known as "Nittany Lions," have had more success than their male counterparts, often gaining berths into the women's NCAA tournament, reaching the Final Four once in 2000. The Lady Lions have reached the NCAA tournament more than any other Big Ten team with 25 appearances as of 2014. The Lady Lions have won 8 Big Ten Regular Season Championships and 2 Big Ten tournament Championships. The most recent postseason championship won by Penn State was the 1998 Women's National Invitation Tournament. Carolyn Kieger was in her second season as head coach of the Lady Lions in 2020–21. Cross country The men's cross country team won NCAA titles in 1942, 1947, and 1950. Before the NCAA began sponsoring the cross country championship in 1938, and unlike today, the annual ICAAAA meet was a premier national championship event for track and field and cross country. The team won ICAAAA championships in 1926, 1927, 1928 and 1930. Penn State runners won the individual ICAAAA titles in 1920 (John Romig), 1927 and 1928 (William Cox, consecutively). PSU men also won ICAAAA team titles in 1950, 1951, 1960 and 2000, as well as individual crowns in 1938, 1946, 1987 and 2004. Fencing Penn State has been a fencing powerhouse, having won a record 13 national championships in the sport since the NCAA began awarding titles in combined men's and women's fencing in 1990. The team finished as champion or runner-up in 21 of the first 25 years of the combined tournament. The program won six consecutive NCAA Championships from 1995 to 2000. Emmanuil G. Kaidanov was the coach of the fencing squads during most of that period. The women's fencing team won national AIAW titles in 1980 and 1981, followed by an NCAA championship in 1983. The team recruits both nationally and throughout the world. Penn State Nittany Lions assistant fencing coach George G. Abashidze, after a United States Center for SafeSport investigation found he had committed sexual misconduct in 2017, was banned by USA Fencing for three years, prompting Penn State to terminate him in 2019. A Penn State investigation into the matter confirmed the woman’s claims against Abashidze, but found that the assistant coach had not violated any university policies. The woman who was the object of the misconduct sued Penn State in 2020, charging that it had tried to cover up the incident. In September 2022, Penn State placed head fencing coach