In between blasts from whistles and air horns, red- and white-numbered caps churned through the aquamarine waters of Avery Aquatic Center. Cries of “faker!” came from a few suntanned fans, to protest some exclusions (fouls), but it was a mostly good-natured crowd that turned out for the semifinals of the 2008 NCAA women's water polo championships on May 10.
Although the young Stanford team lost to nemesis USC 10-6 that sunny Saturday afternoon, the Cardinal (27-5) went on to beat UC-Davis 15-8 the next day to take third place in the national competition. “The team developed a lot of maturity, and played with more poise than one would have expected,” head coach John Tanner, '82, said. His swimmers' record this season included three key victories in overtime. As for having a home-pool advantage in the NCAAs? “We'd rather be here than elsewhere.”
The same day, across the pool deck and through the groves, a quieter crowd was applauding service aces and net volleys at Taube Family Tennis Stadium, as the Cardinal women beat Texas A&M 4-1 to advance to the NCAA round of 16 in Tulsa, Okla. The home-court advantage? “We just know to show up and play at 12 on Saturday,” says head coach Lele Forood, '78. “Jenny is in charge.”
That would be Jenny Claypool, director of championships for the department of athletics. As Cardinal student-athletes keep winning, Stanford continues to host NCAA playoff events—13 this academic year. That means Claypool is busy at a variety of venues, making sure that umpires' microphones work. That the national an-them is queued on a CD player. That flags, chalk trays, canopies, trash cans, pommel horses, table skirtings, trail mix and sports drinks are in place.
Some weekends are particularly in-tense. On May 8, Claypool fielded questions at a meeting for tennis coaches at 5 p.m., then sprinted to a similar meeting at 6 p.m. for water polo coaches. An hour later, she was overseeing a banquet for NCAA water polo teams.
Claypool knows where to rent ficus trees to pretty up a pool deck, and whom to call for help in finding a crew of water polo ball retrievers (assistant coach Susan Ortwein). But some stipulations can stump her, like the “center sprint release device” ordered up for the water polo championships by the governing NCAA committee. Four days before the NCAAs started, the committee reversed itself and decided not to use the device. “Which was okay with me,” Claypool says. “That was pretty quirky.”
Instead, NCAA “pool art”—a big blue dot—sat at the center of the bottom of the pool during the championship games, and Claypool could focus on helping the camera crew from the CBS College Sports Network, who had set up a platform over the 3-meter diving boards for their boom cameras. As they panned the standing room only crowd at Avery, it was a day made for red-white-and-blue bunting. And championship hosting.
