March 11, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Cardinal women chasing track title

by Rick Eymer

There's a very good reason why the Stanford women's track and field team is being considered a contender for this weekend's NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark.

Her name is Erica McLain, a freshman who set Stanford's women's triple jump record twice this year and was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Female Athlete of the Year.

McLain has been a standout for the Cardinal this indoor season, during which Stanford has risen through the ranks to the point of being ranked No. 1 in the country by one publication.

Now, the Cardinal just have to make that elite ranking hold up. A total of 18 Stanford athletes will compete this weekend. While the men will be in the running for perhaps a top-three finish, the women have a very good shot at the grand prize with plenty of depth and talent that sparkled at the recent Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor finals.

Stanford women's coach Edrick Floreal recently was named MPSF Coach of the Year for guiding the Cardinal to their third-straight team title at the conference indoor championships.

Stanford women won eight of 17 events with McLain winning both the long jump and triple jump. Janice Davis was also a double winner, in the 60 and 200.

McLain recorded a mark of 45-7 in the triple set, bettering the previous MPSF best by nearly five feet. She's ranked first in the nation in the event, and sixth in the long jump (20-7). Her mark in the triple jump is an American Junior indoor record and is the best by an American this season. Her effort at the league meet would have won the event at the U.S. Indoor Championships, held the same weekend as the MPSF finals.

In high school, McLain was a three-time Texas state champion in the triple jump (2002-04) and earned numerous other honors, including competing at the 2002 and 2004 World Junior Track & Field Championships.

Baseball

Stanford junior left-hander Mark Romanczuk was named Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week after throwing his second straight complete-game victory over California last Saturday.

Romanczuk won the award for the first time this season and sixth in his career.

After giving up three runs in the first two innings, Romanczuk allowed one hit the rest of the way.

In his last outing, Romanczuk threw his first career complete game shutout against USC.

Romanczuk has won 27 games at Stanford, within 10 of career leader Jeff Ballard.
Men's basketball

Stanford guards Dan Grunfeld and Chris Hernandez were named to the 10-member Pac-10 first team.

Hernandez was named to his second all-conference team, while Grunfeld earned the honors for the first time.

"I am honored to be a part of such a talented group of players," Hernandez said. "It is always nice to be recognized."

Grunfeld, who tore the ACL in his right knee against Cal, is Stanford's leading scorer and fourth in the Pac-10 at 17.9. He made the biggest jump by a Division I player after averaging 3.4 points last year.

Also named to the All Pac-10 team were Ike Diogu of Arizona State, Channing Frye and Salim Stoudamire of Arizona, Thomas Kelati of Washington State, David Lucas of Oregon State, Nate Robinson and Tre Simmons of Washington, and Dijon Thompson of UCLA. Diogu was named Pac-10 Player of the Year.

Stanford forward Matt Haryasz was named honorable mention.
Fencing

Five Stanford performers will participate at the NCAA Collegiate Men's and Women's championships beginning March 17 in Houston.

Individual events will be competed in each of the six weapons: women's foil, women's epee, women's sabre, men's foil, men's epee, men's sabre.

Stanford will be represented by Steve Gerberman in men's foil, Curtis Andrus in men's saber, Martin Lee in men's epee, Jonathan Pearlstein in men's saber, and Iris Zimmermann in women's foil.
Field hockey

Saleema Rogers was hired as an assistant coach it was announced on Wednesday.

Rogers spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach at Dartmouth, working with the team's goalkeepers in addition to her recruiting responsibilities.

Rogers played at Iowa, and was a member of the Hawkeyes' NCAA Final Four team in 1999.
Sailing

The Stanford coed sailors saw their stock rise after knocking off three top 10 programs last weekend at the McIntyre Team Race Regatta in Redwood City.

Stanford beat No. 3 Yale, No. 6 Hawaii and No. 9 UC Irvine.

The Stanford women finished second to South Florida last weekend at the South Florida Women's Intersectional.

"If you are good at team racing, you can do it all, and we've finally reached our stride as a top team racing team," Stanford coach Jay Kehoe said.

Sailing for Stanford in the 3-on-3 team race format were Pete Deming-Lucy Horton, Eddie Conrad-Anna Vu, Emery Wager-Becca Levin and Jeff Allen-Jo Madsen.

The McIntyre Team Race is named for Jeremy McIntyre, who was killed by an avalanche while skiing in 1999. He was a team captain, and an ICSA All-American while at Stanford.

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