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 13th, in 2006-07:
Directors' Cup No. 13 (2006-07) | 2006-07 Season In Photos
STANFORD HAD WON 12 consecutive Directors’ Cup and more than proved itself as the premier athletic department in the country. During that time, a soccer stadium was built, and a softball stadium, and new athletic department headquarters, and improvements were made to other facilities.
But it wasn’t until Sept. 16, 2006 that Stanford athletics had a crown jewel: the new Stanford Stadium.
The old stadium, built in 1921 for $211,000, had certainly lived a good and useful life. It hosted a Super Bowl, men’s and women’s World Cups, a presidential nomination acceptance speech, Olympic soccer, the Olympic track and field trials, and the epic U.S.-USSR track meet that thawed, if only for a moment, the Cold War.
The new stadium, built in less than 10 months so that not a home football would be missed, opened its gates as one of the most beautiful and fan-friendly football facilities in the country.
Over the years, the new Stanford Stadium has given the Cardinal a decided advantage. Since 2008, Stanford has gone a combined 36-3 at home, and going into the 2014 season, the Cardinal has won 16 straight at Stanford Stadium.
In 2006-07, Stanford captured its 13th straight Directors' Cup, scoring 1429 points. Stanford won NCAA titles in women’s cross country and men’s golf, and was runner-up in women’s volleyball, men’s swimming and diving, and women’s water polo. In all, Stanford had top-10 NCAA finishes in 16 sports. Stanford scored in 21 total sports, but only 19 sports counted towards the final total: 10 women's sports and nine men's sports.
Ben Wildman-Tobriner had a breakthrough season in men’s swimming in 2007 while helping the Cardinal to second in the NCAA Championships.
Wildman-Tobriner set an American record in the 50-yard freestyle, and built his collegiate credentials to 20 All-America honors and 12 Pac-10 championhips, while also earning Pac-10 Swimmer of the Year honors.
The same year, Wildman-Tobriner earned a stunning victory in the 50-meter free at the World Championships. He also received his undergraduate degree from Stanford in biomechanical engineering.
A San Francisco native, Wildman-Tobriner trained throughout high school not at an upscale country club, but at a local Boys & Girls club. The experience left him with the belief that every child, regardless of income, should have the opportunity to have a high quality education and learn to swim and compete. His sister, Becky, founded a USA Swimming club team at the Boys & Girls Club and Wildman-Tobriner pledged to help make the sport more accessible to the children of San Francisco.
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More highlights from 2006-07:
• In men’s golf, Stanford led wire-to-wire to win its first NCAA championship since the Tiger Woods-Casey Martin-Notah Begay team of 1994. Rob Grube won team medalist honors with a third-place 6-under-par performance over four rounds.
• Arianna Lambie, who finished fourth, paced Stanford to an NCAA women’s cross country title for the second consecutive year.
• Erica McLain triple-jumped 46-5 ¼ to set a school women’s track and field record. McLain went on to win two consecutive NCAA indoor triple jump championships.
• Garrett Heath, Zach Chandy, Michael Garcia, and Russell Brown won NCAA indoor track distance medley relay for the Cardinal.
• Elaine Breeden won the 200 butterfly and Cassidy Krug won NCAA 1- and 3-meter diving events for the Stanford women's swimming and diving team.
• Alex Schorsch won the NCAA men’s gymnastics rings title and teammate David Sender won an NCAA vault championship.
• At the U.S. Collegiate Synchronized Swimming Championships, Taylor Durand won figures, Sara Lowe won solo. Lowe and Courtenay Stewart won duet, and Lowe, Stewart and Elizabeth Ann Markman won the trio events. Stanford won its third consecituve team title.
The Final Count:
1) Stanford, 1,429
2) UCLA, 1,257
3) North Carolina, 1,161.33
4) Michigan, 1,135.25
5) USC, 1,103.5
Stanford’s Top Scoring Teams:
1 (tie), Women’s cross country, men’s golf, each 100 points; 3 (tie), women’s volleyball, men’s swimming and diving, and women’s water polo, each 90.
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
Directors' Cup No. 8: 2001-02
Directors' Cup No. 9: 2002-03
Directors' Cup No. 10: 2003-04
Directors' Cup No. 11: 2004-05
Directors' Cup No. 12: 2005-06