Splashing to Second--and a World Record
Stanford swimmers came out of this year's NCAA finals almost on top. The men's and women's teams each finished second, edged out by Texas and Georgia, respectively. Olympic gold medalist Misty Hyman, '01, won three events at the women's finals, held March 15 to 17 in Long Island, N.Y., and finished her collegiate career with 12 NCAA titles. A week later in College Station, Texas, senior Adam Messner won his second straight NCAA title in the 200-meter butterfly. The following weekend, at the U.S. Nationals in Austin, Texas, senior Anthony Robinson broke the world record for the 50-meter breaststroke with a time of 27.49 seconds. Both Robinson and sophomore Randall Bell will compete in the world championships.
Another Second, This Time in Sync
Stanford's other amphibious athletes, the synchronized swimmers, also finished second in their collegiate championships, winning 88 points--just behind Ohio State's 96--at the March 31 competition in Newport News, Va. Shannon Montague, '01, was named collegiate athlete of the year. The program consistently ranks high: seven of the eight women on Stanford's A team are or have been on the national team, and head coach Gail Emery has helped coach the Olympic team five times. In March, volunteer assistant coach Heather Pease Olson, '98, was named national team director for the Indianapolis-based U.S. Synchronized Swimming.
Ruggers Forfeit Their Big Game
In a baleful announcement that astonished partisans on both sides of the Bay, Stanford rugby coach Franck Boivert said his team had voted to forfeit their annual match against Cal--which has been held most years since 1906--and would seek a downgrade to Division II next year. Writing March 14 to Cal's Jack Clark, he said Stanford's injury-ridden, "recreational" athletes would only be steamrolled by Cal's "professionalized" varsity team. It's not that they're afraid of losing to Cal, "as they have done so every year but one for the last 20 years," Boivert noted. "They are, however, very afraid to get injured." Clark's response, in a nutshell: "We take great umbrage. . . . How dare you not compete."
Zimmerman Foils Them Again
Though Olympic fencer Iris Zimmermann didn't make it to the top in Sydney, she went on to capture the next best thing: the gold medal for foil in this year's NCAA championships, held March 22 to 25 in Kenosha, Wis. Zimmermann, '03, defeated Penn State's Marta Grochal, 15-3, to win the championship, rounding out Stanford's combined fourth-place finish in the men's and women's team competitions (behind St. John's, Penn State and Notre Dame).
