Heading toward the determination of the winner of the 2013-14 Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup, gostanford.com will provide a progression of each of Stanford’s 19 consecutive victories. Here is the eighth, in 2001-02:
Directors' Cup No. 8 (2001-02) | 2001-02 Season In Photos
LONG BEFORE THE Cincinnati Reds of the 1970s, Stanford teams were known as The Big Red Machine. And never did Stanford’s Big Red Machine reach full throttle as much as in 2001-02.
Stanford claimed its eighth consecutive Directors’ Cup by scoring a record number of points (1,499) and winning by its largest margin (388.5) to date.
Stanford won four national championships (women's volleyball, women's tennis, and men's and women's water polo), a total of 11 teams finished among the top five in national competition, and 17 placed in the top 10. The Cardinal recorded points in the maximum of 10 women's and 10 men's sports.
This was a year full of athletes still recalled by knowledgable Stanford fans who can't help but smile at the memories: Teyo Johnson, Logan Tom, Casey Jacobsen, Nicole Powell, Carlos Quentin, Markus Rogan.
Rogan is the Austrian swimmer who captured NCAA titles in the 200-yard backstroke and 200 individual medley while leading Stanford to an NCAA runner-up finish. In the years since, Rogan won a 2008 world championship gold in the 200-meter back and a pair of 2004 Olympic silver medals, in addition to breaking the world record in the shortcourse 200-meter back.
Rogan was the 2001 winner of the Al Masters Award, Stanford’s most prestigious athletic honor, but is perhaps better known in swimming circles for his “charmingly uncensored personality,” according to one publication.
In a 2012 interview in the Daily Beast, Rogan said he drank blood before competitions. Yes, you read that correctly.
The reason?
“To turn a sheep into a lion," he said. "Swigging blood makes me feel like an animal. And it looks really cool.”
Cool, undoubtedly, is in the eye of the beholder.
Two-sport star Teyo Johnson was a comet in the Stanford sky. Blest with extraordinary athletic ability, Johnson played football and basketball with a physical, spectacular style. However, Johnson spent only two seasons on The Farm before leaving for the NFL Draft.
As a freshman football player in 2001, he caught 38 passes for 565 yards and seven touchdowns as Stanford advanced to the Seattle Bowl against Georgia Tech, where he caught a leaping four-yard touchdown pass from Chris Lewis in a 24-14 loss.
Logan Tom was a two-time AVCA National Player of the Year and, at age 19, became the youngest player ever to be named to a U.S. Olympic volleyball team. Besides leading Stanford to the 2001 NCAA title as a junior, another big achievement was returning to Stanford more than a decade after her final season to earn her degree.
Tom would graduate with 1,939 career kills as the all-time leader at Stanford and her 171 career service aces ranked second in Stanford history. She has played on four Olympic teams.
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More highlights from 2001-02:
• Goalie Jackie Frank earned national Player of the Year honors after leading Stanford to its first NCAA women’s water polo title. The Stanford team also featured first-team All-Americans Ellen Estes and Brenda Villa under coach John Tanner.
• The Stanford women’s gymnastics team, under first-year coach Kristen Smyth, advanced to the NCAA Super Six final for the first time in school history.
• Stanford beat UCLA, 8-5, in the NCAA men's water polo final before a soldout crowd of 2,226 at Avery Aquatic Center to complete the 25-year Stanford coaching career of Dante Dettamanti, who led the Cardinal to eight national championships.
• Jeremy Guthrie pitched a 13-inning complete game to beat Cal State Fullerton, 3-2, in an NCAA baseball regional opener.
• Tara Kirk won NCAA swimming titles in the 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes and Shelly Ripple won the 200 butterfly for Stanford’s third-place women’s team.
• Katie Norris won national solo and figures championships in synchronized swimming.
• The men’s gymnastics team got NCAA titles from Dan Gill on the vault and Marshall Erwin on rings.
• The Stanford women’s tennis team won its 13th NCAA team title, with help from Lauren Kalvaria and Gabriela Lastra, who combined to win the NCAA doubles crown.
• Lauren Fleshman won the indoor 3,000 meters and her second consecutive outdoor 5,000 for the Cardinal women’s track and field team.
• Donald Sage won the NCAA 1,500 championship for the Cardinal men’s track and field team.
The Final Count:
1) Stanford, 1,499
2) Texas, 1,110.5
3) Florida, 1,078
4) North Carolina, 1,065.5
5) UCLA, 1,026
Stanford’s Top Scoring Teams:
1 (tie), Women’s volleyball, men’s water polo, women’s water polo, women’s tennis, 100 points each; 5 (tie), men’s cross country, men’s swimming and diving, 90 each.
Directors' Cup No. 1: 1994-95
Directors' Cup No. 2: 1995-96
Directors' Cup No. 3: 1996-97
Directors' Cup No. 4: 1997-98
Directors' Cup No. 5: 1998-99
Directors' Cup No. 6: 1999-2000
Directors' Cup No. 7: 2000-01