Stanford recruit tabbed nation's best Stanford recruit tabbed nation's best (July 15, 2005)

Volleyball standout Barboza named a Gatorade national prep athlete of the year

by Keith Peters

Cynthia Barboza has yet to play her first volleyball match at Stanford, yet the high school star already has made a huge impact.

Barboza, a senior from Woodrow Wilson Classical High in Long Beach and an alternate on the U.S. volleyball team for the Athens Olympics, is the 2004-05 Gatorade girls' national high school athlete of the year.

Barboza, a two-time Gatorade national volleyball player of the year and only one of four athletes ever to win back-to-back honors in any sport, received her award Wednesday from Los Angeles Sparks center Lisa Leslie and retired soccer star Mia Hamm during a ceremony in Hollywood.

"I'm just at a loss for words," said Barboza, an outside hitter who had a remarkable 476 kills, 41 blocks and 52 services aces in 82 matches last season. "It's just such an amazing tradition for me to try to uphold and just seeing where all the athletes who have won it have gone. I'm really pretty excited to see where it takes me."

Barboza has committed to Stanford, with an eventual goal of playing in the 2008 Olympics and on the pro beach volleyball circuit for "the free tan," she said with a laugh.

Barboza finished her high school career with 2,145 kills, 349 blocks and 152 aces.

"Cynthia is, by far, the hardest working young person I have ever seen at the high school level," said Wilson head coach Susan Pescar. "She's a tremendous athlete, but what's made her a dominant player is that she works tirelessly to turn whatever she perceives as a 'weakness' in her game into a strength."

Track and field

Vin Lananna will find himself in an unusual situation, and in unusual colors, next season whenever the University of Oregon and Stanford University meet in cross country or track and field.

Lananna, who coached both programs at Stanford for 11 years, has returned to the Pacific-10 Conference - only a little north of his former home.

On Wednesday, Lananna was named Associate Athletic Director/Director of Track and Field and Cross Country at the University of Oregon.

"I am thrilled with Vin's decision to join the University of Oregon's intercollegiate athletic program," said Oregon Athletic Director Bill Moos. "His tremendous success in coaching, along with his experience in collegiate administration, makes him the perfect person to lead Oregon's track and field and cross country programs.

"During all of our conversations, I could tell that Vin has a genuine respect for the Oregon tradition and legacy and shares with me, and many others, the vision of what our program is capable of achieving."

In his career at Stanford that began in July 1992, Lananna quickly built the Cardinal into the sport's top combined men's and women's program. His cross country and track and field squads claimed four NCAA team titles (three men, one by the women) among their 36 top-10 NCAA finishes, and Stanford athletes won 22 NCAA track and field individual titles. At the Pacific-10 Conference level, the Cardinal men and women racked up 17 team titles and 45 individual crowns.

In return for Stanford's excellence, he was a multiple honoree as NCAA Cross Country Coach of the Year, NCAA West Region Cross Country Coach of the Year, Pacific-10 Conference Cross Country Coach of the Year and Pac-10 Track and Field Coach of the Year (2000, '01).

After leaving Stanford, Lananna served as director of athletics and physical education at Oberlin College (Ohio) since July 2003.

At the U.S. and international levels, Lananna was appointed men's assistant coach for the 2004 Olympic Games and 1999 World Championships, as well as junior coach for the 1990 and 1996 World Cross Country Championships.

His Stanford athletes have also shined at the national and international levels - a list that includes 2000 Olympians Brad Hauser (5,000), Gabe Jennings (1,500) and Michael Stember (1,500), 1999 and 2003 World Championships qualifiers Hauser (10,000) and Lauren Fleshman (5,000).

Women's tennis

Two-time NCAA singles champ Amber Liu of Stanford has been named to the U.S. team that will represent the United States at the 2004 World University Games tennis competition set for Aug. 11-21 in Izmir, Turkey.

Liu finished her junior season at Stanford with an ITA singles ranking of No. 7. She won the NCAA singles title in 2003 and 2004 and led Stanford to NCAA team titles during the past two years.

Stanford went 27-0 in 2005 and capped the season with its 56th-straight dual-match victory, 4-0 over Texas in the NCAA finale. During Liu's three seasons at Stanford, the team has compiled a remarkable 81-2 record under coach Lele Forood.

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