Posts Tagged ‘Stanford Women’s Basketball’

From left, Chiney and Nnemkadi Ogwumike

Athletic Director BOB BOWLSBY and women’s basketball stars NNEMKADI and CHINEY OGWUMIKE will accept the inaugural Capital One Cup trophy on behalf of Stanford women’s athletics as part of the ESPY Awards, which will be televised live on ESPN Wednesday evening, July 13. The award will be presented by performer JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, who has recorded a humorous video promoting the event that has gone viral.

The Capital One Cup trophy was created in 2010 to honor NCAA Division I athletics programs for their performances across 13 men’s and 13 women’s sports. The Capital One Cup is different from the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup, which recognizes the top overall collegiate Division I sports program. The Cardinal has won that award 17 consecutive years.

The new Capital One Cup trophy includes a $200,000 donation to fund student-athlete graduate-level scholarships. Stanford women beat out runner-up Texas A&M by nine points. Cal placed third. The men’s trophy was won by the University of Florida, with the Cardinal men placing fifth. Points are earned throughout the year based on final standings of NCAA Division I Championships and final official coaches’ polls.

To win the Capital One Cup, Stanford women placed in the top 10 in nine championships, including soccer, volleyball, basketball, swimming and diving, lacrosse, tennis, softball, outdoor track and field and rowing—the most top 10 finishes of any program.

The Cardinal’s victory earned praise from BRANDI CHASTAIN, a former World Cup soccer player from Santa Clara University who sits on the Capital One Cup Advisory Board.

“The Stanford women and everyone who follows the athletics program should be proud of this accomplishment,” said Chastain. “Winning the Capital One Cup requires commitment, dedication and hard work at all levels of a Division I college athletics program, and the Cardinal rose above all other schools to claim the trophy. With nine top 10 finishes they are extremely deserving of this award.”

The ESPY Awards are presented annually by ESPN to recognize amateur and professional individual and team athletic performances throughout the year.

Stanford Athletics has claimed its 17th consecutive Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup, an award that is presented annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), Learfield Sports and USA Today to the top intercollegiate athletic program in the nation.

After claiming national championships this year in the sports of men’s gymnastics, women’s water polo and women’s lightweight crew-varsity eight, Stanford has won at least one NCAA team title for 35 consecutive years. The national title won by men’s gymnastics was particularly significant, as it marked Stanford’s 100th NCAA team championship. Three other Stanford teams — women’s soccer, women’s tennis and women’s rowing — placed second in NCAA championship competition.

Eighteen of Stanford’s 35 intercollegiate programs finished their respective seasons ranked in the top 10 nationally, while eight teams were ranked first in the nation at some point during the year. In addition, four Stanford student-athletes — CHRISTEN PRESS (women’s soccer), ANNIKA DRIES (women’s water polo), ASHLEY HANSEN (softball) and ALIX KLINEMAN (women’s volleyball) — earned national player of the year honors in their respective sports. HILARY BARTE and MALLORY BURDETTE were named Intercollegiate Tennis Association Doubles Team of the Year, while OWEN MARECIC was named the inaugural recipient of the Paul Hornung Award as the most versatile player in college football.

Three Stanford coaches — TARA VANDERVEER (women’s basketball), THOM GLIEMI (men’s gymnastics) and AL ACOSTA (women’s lightweight rowing) — were named national coaches of the year, while seven Cardinal coaches earned conference/region coach of the year honors.

Stanford’s student-athletes also continue to display an unwavering commitment to academic excellence; this year 20 Stanford student-athletes earned Academic All-America status as recognized by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

The Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup was developed as a joint effort between NACDA and USA Today in 1993-94 to honor universities that strive for success in all of their sports programs. The awards program was expanded in 1995-96 to include NCAA Divisions II and III and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Each institution is awarded points based on its finish in 20 sports, 10 each for men and women.

Read the full announcement on the Athletics website.

Last year, Stanford student filmmakers took home the Bronze in the 2010 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Student Academy Awards. Now, student filmmakers ANTHONY WEEKS and THEO RIGBY are hoping this year will be golden.

Weeks’ documentary Imaginary Circumstances and Rigby’s Sin Pais (Without Country) are among the productions selected as finalists in the Academy’s 38th annual student competition.

Academy members will view the finalists’ films at special screenings and vote to select the winners. Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal awards, along with accompanying cash grants ranging from $2,000 to $5,000, may be presented in each of four categories: alternative, animation, documentary and narrative. The winning filmmakers will be brought to Los Angeles for a week of industry-related activities and social events that will culminate in the awards ceremony on Saturday, June 11.

Meanwhile, STANFORD VIDEO, which won two Bronze medals at the 32nd Annual Telly Awards earlier this year, has won a Silver Telly – the Telly Awards’ highest honor.

The Telly Awards acknowledge “the very best local, regional and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions and work created for the Web,” according to the organization’s website.

The Silver Telly Council, which includes top industry professionals who are past winners of the silver honor, chooses the Silver winners.

The Silver Telly was awarded for Stanford’s “Leadership” spot that still airs regularly on TV during Stanford sporting events and features Rosalyn Gold-Onwude, the starting guard for the women’s basketball team in the 2008-09 season. The spot, which won a Bronze Telly in 2010, was edited by Stanford Video’s director GORDON GURLEY, who shares producing and directing credit with CATHERINE O’BRIEN, the department’s director of business development and client relations.

“This was one in a series of three spots focusing on Stanford’s core strengths and the only one that features a student highlighting the message,” said O’Brien.

The two Bronze Tellys received earlier were for Stanford Hospital & Clinics’ Interventional Cardiology Promo, which aired as the opener for the department’s live satellite training transmissions from the Catheterization Angiography Laboratory, and the 2010 Roundtable hosted by newsman Tom Brokaw, titled “Generation Ageless: Longevity and the Boomers.”

- Elaine Ray and Rob Huffman