2022-23 Year in Review: Another Year of Excellence

STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford reclaimed its familiar position as the nation's most successful intercollegiate athletic department in 2022-23, capturing its first LEARFIELD Directors' Cup since the 2018-19 campaign and 26th overall in the possible 29 seasons of the award.

The Cardinal won three NCAA titles, as men's gymnastics maintained its dominance with a fourth straight victory, women's water polo repeated for the first time since 2014-15 and women's rowing secured its second program crown and first in 14 years. Stanford also brought home two national titles in sailing, padding its overall team national championship total to five.

Extending one of the most recognizable streaks in college athletics, the Cardinal has won at least one NCAA team championship in each of the last 47 seasons, dating back to the 1976-77 campaign.

Five years after overtaking UCLA as the nation's all-time leader in NCAA team championships, Stanford enters the 2023-24 campaign with 134 overall, gaining separation from its closest competitors in UCLA (121) and USC (112). The Cardinal has won 163 national team championships overall.

Stanford, which finished second to Texas in the Directors' Cup standings in each of the last two seasons, totaled 1412.00 points in 2022-23 to edge the Longhorns (1370.50). The Cardinal had previously captured nation's top institutional honor for 25 consecutive seasons from 1995-2019, after finishing second in 1994 to North Carolina in the award's inaugural season.

The Cardinal also produced runner-up finishes in the 2022-23 Capital One Cup race, totaling 119 points behind Texas (122) in the women's standings and compiling 83 points behind Florida (91) on the men's side. The only school to deliver a season sweep of the men's and women's titles in the history of the Capital One Cup, Stanford is a three-time winner in the men's category and seven-time champion of the women's program.

Highlighting Stanford's individual performances in 2022-23 was Rose Zhang, who put the finishing touches on arguably the most decorated amateur career in the history of collegiate golf during two dynamic seasons on The Farm. The first female to be crowned a two-time NCAA individual champion, Zhang twice set the NCAA single-season scoring average record, established the NCAA career scoring average record and was honored as a two-time ANNIKA Award recipient. As a sophomore in 2023, Zhang won a staggering 8-of-10 events, matching Tiger Woods for the most in school history, in addition to delivering a school-record 12 victories in 20 career starts.

Aria Fischer (women's water polo) and Brody Malone (men's gymnastics) closed out their careers with a combined seven NCAA team titles while being awarded Pac-12 Tom Hansen Conference Medals, presented annually to each member institution's outstanding senior male and female student-athlete based on the exhibition of the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics and leadership. Meanwhile, NiJaree Canady (softball) was named the TUCCI/NFCA Division I Freshman of the Year, highlighting one of the most dominant first-year campaigns in recent seasons of collegiate softball. Canady led the country in ERA (0.57) and strikeouts per seven innings (11.3) while striking out 218 in 135.0 innings, fueling Stanford's third Women's College World Series appearance.

Among the other notable accomplishments: 18 conference championships (regular season and tournament), 16 individual national champions, 37 individual conference champions and 114 All-Americans.

The Cardinal's academic prowess also remained unparalleled, producing 40 CSC Academic All-Americans across 22 different sports.

Sport Recaps

2022-23 Accolades