he stepped onto campus in Boulder as a member of the Colorado Buffaloes, class of 2024 quarterback Julian Lewis signed a groundbreaking deal with Athletes First, a sports agency.

At the time, a senior at Carrollton (Ga.) High School, Lewis was one of the first athletes in the state of Georgia to be represented by an agency after the Georgia High School Association changed its guidelines to allow high school student-athletes the ability to participate in NIL without losing their eligibility.

The move sent shockwaves through the high school sports landscape. The Los Angeles-based Athletes First agency is highly accredited as they represent a large number of NFL players that include Aaron Rodgers, Justin Herbert, Justin Jefferson and numerous other NFL stars.

Lewis, a five-star prospect and consensually rated as one of the top QB recruits in the 2024 class, was committed to the USC Trojans at the time of his signing.

Fast forward over a year and a half later and he’s competing for the starting job with the Buffaloes as a true freshman. Lauded for his accuracy, poise and arm strength, Lewis is on a favorable path to joining his fellow agency-mates in the NFL.

Speaking to the accredited nature of Athletes First, they began “an exclusive, three-day summit of NFL offensive linemen in Las Vegas spotlighting the strength, personality, and performance of the league’s best players at these positions,” a social media post wrote.

The event, titled “Big & Beautiful presented by BTL,” will be hosted and led by retired eight-time Pro-Bowler Tyron Smith with the help of Detroit Lions offensive tackle Penei Sewell, Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Tyler Smith and Washington Commanders center Tyler Biadasz.

BTL Aesthetics, the brand presenting the event, will include its services surrounding physical and mental recovery in the Athlete Recovery Lounge.

Lewis already has an NIL valuation of $1.1 million thanks in part to Athletes First — a number that will more than likely grow with time on the field and with the help of an experienced, highly-regarded agency with strong NFL ties.

ABOUT MILLER

Steve Miller, associate head coach of the University of Minnesota men’s ice hockey team, has influenced significant success both at the collegiate level and on the world stage during his time behind the bench over parts of the last five decades.

Miller has served as an assistant coach for eight previous U.S. National Junior Teams, with six medals to his credit, including gold four times (2025, 2024, 2021, 2017), silver in 2019 and bronze in 2018.

Over his more than 35-year coaching career, which began at St. Mary’s University in 1988-89, and has included stops at Miami University, University of Denver, Providence College, Air Force Academy, Ohio State University, and today Minnesota, Miller has three NCAA national titles to his credit, along with numerous conference regular-season and post-season championships, and NCAA Tournament appearances.

The Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, native – who was honored with the American Hockey Coaches Association Terry Flanagan Award in 2009 recognizing an assistant coach’s career body of work — has coached or recruited more than 25 players who are currently playing in the NHL.