MEEHAN SUCCEEDS MAURER
Thank you, Cal? Well, yes, because Stanford found its new women's swimming coach, Greg Meehan, at Berkeley, where he was the associate head coach for the men's swimming and diving program. In Meehan's four seasons at Cal, the men's team won two NCAA championships (2011 and 2012).
Prior to joining the Cal staff in 2008, Meehan was head coach for the men's and women's teams at University of the Pacific. Among various assistant coaching stints, he served with the women's team at UCLA (2001 to 2005). As a student at Rider University in New Jersey, he competed in the 200 backstroke.
At Stanford, he follows Lea Maurer, '94, MA '95, a national champ for the Cardinal in the 100- and 200-back in the 1990s (as Lea Loveless) and coach since 2004. Her resignation was announced in July.
TRACK COACHES HIRED
Chris Miltenberg arrived from Georgetown to take over as head track and field/cross-country coach, succeeding Edrick Floreal, who resigned after eight seasons to run the program at the University of Kentucky. At Georgetown, Miltenberg was associate head track coach and head coach for the women's cross-country team that won the 2011 national title. He is a Georgetown graduate and former 3,000-meter runner.
Miltenberg then brought in Michelle Eisenreich from Brown, where she was director of track and field/cross country, as the Cardinal's associate head coach and throwers coach. Eisenreich is an alum of Carleton College in Minnesota, where she holds school records for the discus and shotput (and until 2002 in the 20lb. weight and hammer).
WALKER CHANNELS HARBAUGH, VANDERVEER
New women's golf coach Anne Walker is determined to tee up the same kind of success that Jim Harbaugh achieved in football and Tara VanDerveer exemplifies in basketball.
Walker comes to the Farm from four years as coach at UC-Davis, where she led the team to its first top-20 national ranking. She says a lot of her Stanford preseason homework wasn't directly about golf. "I've read a ton about Tara VanDerveer and Jim Harbaugh since I was hired," says the Cal grad. "I wanted to understand how they came here and turned programs around. . . . this season is huge in setting the direction and values for this program for years to come."
Two of the team's golfers, senior Sally Watson and freshman Mariah Stackhouse, were named to Golf World magazine's list of Top 50 Players to Watch. The squad opened the season with an 11th-place finish at the Mason Rudolph Women's Championship tournament at Vanderbilt University.
TWO CUPS IN A ROW
Stanford women's athletics have won their second straight Capital One Cup, awarded annually by a points system to the best overall group of Division I programs in the country.
Spearheaded by national championships in soccer and water polo, plus a fifth straight Final Four NCAA tournament appearance by the basketball team, Stanford accumulated 152.5 points, well in front of UCLA with 110. The award was presented to Stanford in September.
BURDETTE TURNS PRO
Mallory Burdette, defeated last spring for the NCAA singles tennis championship by teammate Nicole Gibbs, is forgoing her senior season at Stanford in favor of a professional career.
Burdette, who teamed with Gibbs to win the doubles titles, enjoyed a burst of success during the summer playing against pro competition (but forfeiting prize money until giving up her college eligibility). She won the singles events at two tournaments and reached the third round of the U.S. Open before losing to Maria Sharapova.
